noon
It lacked a few minutes of nine o'clock when the stage in which the Elmers had left Norton drew up beside the platform of the railway station in Skowhegan . There was only time to purchase tickets and check the baggage , and then Mark and Ruth stepped , for the first time in their lives , on board a train of cars , and were soon enjoying the novel sensation of being whirled along at what seemed to them a tremendous rate of speed . To them the train-boy , who came through the car with books , papers , apples , and oranges , and wore a cap with a gilt band around it , seemed so much superior to ordinary boys , that , had they not been going on such a wonderful journey , they themselves would have envied him his life of constant travel and excitement . At Waterville they admired the great mills , which they fancied must be among the largest in the world ; and when , shortly after noon , they reached Bangor , and saw real ships , looking very like the pictures in their geographies , only many times more interesting , their cup of happiness was full . Mark and Ruth called all the vessels they saw `` ships ; '' but their father , who had made several sea-voyages as a young man , said that most of them were schooners , and that he would explain the difference to them when they got to sea and he had plenty of time . The children were bewildered by the noise of the railroad station and the cries of the drivers and hotel runners -- all of whom made violent efforts to attract the attention of the Elmer party . At length they got themselves and their bags safely into one of the big yellow omnibuses , and were driven to a hotel , where they had dinner .