seven o'clock
Most people , however , wore long boots , and came tramping along , so that they could be heard splashing through the mud . Here and there a small lantern might be observed swinging along , at one moment lowered carefully in order to seek a path in the worst places , at others casting its inquisitive light in the faces of the passers-by , or against the sides of the low wooden buildings . Ladies with cap baskets , from which knitting needles were sticking out , might be seen going to evening parties ; or servant maids carrying lanterns , and followed by little girls with thin white legs and big goloshes on their feet , on their way to the dancing-school . After seven o'clock there was scarcely any light in the shops , and the streets seemed deserted . Now and then a ray of light was cast upon the mud and puddles when the door of a tavern , where sailors and topers quarrelled and rioted , was thrown open . About this time the night watch would sally out of the town hall , in order to take up its beat . It was composed generally of old seamen or ship carpenters , who were past their work , men with hoarse , thick voices , bent with age and hard of hearing .