seven o'clock in the
morning
They loved their employer with their whole hearts ; there was nothing they would not do for him . When his factory had been established twenty-five years , the workmen determined to have a jubilee on the occasion , and to hold it on his birthday . They kept their intention a secret from him till the day arrived ; but they were obliged to tell his children , who , they knew , would wish to make arrangements for receiving them in such a way as their father would approve of , if he knew of it . It was summer time ; and on Henry 's birthday , at seven o'clock in the morning , -LRB- for they knew their friend was an early riser , -RRB- a strain of grand and beautiful music broke the stillness of the early hour , and a long procession of five hundred men was seen to wind around the house . The musicians , playing upon their fine wind instruments , and dressed very gayly , came first . Then came those of his workmen who had been with him twenty-five years ; then his clerks and book-keepers ; then followed his other workmen , and then all the boys who were employed in his factory . All wore black coats , with a green bow pinned on the breast .