noon
With an audience as difficult as any he could have found in the whole wide city , he managed to hold them every time . And the favorite theme often was agriculture . He would begin by bringing a new little plant to the room , setting it up and showing it to them ; talking about conditions of soil and how plants were being improved . It was usually the _ résumé _ of some article on agriculture that he had taken time to read at noon and was reviewing for their benefit . They heard all about Burbank and his wonderful experiments in making plants grow and develop , and as they listened they went and stood around the blossom that Michael had just brought to them and looked with new wonder at it . A flower was a strange enough sight in that court , but when they heard these stories it became filled with new interest . For a little while they forgot their evil plotting and were lifted above themselves .