noon
`` Now you know I 've done more or less tra-la-la-work myself , '' says he , `` and the season I spent on the road as one of the merry villagers with an Erminie outfit put me wise to a few things . Course , this open air lecturing has spoiled my pipes for fair ; but I 've got my ear left , have n't I ? And say , Shorty , the minute I heard that voice of Hermy 's I knew he was the goods . '' So what does he do but go back later , after the noon rush was over , and get Hermy to tell him the story of his life . It wa 'n' t what you 'd call thrillin ' . All there was to it was that Hermy was a double orphan who 'd been brought up in Bridgeport , Conn. , by an uncle who was a dancin ' professor . The only thing that saved Hermy from a bench in the brass works was his knack for poundin ' out twosteps and waltzes on the piano ; but at that it seems he was such a soft head he could n't keep from watchin ' the girls on the floor and striking wrong notes .