nine o'clock
The short cross-streets were designated by the most direct method : `` the street by the Baptist church , '' `` the street by Dr. Fenton 's , '' `` the street going out to Judge Hollis 's , '' or `` the street where Mr. Moseley used to live . '' In the heart of the town was the square , with the gray , weather-beaten court-house , the new and formidable jail , the post-office and church . For twenty years Dr. Fenton 's old high-seated buggy had jogged over the same daily course . It started at nine o'clock and passed with never-varying regularity up one street and down another . When any one was ill a sentinel was placed at the gate to hail the doctor , who was as sure to pass as the passenger-train . It was a familiar joke in Clayton that the buggy had a regular track , and that the wheels always ran in the same rut . Once , when Carter Nelson had taken too much egg-nog and his aunt thought he had spinal meningitis , the usual route had been reversed , and again when the blacksmith 's triplets were born .