nine o'clock before
I was glad that I had remembered that Adam had called the room the feed-room so I had known where to look . It was so perfectly exciting to see all those fluffy white members of my family fortune scratching and clucking about my feet that I prolonged the process of the feeding by scattering only a few grains at a time until great shafts of golden morning sun were thrusting themselves in through the dim dusk and cobweb-veiled windows . `` Morning , little Mis ' ! I axes yo ' parding fer not having breakfast ` fore sun-up fer you , but they did n't never any Craddock ladies want theirn before nine o'clock before , they did n't , '' came Rufus 's voice in solemn words of apology uttered in tones of serious reproof . As he spoke he stood as far from the door of the feed-room as possible and eyed the scratching Bird family with the deepest disapproval . `` Feed-room ai n't no place fer chickens ; they oughter make they living on bugs and worms and sich . '' `` These chickens are -- are different , Rufus , and -- and so am I , '' I answered him with dignity .