ten o'clock
He sometimes had a dignified masculine way , beyond his years , of eschewing all unnecessary words . His mother saw him look at the time ; why should he speak ? She did not wait for him . '' ` Most ten o'clock , '' said she , `` and a great boy twelve years old lazing round on a rock in a pasture when all his folks are working . Here 's your mother , feeble as she is , workin ' her fingers to the bone , while you 're doing nothing a whole forenoon . I should think you 'd be ashamed of yourself . Now you take the spade and go right out and go to work in the garden .