noon
You can tell that there is an election on by the little flags stuck out a hundred feet from the engine-house doors , but that 's the only way . Inside the judges sit waiting for business about as successfully as a cod fisher on the banks of the Mississippi . Now and then some one strays in and casts a vote . By noon half a dozen are in the ballot box . The nation is safe , the schools are progressing satisfactorily , the ticket is going through without a kick . Even the candidates stop standing around outside peddling their cards , go home to dinner and forget to come back . Pretty placid , eh ?