nine o'clock
Warm weather , '' says the conservative Kentucky chap , thoughtfully , `` is of much service to the old rye crop of Kentucky ; but Kentucky would forego even her old rye , rather than see retarded the movements of that army whose constitutional duty it is to restore the Union -- not reconstruct it . '' The regular list of dead idiots for this year being not quite full yet , my boy , there are still persons living who can perceive no very immense difference between Restoring the Union and Reconstructing the Union ; which reminds me of a chaste little incident that once occurred in the Sixth Ward . A highly-respectable liquor-selling chap , of enlarged stomach and overwhelming shirt-collar , having just been elected Alderman , through the influence of his excellent moral character , and about two thousand dollars judiciously invested in Irishmen , gave a fashionable party to celebrate this triumph of the purity of elections , and invited about two-thirds of the Fire Department to bring their wives and sweethearts . Promptly at nine o'clock , two Hose Companies , of unblemished reputations for noise , four Engine Associations noted for saving one pine table from the devouring element to every two Brussels carpets they ruined with water , three Hook-and-Ladder Societies greatly distinguished for climbing into the third-story windows of the building two doors from the burning domicil , and an equivalent number of the cotton-hearted women of America , were on hand in the aldermanic drawing-rooms . The new public dignitary received them all with that exquisite blandness of demeanor which is so becoming to great men who have just made a rush from obscurity : and says he , -- `` Make yourselves at home now , boys , only do n't spit on the carpet . If there 's a fire while the swarry is goin ' on , I 'll let the old woman listen for the district and announce it from the airy . We 'll keep the winders up , and when the hall-bell rings , you fellers as has to leave , can just slip down onto the front stoop without breaking up the entire swarry . ''