the three o'clock morning
Little difference between the meals , indeed , was there ever in the profusion of these country homes . The men folks were seldom at home at the noon-day meal , call it what you will . For they were all in the milk-business , as you will see . And , what with collecting the milk from the hill-farms , on the one hand , and then carrying it for delivery at the three o'clock morning milk-train , on the other hand , any hours which you , dear reader , might consider systematic , or of course in country life , were certainly always set aside . But , after much conference , as I have said , it had been determined at the Thanksgiving party that all hands in both families should meet at John and Huldah 's as near three o'clock as they could the day before Christmas ; and then and there Huldah was to show her powers in entertaining at her first state family party . So this St. Victoria 's day was a great day of preparation for Huldah , if she had only known its name , as she did not . For she was of the kind which prepares in time , not of the kind that is caught out when the company come with the work half done .