nine o'clock
And the vehicle rattled out into broad Pennsylvania Avenue , but for the confusion and absurdity of its architectural structures , the handsomest thoroughfare in America . -LRB- Some day I am going to carry a bill into Congress and read it , and become famous as having been the means of making Pennsylvania Avenue the handsomest highway in the world . -RRB- Warburton leaned back luxuriously against the faded horse-hair cushion and lighted a cigar , which he smoked with relish , having had a hearty breakfast on the train . It was not quite nine o'clock , and a warm October haze lay on the peaceful city . Here were people who did not rush madly about in the pursuit of riches . Rather they proceeded along soberly , even leisurely , as if they knew what the day 's work was and the rewards attendant , and were content . Trucks , those formidable engines of commerce , neither rumbled nor thundered along the pavements , nor congested the thoroughfares .