five in the morning
Pertaining to this custom was an inevitable sequel of plaintive criticism from all the modest souls who `` did n't like to speak , '' but who were full of foreboding wisdom . Myrtle Hardy was one of the few who could speak ; and she was considered to speak very much to the point . Those days , she was keenly interested in all the life of a young , hopeful , bustling little western city . She belonged to a musical society and would rise at five in the morning to practice , and she was one of an anxious band of women who had bought a library and were running an amateur entertainment bureau to support it . Then , Darrie was in home-made knickerbockers ; Myrtie was a sweet , little , loving hoyden who was her mother 's despair because she would climb trees in her white frocks ; Ralph was a baby , and the two little girls that died were their mother 's tiny helpers , with the willingest little hands and feet . Sitting there in the crowded and noisy theater , a quiver ran over the mother 's face . Her friends had forgotten , the brothers and sisters had forgotten , even Darius seemed to forget ; but , day and night , she remembered the eager little faces , lighting so happily at her praise , the shining little heads that used to nestle against her heart .