5:30 P.M.
When Edison came he landed the job without delay . ' '' `` The inventor himself has told the story of his reporting for duty in Boston : '' ` The manager asked me when I was ready to go to work . '' ' _ Now _ ! ' said I , and was instructed to return at 5:30 P.M. , which I did , to the minute . I came into the operators ' room and was ushered into the night manager 's presence . '' ` The weather was cold and I was poorly dressed ; so my appearance , as I was told afterward , occasioned considerable merriment , and the night operators conspired to `` put up a job on the jay from the wild and woolly West . '' I was given a pen and told to take the New York No. 1 wire .