three o'clock in the afternoon
I 've seen her set down by a peck basket of apples , 'n' take a couple o ' bites out o ' one , 'n' then heave it fur 's she could heave it 'n' start in on another , 'n' then another ; 'n' ' t wa 'n' t a good apple year , neither . She 'd everlastin ` ly spile ` bout a dozen of 'em 'n' smaller ` bout two mouthfuls . Doxy Morton , now , would eat an apple clean down to the core , 'n' then count the seeds 'n' put 'em on the window-sill to dry , 'n' get up 'n' put the core in the stove , 'n' wipe her hands on the roller towel , 'n' take up her sewin ' agin ; 'n' if you 've got to be cuttin ' ` nitials in tree bark an ' writin ' of 'em in the grass with a stick like you 've ben doin ' for the last half-hour , you 're blamed lucky to be doin ' _ D _ 's not _ F _ 's , like Dixie there ! '' ***** It was three o'clock in the afternoon . The men had dropped work and gone to the circus . The hay was pronounced to be in a condition where it could be left without much danger ; but , for that matter , no man would have stayed in the field to attend to another man 's hay when there was a circus in the neighborhood . Dixie was mowing on alone , listening as in a dream to that subtle something in the swish of the scythe that makes one seek to know the song it is singing to the grasses .