six o'clock
Similarly the right to vote in a self-governed country meant many a mile in the upward evolution of mankind . Countless brave women and good men had sacrificed all that for which the human heart hankers , that women should be raised to this estate , and what a coward and insolent ignoramus would I be to lightly consider what had been so dearly bought and hard fought ! And so thinking I presented my right , received my ballot-paper , and though not bothering to meddle with either candidate 's name , I folded it correctly , and for the sake of all that stood behind and ahead of the right to perform this simple action , dropped it in the ballot-box . It closed at six o'clock , and then came a lull till the first returns should have time to come in . The candidates were not in Noonoon but Townend , where the head polling-booth was situated , though nothing could have exceeded the excitement in Noonoon . Grandma said she would wait quietly at home till next day to hear the result , but at nine o'clock the strains of a band , the glow of the town-lights like a red jewel through the night , and the sound of distant cheering proved too enticing to us two left alone in the house , so we locked it up , put the pony in the sulky , and sallied forth into the winter night , which in this genial climate was pleasant in an over-jacket added to one 's ordinary indoor attire . We had the road to ourselves , for the strings of vehicles from which it was seldom free were all ahead of us .