four o'clock
He fought to accept himself , to understand himself , to relate himself with the life about him . The poor white , son of the defeated dreamer by the river , who had forced himself in advance of his fellows along the road of mechanical development , was still in advance of his fellows of the growing Ohio towns . The struggle he was making was the struggle his fellows of another generation would one and all have to make . Hugh got into his home-bound train at four o'clock and went into the smoking car . The somewhat distorted and twisted fragment of thoughts that had all day been playing through his mind stayed with him . `` What difference does it make if the new parts I have ordered for the machine have to be thrown away ? '' he thought .