noon
The sudden stopping of shuttle and wheel and belt and beam did not stop the noise in her head . It throbbed and buzzed there in an echoing ache , as if all the previous sounds had been fire-waves and these the scorched furrows of its touch . Wherever she turned , the echo of the morning 's misery sounded in her ears . And now they had forty minutes for noon recess . They sat in a circle , these five children -- and ate their lunch of cold soda biscuits and fat bacon . Not a word did they say -- not a laugh nor a sound to show they were children , -- not even a sigh to show they were human . Silently , like wooden things they choked it down and then -- O men and women who love your own little ones -- look !