six o'clock
May looked as pleased as Amos and Ann when the rhyme was finished . `` It 's every word true , '' she said . `` And here 's some more news that the little bird told -- if you 'd like to hear it : -- `` Miss Butterfly sent word one day to all the garden people That she would give a social tea beneath the hollyhock . A robin read the message from a slender pine-tree steeple -- A note that begged them sweetly to be there by six o'clock . They came a-wing , they came a-foot , they came from flower and thicket ; Miss Hummingbird was present in a coat and bonnet gay , And portly Mr. Bumblebee and cheerful Mr. Cricket , And tiny Mrs. Ladybug in polka-dot array . There were seats for four-and-twenty , and the guest of honor there Was a gray Granddaddy-long-legs in a little mushroom chair . `` The table was a toadstool with a spider-woven cover ; The fare was served in rose-leaf plates and bluebell cups a-ring -- Sweet honey from the latest bloom , and last night 's dew left over , And a crumb of mortal cake for which an ant went pilfering .