noon
Then suddenly it was summer , the hottest summer for ten seasons , our neighbors said , and I wondered how we would manage to cut hay for our own beasts , and the teams we had purchased conditionally , because long grass was scanty . Assistance was equally scarce , for , seeing us reach out toward prosperity , our friends evidently considered that we were now well able to help ourselves . It was done somehow , though often for a week together we worked all day and most of the night , until there was only an hour or two left before the dawn , and I lay wide awake , too overstrung and fatigued to sleep . Once , too , in the burning heat of noon I fell from the wagon in a state of limp collapse , and there were occasions when Harry , with a paler color than usual , lay for long spaces gasping in the shade . We could spare little time for cooking , or a tedious journey to bring in provisions , so when one thing ran out we made shift with the rest . Still , we observed Sunday , and once Harry laughed as he said : `` I 'm thankful there is a Fourth Commandment , for without it we should have caved in utterly . Do you know we 've been living on potatoes , tea , and porridge every meal for the last ten days ?