about 8 A.M.
The long ride of the summer sun makes men who are in feeling with him , and like him go up and down , not forego the moral of his labor , which is work and rest . Work all day , and light the rounded land with fruit and nurture , and rest at evening , looking through bright fluid , as the sun goes down . But times there are when sun and man , by stress of work , or clouds , or light , or it may be some Process of the Equinox , make draughts upon the untilted day , and solace themselves in the morning . For lack of dew the sun draws lengthy sucks of cloud quite early , and men who have labored far and dry , and scattered the rime of the night with dust , find themselves ready about 8 A.M. for the golden encouragement of gentle ale . The farm-house had an old porch of stone , with a bench of stone on either side , and pointed windows trying to look out under brows of ivy ; and this porch led into the long low hall , where the breakfast was beginning . To say what was on the table would be only waste of time , because it has all been eaten so long ago ; but the farmer was vexed because there were no shrimps . Not that he cared half the clip of a whisker for all the shrimps that ever bearded the sea , only that he liked to seem to love them , to keep Mary at work for him .