twelve o'clock
So the little girl wore , just under her collar , the picture of a fat beef as an appropriate emblem of Texas , while in one hand she carried a gilded stone to recall California 's riches , and , in the other , through the instigation of the grand marshal , who had once been jailed at St. Paul , she held aloft a wad of cotton batting to emphasize the annual snowfall of the rival State to the east . The end of the procession consisted of decorated buggies -- in which sat the orator of the day , a local poet , the school-teacher at the station , the minister , the professor , and a dozen prominent citizens -- and a rabble of horribles and plug-uglies that rent the air with yells ; as it went by , it bore the admiring crowd in its train . When the grand stand was reached , the people quickly filled the board benches which had been put up for them , while the principals in the festivities settled themselves picturesquely upon the platform . It was after twelve o'clock , so the program opened at once . The professor , sitting well in the foreground , fidgeted inwardly and hoped that the train on which he was to depart would not arrive before he had had his opportunity . But he sat smiling , nevertheless , throughout the opening prayer by the minister , the address of the day and the reading of the Declaration of Independence by the orator , the verses of the poet , the teacher 's song , and four band pieces . On his lap were two large squares of white pasteboard which he fingered nervously , and every two or three minutes he took note of the time .