half past six
I was up very early the next morning , and made a hurried survey of the city before breakfast . I walked from Washington Street , where my boarding-house was located , through Halstead Street , to the north branch of the Chicago River , where I found the lumber-yard of the firm . I read the sign and examined the locality with interest . I ate my breakfast at half past six ; and though the beefsteak was very tough , and the butter very strong , I sustained my reputation as a good eater . I had lived too long in the wilderness , where we did not often have any butter , to be thrown off my balance by the accident of a rancid article , and I had certainly eaten buffalo meat that was as much tougher than any beef as sole leather is tougher than brown paper . Strong butter and tough beef are not good , I allow ; but they are by no means the sum total of human misery . I had a clean conscience , and I ate a hearty breakfast .