twelve o'clock at
night
Darned if they did n't turn round and take to the woods and the rattlers again afore they got halfway . And that benighted idiot , Tom Rollins , standin ' there in the ditch , spattered all over with slumgullion 'til he looked like a spotted tarrypin , wavin ' his fins and sashaying backwards and forrards and sayin ' , ` This way , ladies ; this way ! ' '' `` I did n't , '' returned Tom Rollins , quite casually , without looking up from his steaming boots ; `` I did n't start in night afore last to dance ` The Green Corn Dance ' outer ` Hiawatha , ' with feathers in my hair and a red blanket on my shoulders , round that family 's new potato patch , in order that it might ` increase and multiply . ' I did n't sing ` Sabbath Morning Bells ' with an anvil accompaniment until twelve o'clock at night over at the Crossing , so that they might dream of their Happy Childhood 's Home . It seems to me that it was n't me did it . I might be mistaken -- it was late -- but I have the impression that it was n't me . '' From the silence that followed , this would seem to have been clearly a recent performance of the previous speaker , who , however , responded quite cheerfully : `` An evenin ' o ' simple , childish gaiety do n't count .