noon
Still all my song shall be Nearer , my God , to thee , Nearer to thee . I have eaten your bread and salt , I have drunk your water and wine ; The deaths ye died I have watched beside , And the lives ye led were mine . -- Kipling . The little postoffice at Carey 's Crossing in Wolf County was full of men waiting for the mail due at noon . Mail came thrice a week now , and business on the frontier was looking brighter . The postoffice was only one feature of the room it occupied . Drugs , hardware , horse-feed , groceries , and notions each had claims of their own , while beside the United States Mail Department was an inksplashed desk holding a hotel register , likewise inksplashed .