twelve o'clock
The reader can quickly divine what event formed the third of these easily to be foreseen developments of the most eventful day in the life of the cow 's new proprietor . The kicking cow kicked Jathrop Lathrop 's mother , not out of any especial antipathy towards that most innocuous lady , but just because it was of a kicking nature and Mrs. Lathrop was temptingly kickable . The sad part of the matter was that Mrs. Lathrop was not only kickable but breakable as well . It followed that at twelve o'clock that noon Miss Clegg , returning from a hasty trip to the city , was greeted at the depot by the sad tidings , and it was not until various of the town folk had finished their versions of the disaster that she was at last allowed to hasten to the bedside of her dear friend , whom she found not only in great bodily distress but also already cast in plaster . Miss Clegg 's attitude as she stood in the doorway was one of blended commiseration and disgust . `` Well , I never would ` a ' believed it o ' Jathrop ! '' she burst forth at last . '' '