nine o'clock
`` May be it 'll snow , '' he muttered , casting a glance at the sky that would have done credit to a practised seaman . `` Then _ wo n't _ I have fun ! Ugh , but the wind blows ! '' It was Saturday , or Titee would have been in school -- the big yellow school on Marigny Street , where he went every day when its bell boomed nine o'clock . Went with a run and a joyous whoop , -- presumably to imbibe knowledge , ostensibly to make his teacher 's life a burden . Idle , lazy , dirty , troublesome boy , she called him , to herself , as day by day wore on , and Titee improved not , but let his whole class pass him on its way to a higher grade . A practical joke he relished infinitely more than a practical problem , and a good game at pinsticking was far more entertaining than a language lesson .