about midnight
The assembling of the passengers of the large packet-ship is necessarily an affair of coldness and distrust , especially with those who know the world , and more particularly still when the passage is from Europe to America . The greater sophistication of the old than of the new hemisphere , with its consequent shifts and vices , the knowledge that the tide of emigration sets westward , and that few abandon the home of their youth unless impelled by misfortune at least , with other obvious causes , unite to produce this distinction . Then come the fastidiousness of habits , the sentiments of social castes , the refinements of breeding , and the reserves of dignity of character , to be put in close collision with bustling egotism , ignorance of usages , an absence of training , and downright vulgarity of thought and practices . Although necessity soon brings these chaotic elements into something like order , the first week commonly passes in reconnoitring , cool civilities , and cautious concessions , to yield at length to the never-dying charities ; unless , indeed , the latter may happen to be kept in abeyance by a downright quarrel , about midnight carousals , a squeaking fiddle , or some incorrigible snorer . Happily , the party collected in the Montauk had the good fortune to abridge the usual probation in courtesies , by the stirring events of the night on which they sailed . Two hours had scarcely elapsed since the last passenger crossed the gangway , and yet the respective circles of the quarter-deck and steerage felt more sympathy with each other than the boasted human charities ordinarily quicken in days of common-place intercourse . They had already found out each other 's names , thanks to the assiduity of Captain Truck , who had stolen time , in the midst of all his activity , to make half-a-dozen more introductions , and the Americans of the less trained class were already using them as freely as if they were old acquaintances .