noon
Those tides swept on as unconscious of the watchers so high above them as of the soaring beauty of the Metropolitan Tower . Ground hogs , most of them , but part of the ever changing , ever fascinating , metropolitan pageant . The arcade of Madison Square Garden was already packed with men and he knew that a triple line reached down Twenty-sixth Street to Fourth Avenue . There was to be a prize fight tonight and the men had stood there since noon , buying apples and peanuts from peddlers . This was Tuesday and there was no half-holiday . These men appeared to have unbounded leisure while the rest of the city toiled or demanded work . But they were always warmly dressed and indubitably well-fed .