six o'clock
The first days of July were very hot and sultry ; the hoeing was finished ; haying was at hand . We young folks , however , were now chiefly interested in the Fourth of July celebration at the village , seven miles from the farm , and were laying our plans to go , all the previous day . In fact , the whole family intended to go . If we were to get the farm chores done , breakfast eaten and reach the village by six o'clock , in time to see the procession of `` fantastics '' we would have to be astir by three in the morning . Addison proposed to harness old Sol and Nancy to the hay-rack , decorate it with green oak boughs , making a canopy over it , and all ride to town together , taking up six or eight of our neighbors , to swell the party . Theodora and Ellen hailed this plan with delight , but Gram objected both because of the fact that the hay-rack had no springs , and also upon grounds of decorum . `` Why , people would think we were a part of the ` fantastics , ' '' the old lady exclaimed .