four o'clock on the day before Christmas
`` But would n't you think , '' I said , `` at Christmas time -- '' `` Yes , you would , '' Calliope said , `` you would . You 'd think Christmas 'd make everything kind o ' softened up an ' differ ` nt . Every time I look at the holly myself , I feel like I 'd just shook hands with somebody cordial . '' None the less -- for Calliope had drunk deep of the wine of doing and she never gave up any project -- at four o'clock on the day before Christmas I saw the closed ` bus driven by Jimmy Sturgis fare briskly past my house on its way to the `` start of the Plank Road , '' to the Old Ladies ' Home . Within , I knew , were quilts and hot stones of Calliope 's providing ; and Jimmy had hung the ` bus windows with cedar , and two little flags fluttered from the door . It all had a merry , holiday air as Jimmy shook the lines and drew on swiftly through the snow to those wistful nine guests , who at last were to be `` in Christmas , '' too . `` If they ca n't do nothin ' else , '' Calliope had said , `` they can talk over old times , without hot milk interferin ' .