four o'clock
Then the white waistcoat flashes in the sun . `` Go on , happy youth , '' I exclaim aloud , to the great alarm of the nursery maids , who suppose me to be an innocent insane person suffered to go at large , unattended , -- `` go on , and be happy with fellow waistcoats over fragrant wines . '' It is hard to describe the pleasure in this amiable spectacle of a man going out to dine . I , who am a quiet family man , and take a quiet family cut at four o'clock ; or , when I am detained down town by a false quantity in my figures , who run into Delmonico 's and seek comfort in a cutlet , am rarely invited to dinner and have few white waistcoats . Indeed , my dear Prue tells me that I have but one in the world , and I often want to confront my eager young friends as they bound along , and ask abruptly , `` What do you think of a man whom one white waistcoat suffices ? '' By the time I have eaten my modest repast , it is the hour for the diners-out to appear . If the day is unusually soft and sunny , I hurry my simple meal a little , that I may not lose any of my favorite spectacle .