about four o'clock in the morning
When a kemp is about to be held , the matter soon becomes generally known in the neighborhood . Sometimes the young women are asked , but in most instances , so eager are they to attend it that invitations are unnecessary . In the whiter months , and in mountain districts , it is often as picturesque as it is pleasant . The young women usually begin to assemble about four o'clock in the morning ; and , as they always go in groups , accompanied besides by their sweethearts or some male relatives , each of the latter bearing a large torch of well-dried bogfir , their voices , and songs , and loud laughter break upon the stillness of night with a holiday feeling , made ten times more delightful by the surrounding darkness and the hour . When they have not the torches the spinning-wheels are carried by the males , amidst an agreeable din of fun , banter , repartee , and jest , such as scarcely any other rustic amusement with which we are acquainted ever occasions . On arriving at the house where the kemp is to be held , they are placed in the barn or some clean outhouse ; but indeed the numbers are usually such as to crowd every available place that can be procured for their accommodation . From the moment they arrive the lively din is incessant .