ten o’clock
Even on the hottest afternoons the cottonwoods made a rustling shade , and the air smelled of popcorn and melted butter , and Bouncing Bets wilting in the sun . Those hardy flowers had run away from the laundryman 's garden , and the grass in the middle of the lot was pink with them . The Vannis kept exemplary order , and closed every evening at the hour suggested by the City Council . When Mrs. Vanni gave the signal , and the harp struck up `` Home , Sweet Home , '' all Black Hawk knew it was ten o'clock . You could set your watch by that tune as confidently as by the Round House whistle . At last there was something to do in those long , empty summer evenings , when the married people sat like images on their front porches , and the boys and girls tramped and tramped the board sidewalks -- northward to the edge of the open prairie , south to the depot , then back again to the post-office , the ice-cream parlor , the butcher shop . Now there was a place where the girls could wear their new dresses , and where one could laugh aloud without being reproved by the ensuing silence .