eleven o'clock
Human society is very like a grate full of ignited anthracite coal , those parts of it that have lost their combustibility , and become worthless , are constantly filtering down through the bottom of the grate ; and so in society , those individuals , who are daily falling from a state of grace in the eyes of their fellow-worms , either as regards fashion , or property , or reputation , go to swell the number of the outcasts from the ranks of `` good society ; '' a convenient phrase that has recently been invented , and signifies the speaker 's own particular friends and acquaintances , though he and they may be at that very moment getting out stone on Blackwell 's Island . So you see , reader , that it is fore-ordained , for I am a good deal of a fatalist , that one of the ingredients of civilized society should be a certain proportion of poor miserable devils , such as you and I both know . It was just at the close of the rainy season , when Nature looked infinitely better and fresher for having her face washed , though she had been six months about it ; the air seemed purer and more healthful , and the sky looked clearer and of a richer blue , for the half year 's drenching ; it was at this particular time of the year , that we have thought proper to raise the curtain , and introduce the reader into the business part of the story . It was between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon , the land breeze had done blowing , and the usual interregnum of calm , previous to the commencement of the sea-breeze , had taken place -- the broad bay lay like a huge mirror , varied indeed by the long and regular undulations of the swell from the main ocean , which , though perhaps sufficient to discompose a landman 's stomach , would not affect that of a sailor , who would probably testify under oath , that the water was `` just as smooth as a mill-pond . '' The pelican , that grave and contemplative bird , sat on the rocks near the water 's edge , with his neck coiled up and stowed away in some recess in his capacious crop , the fish forgetting , or sailed on lazy wings across the bay , to seek some sequestered spot to doze away the time , and digest his huge breakfast -- the graceful white crane of Mexico was wading about , flapping her wings , to drive the small fish into shoaler water , where she might pick them up at her leisure -- the gaudy Spanish ensign , resembling three flannel petticoats , two red and one yellow , hung lifeless by its staff , as though said petticoats had just got through a hard day 's washing -- a soldier , with a paper segar in his mouth , was lounging backwards and forwards on that part of the parapet of the battery next the sea , while another , his counterpart , was `` doing military duty '' in the same soldierly manner on the quay opposite . I may as well explain to the reader now as at a future time , that every collection of houses in South America , however small , has an open space in the centre , called the Plaza ; and an American Spaniard could no more conceive of a town or village without such plaza , than he could form one of Mr. Locke 's abstract ideas of a horse , which ceases to be an abstract idea the moment it becomes invested with a body , head , legs , mane , tail , saddle , bridle , belly-band , or crupper . In the plaza of the Porte before mentioned was a multifarious assemblage : the barrack for a captain 's guard , with the arms of the guard piled in front of it , formed one side , and the others were bounded by the quay or different buildings ; a detachment of idlers were sunning themselves , and engaged in relieving each other from certain troublesome companions , that _ invariably _ infest the clothes and hair of all Spaniards and Russians , from the king to the beggar ; jackasses , boys , and dogs occupied the rest of the square , and were differently engaged .