about quarter past two
A country auction is not so exciting as one in the city ; still you must be wide-awake and cool , or you will be fleeced . An experienced friend , acquainted with the auctioneer , piloted me through my first sale , and for ten dollars I bought enough really valuable furniture to fill a large express wagon -- as a large desk with drawers , little and big , fascinating pigeon holes , and a secret drawer , for two dollars ; queer old table , ten cents ; good solid chairs , nine cents each ; mahogany center-table , one dollar and sixteen cents ; and , best of all , a tall and venerable clock for the landing , only eight dollars ! Its `` innards '' sadly demoralized , but capable of resuscitation , the weights being tin-cans filled with sand and attached by strong twine to the `` works . '' It has to be wound twice daily , and when the hour hand points to six and the other to ten , I guess that it is about quarter past two , and in five minutes I hear the senile timepiece strike eleven ! The scene was unique . The sale had been advertised in post-office and stores as beginning at 10 A.M. , but at eleven the farmers and their women folks were driving toward the house . A dozen old men , chewing tobacco and looking wise , were in the barn yard examining the stock to be sold , the carts and farming tools ; a flock of hens were also to be disposed of , at forty cents each .