midnight
Drunken father as he was , I know of nothing that can or ought to make up for such a loss , except that which can restore it -- the bosom of the Father of fathers . He roamed the streets , as all his life before , the whole of the day , and part of the night ; he took what was given him , and picked up what he found . There were some who would gladly have brought him within the bounds of an ordered life ; he soon drove them to despair , however , for the streets had been his nursery , and nothing could keep him out of them . But the sparrow and the rook are just as respectable in reality , though not in the eyes of the hen-wife , as the egg-laying fowl , or the dirt-gobbling duck ; and , however Gibbie 's habits might shock the ladies of Mr. Sclater 's congregation who sought to civilize him , the boy was no more about mischief in the streets at midnight , than they were in their beds . They collected enough for his behoof to board him for a year with an old woman who kept a school , and they did get him to sleep one night in her house . But in the morning , when she would not let him run out , brought him into the school-room , her kitchen , and began to teach him to write , Gibbie failed to see the good of it . He must have space , change , adventure , air , or life was not worth the name to him .