noon
Every day , when the whistle blew at noon , the boys ran , shouting , from the breaker , and hurried , with their dinner-pails , to the roadside barn , to eat and gaze alternately , and discuss the pictured wonders . And now it was all here ; beasts , birds , vaulting men , flying women , racing horses and all . They had seen the great white tents gleaming in the sunlight up in the open fields , a mile away , and had heard the distant music of the band and caught glimpses of the long procession as it wound through the city streets below them . This was at the noon hour , while they were waiting for the signal that should call them back into the dust and din of the screen-room , where they might dream , indeed , of circus joys while bending to their tasks , but that was all . There was much wishing and longing . There was some murmuring . There was even a rash suggestion from one boy that they should go , in spite of the breaker and the bosses , and revel for a good half-day in the pleasures of the show .