nearly eight o'clock
He put his own head under the pump , and scrubbed his face and hands heartily ; wiping them on his -- well , he wiped them , and that is the main thing ; besides , his handkerchief had been reduced to a pulp in Gay 's service . He combed his hair , pulled up his stockings and tied his shoes neatly , buttoned his jacket closely over his shirt , and was just pinning up the rent in his hat , when Rags considerately brought another suggestion in the shape of an old chicken-wing , with which he brushed every speck of dust from his clothes . This done , and being no respecter of persons , he took the family comb to Rags , who woke the echoes during the operation , and hoped to the Lord that the squirrels would run slowly and that the field-mice would be very tender , to pay him for this . It was now nearly eight o'clock , and the party descended the hillside and entered the side door of the station . The day 's work had long since begun , and there was the usual din and uproar of railroad traffic . Trucks , laden high with boxes and barrels , were being driven to the wide doors , and porters were thundering and thumping and lurching the freight from one set of cars into another ; their primary objects being to make a racket and demolish raw material , thereby increasing manufacture and export , but incidentally to load or unload as much freight as possible in a given time . Timothy entered , trundling his carriage , where Lady Gay sat enthroned like a Murray Hill belle on a dog-cart , conscious pride of Sunday hat on week-day morning exuding from every feature ; and Rags followed close behind , clean , but with a crushed spirit , which he could stimulate only by the most seductive imaginations .