nine o'clock in the morning
Plants , birds , insects and children were equally joyful . Only men -- grown-up men -- continued cheating and tormenting themselves and each other . People saw nothing holy in this spring morning , in this beauty of God 's world -- a gift to all living creatures -- inclining to peace , good-will and love , but worshiped their own inventions for imposing their will on each other . The joy of spring felt by animals and men did not penetrate the office of the county jail , but the one thing of supreme importance there was a document received the previous evening , with title , number and seal , which ordered the bringing into court for trial , this 28th day of April , at nine o'clock in the morning , three prisoners -- two women and one man . One of the women , as the more dangerous criminal , was to be brought separately . So , in pursuance of that order , on the 28th day of April , at eight o'clock in the morning , the jail warden entered the dingy corridor of the woman 's ward . Immediately behind him came a woman with weary countenance and disheveled gray hair , wearing a crown-laced jacket , and girdled with a blue-edged sash .