noon
This at least ; if we live in an age of mechanism let us see to it that we are a race of intelligent mechanics ; and if man is to be the Dæmon of a machine let him know the setting of the knives , the rise of the piston , the part that each wheel and rod plays in the economy of the whole , the part that he himself plays , co-operating with it . Then , when he has lived and served intelligently , let us give him of our flocks and of our floor that he may learn to rest in the lengthening shadows until he is called to his work above . So I sat , hammering out my thoughts , and with them the conviction that stonebreaking should be allotted to minor poets or vagrant children of nature like myself , never to such tired folk as my poor mate at the cross-roads and his fellows . At noon , when I stopped for my meal , the sun was baking the hard white road in a pitiless glare . Several waggons and carts passed , the horses sweating and straining , with drooping , fly-tormented ears . The men for the most part nodded slumberously on the shaft , seeking the little shelter the cart afforded ; but one shuffled in the white dust , with an occasional chirrup and friendly pressure on the tired horse 's neck . Then an old woman and a small child appeared in sight , both with enormous sun-bonnets and carrying baskets .