three o'clock
But , Bess , '' he added , seriously , `` just drop the lamps until we get 'em , and confine your telephoning to your intimate friends . An Irishman on a telephone in political times is apt to be a trifle -- er -- artless in his choice of words . If you must talk to one of 'em , remember to put in the lightning plug before you begin . '' With which injunction the candidate departed to address the Mohawks , an independent political organization in the Second Ward , which was made up of thinking men who never indorsed a candidate without knowing why , and rarely before three o'clock of the afternoon of election day at that , by whom he was received with cheers and back-slapping and button-holings which convinced him that he was the most popular man on earth , though on election day -- but election day has yet to be described . It came , and with it there came to Perkins a feeling very much like that which the small boy experiences on the day before Christmas . He has been good for two months , and he knows that to-morrow the period of probation will be over and he can be as bad as he pleases again for a little while anyhow . `` However it turns out , I can tell 'em all to go to the devil to-morrow , '' chuckled Thaddeus , rubbing his hands gleefully .