4:11
I did n't know who she was , but it seemed to me then as if she must have come from heaven by air-line , and I felt so friendly toward the girl who met her that I had to go down to her house to call that very night . The visitor had come to stay -- her father was starting a new store in Homeburg . I 'll tell you , when a snorty old train , which assays two pecks of cinders per car , hauls the most wonderful girl on earth into your town and dumps her into your arms -- so to speak , and bunching up events a little -- you 're bound to love that train . I could write the history of Homeburg from the 4:11 too . In fact , the train has hauled most of Homeburg into the town . Year after year we watch strangers get off the train and turn around three times , in the way a stranger does when he tries to orient himself and locate the nearest hotel . We get acquainted with those strangers , and in the next week we discover their business and antecedents and politics and preferences in jokes , and whether they pull for the Chicago Cubs or the White Sox .