ten o'clock in the
morning
There 's no use of kickin ' , so you 'd better give me your name an ' save trouble . '' `` Sir , '' I cried , `` Reuben Baker is not a name to be ashamed of , and if you think that by any of your underhand hocus pocus you can trespass on my premises and prevent my caring for my own property you are grandly mistaken . '' `` You 'll sing a different song to-morrer , '' said the fellow , and I am sure I heard him chuckling to himself as he walked away . Later in the day I learned from neighbor Baylor that I had indeed transgressed the law by operating the lawn hose at ten o'clock in the morning . It seems that there is an ordinance imposing a fine upon all who sprinkle their lawns between eight o'clock in the morning and five o'clock in the afternoon . I declared in very vigorous English that I would never submit to any such outrage , and my indignation touched the boiling point when , still later in the day , a policeman came to my house and handed me a document apprising me that I must give a good and sufficient bond for my appearance the next morning before his honor , Justice Fatty , to answer to the charge of having maliciously , etc. , defied , disobeyed and broken the ordinance , etc. . I went at once to seek the counsel of Lawyer Miles , for whose legal acumen and forensic eloquence I had harbored the profoundest veneration ever since I had heard his prosecution of a man named Tackleton for causing the death of neighbor Baylor 's pet dog .