noon
And the chime certainly had power to move the hearts of many ; but it would be hard to say when it had most power , or upon whom . Doubtless , the majority of those who had ears to hear in the big old fashioned city heard not , use having dulled their faculties ; or if , perchance , the music reached them it conveyed no idea to their minds , and passed unheeded . It was but an accustomed measure , one more added to the myriad other sounds that make up the buzz of life , and help , like each separate note of a chord , to complete the varied murmur which is the voice of `` a whole city full . '' But of course there were times when it was specially apt to strike home -- in the early morning , for instance , when the mind was fresh and hope was strong enough to interpret the assurance into a promise of joy ; and again at noon , when fatigue was growing and the mind perceived a sympathetic melancholy in the tones which was altogether restful ; but it was at midnight it had most power . It seemed to rise then to the last pitch of enthusiasm , sounding triumphant , like the special effort that finishes a strain , as if to speed the departing interval of time ; but when it rang again , after the first hour of the new day , its voice had dropped , as it were , to that tone of indifference which expresses the accustomed doing of some monotonous duty which has become too much of a habit to excite either pleasure or pain . To the tired watcher then , for whom the notes were mere tones conveying no idea , the soft melancholy cadence , dulled by distance , was like the half-stifled echo of her own last stifled sigh . It is likely , however , that the chime failed less of its effect outside the city than it did within ; but there again it depended upon the hearer .