noon
Shall I ever forget that happy October day of anticipation ? We spent many of those October days in tentative surveys . Alice and Bertha were our chain-men , intelligent and obedient . I drove for George his stakes , or I cut away his brush , or I raised and lowered the shield at which he sighted and at noon Polly appeared with her baskets , and we would dine al fresco , on a pretty point which , not many months after , was wholly covered by the eastern end of the dam . When the field - work was finished we retired to the cabin for days , and calculated and drew , and drew and calculated . Estimates for feeding Irishmen , estimates of hay for mules , -- George was sure he could work mules better than oxen , -- estimates for cement , estimates for the preliminary saw-mills , estimates for rail for the little brick-road , for wheels , for spikes , and for cutting ties ; what did we not estimate for -- on a basis almost wholly new , you will observe . For here the brick would cost us less than our old conceptions , -- our water-power cost us almost nothing , -- but our stores and our wages would cost us much more .