noon
on Sunday
Mrs. Lathrop never went to church . She had relinquished church when she had given up all other social joys that called for motive power beyond the limits of her own fence . Elijah rarely ever went to church . The getting the paper out Friday for Saturday delivery wore on him so that he nearly always slept until noon on Sunday . So Susan went alone week after week , just as she had been going alone for years and years and years . She always wore a black dress to church , her mother 's cashmere shawl , and a bonnet of peculiar shape which had no strings and fitted closely around her head . She always took about an hour and a half to get home from church , although it was barely ten minutes ' walk , and she always went in Mrs. Lathrop 's gate instead of her own when she did get home .