six o'clock
in the morning
After supper I went out to assist the boys with the farm chores , and took my first lesson , milking a cow and feeding the calves . The latter were kept tied in the long , now empty hay-bay of the east barn . I had already been there to see them ; there were ten of them , tied with ropes and neck-straps along the sides of the bay to keep them apart . Weaned , or unweaned , they were fed but twice a day , and from six o'clock in the morning to six at night is a very long time for a young and rapidly growing calf to wait between meals . As early as four o'clock in the afternoon those calves would begin to bawl for their supper ; by half past five one could hardly make himself heard in the barn , unless there chanced to fall a moment 's silence , while the hungry little fellows were all catching breath to bleat again . Then they would all peal forth together on ten different keys . How those old bare walls and high beams would resound !