midnight
He hears a weary footstep , and perceives a traveller with pack and staff , who sits down upon the hospitable bench , and removes the hat from his wet brow . The toll-gatherer administers a cup of cold water , and discovering his guest to be a man of homely sense , he engages him in profitable talk , uttering the maxims of a philosophy which he has found in his own soul , but knows not how it came there . And as the wayfarer makes ready to resume his journey , he tells him a sovereign remedy for blistered feet . Now comes the noontide hour , -- of all the hours nearest akin to midnight ; for each has its own calmness and repose . Soon , however , the world begins to turn again upon its axis , and it seems the busiest epoch of the day ; when an accident impedes the march of sublunary things . The draw being lifted to permit the passage of a schooner , laden with wood from the Eastern forests , she sticks immovably , right athwart the bridge ! Meanwhile , on both sides of the chasm , a throng of impatient travellers fret and fume .