eight o'clock
Joe had , indeed , once very severely flogged a son of his own for telling a lie and persisting in it ; but , like his employer , he was too phlegmatic , too calm , as well as too reasonable a man , to make corporal chastisement other than the exception to his treatment of the young . Mr. Moore haunted his mill , his mill-yard , his dye-house , and his warehouse till the sickly dawn strengthened into day . The sun even rose -- at least a white disc , clear , tintless , and almost chill-looking as ice , peeped over the dark crest of a hill , changed to silver the livid edge of the cloud above it , and looked solemnly down the whole length of the den , or narrow dale , to whose strait bounds we are at present limited . It was eight o'clock ; the mill lights were all extinguished ; the signal was given for breakfast ; the children , released for half an hour from toil , betook themselves to the little tin cans which held their coffee , and to the small baskets which contained their allowance of bread . Let us hope they have enough to eat ; it would be a pity were it otherwise . And now at last Mr. Moore quitted the mill-yard , and bent his steps to his dwelling-house . It was only a short distance from the factory , but the hedge and high bank on each side of the lane which conducted to it seemed to give it something of the appearance and feeling of seclusion .