noon
Many of the guests had never seen this celebrated product of human skill , and to all the two-story population of Rockland it was the last expression of the art of pleasing and astonishing the human palate . Its appearance had been deferred for several reasons : first , because everybody would have attacked it , if it had come in with the other luxuries ; secondly , because undue apprehensions were entertained -LRB- owing to want of experience -RRB- of its tendency to deliquesce and resolve itself with alarming rapidity into puddles of creamy fluid ; and , thirdly , because the surprise would make a grand climax to finish off the banquet . There is something so audacious in the conception of ice-cream , that it is not strange that a population undebauched by the luxury of great cities looks upon it with a kind of awe and speaks of it with a certain emotion . This defiance of the seasons , forcing Nature to do her work of congelation in the face of her sultriest noon , might well inspire a timid mind with fear lest human art were revolting against the Higher Powers , and raise the same scruples which resisted the use of ether and chloroform in certain contingencies . Whatever may be the cause , it is well known that the announcement at any private rural entertainment that there is to be ice-cream produces an immediate and profound impression . It may be remarked , as aiding this impression , that exaggerated ideas are entertained as to the dangerous effects this congealed food may produce on persons not in the most robust health . There was silence as the pyramids of ice were placed on the table , everybody looking on in admiration .