noon
_ ' she whipped little Jean into his shirt , while the men sat down to smoke . It took two deliberate men nearly a week to split the gnarled logs , and one brisk woman carried them into the cellar and piled them neatly . The men stopped about once an hour to smoke , drink cider , or rest . The woman worked steadily from morning till night , only pausing at noon for a bit of bread and the soup good Coste sent out to her . The men got two francs a day , the woman half a franc ; and as nothing was taken out of it for wine or tobacco , her ten cents probably went further than their forty . This same capable lady used to come to market with a baby on one arm , a basket of fruit on the other , leading a pig , driving a donkey , and surrounded by sheep , while her head bore a pannier of vegetables , and her hands spun busily with a distaff . How she ever got on with these trifling incumbrances was a mystery ; but there she was , busy , placid , and smiling , in the midst of the crowd , and at night went home with her shopping well content .