five o'clock
in the afternoon
Still farther down the stream were the barn , poultry house , pens , hutches and yards of the little farm -- small , economically made , and unpretentious , as were all the buildings save the schoolhouse itself , which was builded for the future . And even the schoolhouse , when one thinks of the uses to which it was to be put -- kitchen , nursery , kindergarten , banquet-hall , theater , moving-picture hall , classrooms , manual training rooms , laboratory and counting-room and what-not , was wonderfully small -- Colonel Woodruff said far too small -- though it was necessarily so large as to be rather astonishing to the unexpectant passer-by . The unexpectant passer-by this May day , however , would have been especially struck by the number of motor-cars , buggies and surreys parked in the yard back of the creamery , along the roadside , and by the driveway running to the schoolhouse . People in numbers had arrived by five o'clock in the afternoon , and were still coming . They strolled about the place , examining the buildings and grounds , and talking with the blacksmith and the butter-maker , gradually drawing into the schoolhouse like a swarm of bees into a hive selected by the queen . None of them , however , went across the concrete bridge to the schoolmanse , save Mrs. Simms , who crossed , consulted with Mrs. Irwin about the shrubbery and flowers , and went back to Buddie and Jinnie , who were good children but natchally could n't be trusted with so many other young ones withouten some watchin ' . `` They 're coming !