midday
`` Five o'clock ! '' Jolly Robin replied . `` And it will last till sundown . '' The next morning Rusty Wren helped his wife so spryly that long before midday the house-cleaning was finished . Although she tried her best , Mrs. Rusty could think of no more tasks for her husband to do -- except to feed the children . That was a duty that would not be finished until they were old enough to leave home and shift for themselves . On this day Rusty Wren dropped so many dainties into their gaping mouths that his wife had to tell him that she did n't dare let the youngsters have anything more to eat until the next day .