noon
Everything in it was calm , touchingly simple , intimate , intelligible , grateful to the soul . So much so that as one contemplated the slowly-varying vistas presented by the loftier bank , the immutable stretches of meadowland , and the green , timbered dance-rings where the forest approached the river , to gaze at itself in the watery mirror , and recede again into the peaceful distance ; as one gazed at all this one could not but reflect that nowhere else could a spot more simply , more kindly , more beautiful be found , than these peaceful shores of the great river . Yet already a few shrubs by the river 's margin were beginning to display yellow leaves , though the landscape as a whole was smiling the doubtful , meditative smile of a young bride who , about to bear her first child , is feeling at once nervous and delighted at the prospect . * * * * * The hour was past noon , and the third-class passengers , languid with fatigue induced by the heat , were engaged in drinking either tea or beer . Seated mostly on the bulwarks of the steamer , they silently scanned the banks , while the deck quivered , crockery clattered at the buffet , and the deck hand in the bows sighed soporifically : Six ! Six ! Six-and-a-half !