noon
The harness maker was a tradesman of the old school and was vastly independent . He had learned his trade after five years ' service as apprentice , and had spent an additional five years in going from place to place as a journeyman workman , and felt that he knew his business . Also he owned his shop and his home and had twelve hundred dollars in the bank . At noon one day when he was alone in the shop , Tom Butterworth came in and told him he had ordered four sets of farm work harness from a factory in Philadelphia . `` I came in to ask if you 'll repair them if they get out of order , '' he said . Joe Wainsworth began to fumble with the tools on his bench . Then he turned to look the farmer in the eye and to do what he later spoke of to his cronies as `` laying down the law . ''