morning, noon
My mother spent the time in reading her native Scriptures ; she spent it in prayer and in musing ; while her daughters clung and wept around her day and night -- groveling on the ground at the feet of any people in authority that entered their mother 's cell . That same interval -- how was it passed by me ? Now mark , my friend . Every man in office , or that could be presumed to bear the slightest influence , every wife , mother , sister , daughter of such men , I besieged morning , noon , and night . I wearied them with my supplications . I humbled myself to the dust ; I , the haughtiest of God 's creatures , knelt and prayed to them for the sake of my mother . I besought them that I might undergo the punishment ten times over in her stead .