midnight
Behind the office was a large barren yard where one little lilac bush languished above the hard earth . The Wyker hotel and store were across the street . Virginia had been intrusted with small sums for sundry purchases for the settlement , especially for the staple medicines and household needs -- camphor and turpentine , quinine and certain cough syrups for the winter ; castor oil , some old and tried ointment , and brand of painkiller ; thread and needles and pins -- especially pins -- and buttons for everybody 's clothes . One settler had ridden back at midnight to ask for the purchase of a pair of shoes for his wife . It was a precious commission that Virginia Aydelot bore that day , although to the shopper in a Kansas city today , the sum of money would have seemed pitifully small . In the postoffice , printed rulings and directions regarding the supplies were posted on the wall , and Virginia read them carefully . Then with many misgivings and a prayer for success , she crossed the street to Darley Champers ' place of business .