noon
When he was not in school , Jim never missed the noon hour at the quarry . He had his father 's love for mechanics . He had his father 's love for law and order making , the gift to both of their unmixed Anglo-Saxon ancestry . When Big Jim did talk at the noon hour , it was usually to try to educate his Italian and Polish fellow workmen to his New England viewpoint . Little Jim never missed a word . He adored his father . He was profoundly influenced by the dimly felt , not understood tragedy of his father 's life and of the old New England town in which he lived .