midnight
`` Our sister will be well provided for , '' he said , and the conversation suffered a relapse . Mr. Opp went back to his time-tables and his new note-book , and for the rest of the trip Jimmy devoted himself to his wheel , with occasional ocular excursions in the direction of Mr. Opp 's coat pocket . Lying in the crook of the river 's elbow , with the nearest railroad eighteen miles away , Cove City , familiarly known as the Cove , rested serenely undisturbed by the progress of the world . Once a day , at any time between sundown and midnight , it was roused from its drowsiness by the arrival of the mail-boat , and , shaking itself into temporary wakefulness , sat up and rubbed its eyes . This animation was , however , of short duration , for before the packet had whistled for the next landing , the Cove had once more settled back into slumber . Main Street began with a shabby , unpainted school-house , and following dramatic sequence , ended abruptly in the graveyard . Two cross-streets , which had started out with laudable ideas of independence , lost courage at Main Street and sought strength in union ; but the experiment was not successful , and a cow-path was the result .