about eleven o'clock
If there 's a fire while the swarry is goin ' on , I 'll let the old woman listen for the district and announce it from the airy . We 'll keep the winders up , and when the hall-bell rings , you fellers as has to leave , can just slip down onto the front stoop without breaking up the entire swarry . '' Here the large-hearted aldermanic chap was called hastily downstairs to attend the bar , several army officers having just arrived in the ward , and the `` swarry '' commenced as merrily as a fire in a carpenter 's shop . It set in for a heavy dance at about eleven o'clock , and then were seen as many elaborate verses in the poetry of motion , as any pair of eyes could wish to enjoy . `` Fifty 's '' foreman , who danced with a very pretty dotted muslin , produced a very striking and picturesque effect by rolling his inexpressibles up over his boots , and giving a life-like imitation of the working of an engine with his heels and toes ; whereupon the assistant foreman of `` Thirty 's Truck '' suddenly threw off his dress-coat and appeared in full red shirt , simultaneously striking into a fine , artistic shuffle , intended to imitate the hauling-in and reeling-up of the wet hose after a conflagration . These and other graceful novelties were greatly admired by the ladies , each of whom said so many spicy and spiteful things about the other 's bare arms and forward manners , that a stranger might have taken them all for the very cream of Fifth Avenue or any other Best Society . It was about midnight when `` Fifty 's '' foreman , growing reckless with the passionate splendors of excitement , scuffled away with his flushed dotted muslin to a luxurious chintz sofa near one of the windows , and intemperately whispered in her ear , `` Miss Perkins , it were madness for me longer to conceal my insanity , and to remain silent would but render me speechless .