midday
Perhaps I shall mend by stirring about . '' Grandmother sat under the tree or wandered about , babbling of old times and asking questions that she forgot the next moment . There was a ham boiling in the great kettle over the kitchen fire , and a big basket of vegetables for the dinner . There were two neighboring men working , who were to have their midday meal . James Henry would have enjoyed Job 's disputatious friends . There were several knotty points in doctrine that he had gone over while lying here , and he longed to argue them with someone . The days were very long and tedious to him , for he had never been ill a whole week in his life .