midnight
`` The Judge has his big fountain pen filled to its capacity , '' he said . `` Come forward and sign this -- the most remarkable document on record , I am not afraid to say . Its signing will mean the wiping out of an old bitterness and the dawning of a new and better day for Brookville ! '' The Reverend Wesley Elliot had mixed his metaphors sadly ; but no one minded that , least of all the minister himself , as he signed his name in bold black characters to the wondrous screed , over which Judge Fulsom had literally as well as metaphorically burned the midnight oil . Deacon and Mrs. Whittle signed ; Postmaster and Mrs. Daggett signed , the latter with copious tears flowing over her smooth rosy cheeks . Miss Lois Daggett was next : `` I guess I ought to be written down near the front , '' said she , `` seeing I 'm full as much to blame , and like that , as most anybody . '' `` Come on you , Lute Parsons ! ''