noon
It is the one time in the year when everybody meets everybody else . Besides being the harvest time of crops , of friendships , of happy interchange of thought and feeling , it is also the harvest time of perfected horseflesh . The forenoon had been given to social intercourse , the display of livestock , the exhibits of deft women fingers , of housewife skill , of the tradesman , of the merchant , of cotton -- cotton , in every form and shape . At noon , under the trees , lunch had been spread -- a bountiful lunch , spreading as it did from the soft grass of one tree to that of another -- as family after family spread their linen -- an almost unbroken line of fried chicken , flanked with pickles and salad , and all the rich profusion of the country wife 's pantry . And now , after lunch , the grand stand had been quickly filled , for the fame of the great race had spread up and down the valley , and the valley dearly loved a horse-race . Five hundred dollars was considered a large purse , but this race was three thousand ! Three thousand !