three o'clock
Crossbourne human nature , like the human nature in most English manufacturing districts , had a great leaning to tea - parties and _ fetes _ , the latter name being sometimes preferred by the younger men as being more imposing . On the present occasion there was an abundance of interested and willing helpers , so that early in the Saturday afternoon the road to Cricketty Hall was all alive with comers and goers , more or less busy with band and tongue ; while carts of many shapes and sizes were conveying the eatables and drinkables up to the old ruin . The tea-tickets had sold well , and there was evidently much expectation in the minds of the public generally . About half-past three o'clock the Temperance and Band of Hope members came flocking into the market place , Bradly being there to keep order , with Foster and Barnes as his helpers . The last of these had charge of a small basket , which he now and then glanced at with a grin of peculiar satisfaction . Then the band mustered in full force -- a genuine temperance band , which never mingled its strains of harmony with streams of alcohol . And oh , what a noble drum it boasted of !