eight o'clock
`` And I 'll help , mother , truly I will , '' said Mary Jane . `` We ought to have no trouble getting off then , '' said Mrs. Merrill , `` and I , for one , think we 'll have lots of fun . '' That evening , every one laid out their clothes ready for morning ; lists were made out and then the girls were sent to bed a whole hour earlier than usual so they would feel ready for the day 's fun . It was a good thing everything was planned before hand , for eight o'clock came _ very _ early the next morning -- or so it seemed ; and there was considerable scrambling to get hair ribbons on and gloves buttoned and the house all locked up in time for the car . Alice had been to the city with her mother several times before ; but this was Mary Jane 's first trip and she watched out of the car window with great interest and was almost sorry when the car pulled into a big train shed -- the interurban station . `` You lady folks shop till one , '' said father as they parted , `` and then we 'll meet for lunch . '' Mary Jane thought she had never seen such big stores in all her life .