about eight o'clock in the morning
Well , last night Ma had to go to one of the neighbors , where they was going to have twins , and we did n't sleep much , cause Ma had to come home twice in the night to get saffron , and an old flannel petticoat that I broke in when I was a kid , cause the people where Ma went did not know as twins was on the bill of fare , and they only had flannel petticoats for one . Pa was cross at being kept awake , and told Ma he hoped when all the children in Milwaukee were born , and got grown up , she would take in her sign and not go around nights and act as usher to baby matinees . Pa says there ought to be a law that babies should arrive on the regular day trains , and not wait for the midnight express . Well , Pa he got asleep , and he slept till about eight o'clock in the morning , and the blinds were closed , and it was dark in his room , and I had to wait for my breakfast till I was hungry as a wolf , and the girl told me to wake Pa up , so I went up stairs , and I do n't know what made me think of it , but I had some of this powder they make red fire with in the theatre , that me and my chum had the 4th of July , and I put it in a washdish in the bath-room , and I touched it off and hollered fire . I was going to wake Pa up and tell him it was all right , and laugh at him . I guess there was too much fire , or I yelled too loud , cause Pa jumped out of bed and grabbed a rope and rushed through the hall towards the back window , that goes out on a shed . I tried to say something , but Pa ran over me and told me to save myself , and I got to the back window to tell him there was no fire just as he let himself out the window He had one end of the rope tied to the leg of the washstand , and he was climbing down the back side of the shed by the kitchen , with nothing on but his nightshirt , and he was the horriblest looking object ever was , with his legs flying and trying to stick his toenails into the rope and the side of the house . ''