ten o'clock
My system of dealing face to face with the speculating and investing public had many great advantages over that of all the other big operators -- their system of hiding behind cleverly-contrived screens and slaughtering the decoyed public without showing so much as the tip of a gun or nose that could be identified . But to my method there was a disadvantage that made men , who happened to have more hypocrisy and less nerve than I , shrink from it . When one of my tips miscarried , down upon me would swoop the bad losers in a body to give me a turbulent quarter of an hour . Toward ten o'clock , my boy came in and said : `` Mr. Ball thinks it 's about time for you to see some of these people . '' I went into the main room , where the tickers and blackboards were . As I approached through my outer office I could hear the noise the crowd was making -- as they cursed me . If you want to rile the true inmost soul of the average human being , do n't take his reputation or his wife ; just cause him to lose money .