midnight
He was the employment-manager and publicity-counsel of the Zenith Street Traction Company . He could , on ten hours ' notice , appear before the board of aldermen or the state legislature and prove , absolutely , with figures all in rows and with precedents from Poland and New Zealand , that the street-car company loved the Public and yearned over its employees ; that all its stock was owned by Widows and Orphans ; and that whatever it desired to do would benefit property-owners by increasing rental values , and help the poor by lowering rents . All his acquaintances turned to Littlefield when they desired to know the date of the battle of Saragossa , the definition of the word `` sabotage , '' the future of the German mark , the translation of `` hinc illae lachrimae , '' or the number of products of coal tar . He awed Babbitt by confessing that he often sat up till midnight reading the figures and footnotes in Government reports , or skimming -LRB- with amusement at the author 's mistakes -RRB- the latest volumes of chemistry , archeology , and ichthyology . But Littlefield 's great value was as a spiritual example . Despite his strange learnings he was as strict a Presbyterian and as firm a Republican as George F. Babbitt . He confirmed the business men in the faith .