nine o'clock
Good-by . '' He raised his hat and they parted . Town Meeting Day proved to be a bright and pleasant one . At nine o'clock the Town Hall was filled with the citizens of Eastborough . They had come from the Centre , they had come from West Eastborough and from Mason 's Corner . There were very nearly four hundred gathered upon the floor , the majority of them being horny-handed sons of toil , or , more properly speaking , independent New England farmers . When Jeremiah Spinney , the oldest man in town , who had reached the age of ninety-two , and who declared that he had n't `` missed a town meetin ' for seventy year , '' called the meeting to order , a hush fell upon the assemblage .