ten o'clock
I take you ! '' Sometimes they seemed scarcely to confirm their sales or purchases -- they knew each other so well -- but they did . If the market was for any reason active , the brokers and their agents were apt to be more numerous than if it were dull and the trading indifferent . A gong sounded the call to trading at ten o'clock , and if there was a noticeable rise or decline in a stock or a group of stocks , you were apt to witness quite a spirited scene . Fifty to a hundred men would shout , gesticulate , shove here and there in an apparently aimless manner ; endeavoring to take advantage of the stock offered or called for . `` Five-eighths for five hundred P. and W. , '' some one would call -- Rivers or Cowperwood , or any other broker . `` Five hundred at three-fourths , '' would come the reply from some one else , who either had an order to sell the stock at that price or who was willing to sell it short , hoping to pick up enough of the stock at a lower figure later to fill his order and make a little something besides .