noon
-- etc. , etc. . Joe Harris did not understand all these things , exactly ; but the next woman would have acted out that role to perfection . Not to linger over these details , Mamma Harris not objecting , they left the city of New York by the five o'clock train on the Hudson River Railroad , on the evening of the Fourth of July , just when the city was sweltering in its most deadly heat and all ablaze with patriotic fireworks . Leslie had certain patrio-political engagements which occupied him until after noon on that day , rendering it impossible to leave by the morning train . Leaving by that at five o'clock , they would connect with the train on the New York Central leaving Albany at midnight , and reach Utica very early in the morning . There Josephine would be set down , while Leslie , after seeing to her stage accommodation , would whirl onward with the train , for Niagara . The connection between love and railroad-riding may not be obvious to all ; and there are some , no doubt , who think the flying speed of the modern conveyance terribly unromantic .