three o’clock in the morning
It was , as fate would have it , the worst winter in the oldest inhabitant 's memory . The farmer 's well froze over on three occasions , and it had never frozen before , so he declared . For such weather as this they were altogether unprepared ; they had only a wood-stove , and could not keep a fire all night ; and the cheap blankets they had bought were made all of cotton , and gave them almost no protection . They would not sleep with the windows down ; and so , for weeks at a time , they would go to bed with their clothing , even their overcoats on ; and would pile curtains and rugs upon these -- and even so , they would waken at two or three o'clock in the morning , shivering and chilled to the bone . And in this icy room they would have to get up and build a fire ; and it might be half an hour before they could get the house warm . Also , they had no facilities for bathing ; and so little by little they began to lose their habits of decency -- there were days when Corydon left her face unwashed , and forgot to brush her hair . Everyday , it seemed , they slipped yet further down the grade .