Sun-dials 363 



IN HIS OWN IMAGE THE CREATOR MADE, 

 HIS OWN PURE SUNBEAM QUICKENED THEE, O MAN ! 

 THOU BREATHING DIAL ! SINCE THE DAY BEGAN 

 THE PRESENT HOUR WAS EVER MARKED WITH SHADE. 



The motto, Horas non numero nisi serenas, in vari- 

 ous forms and languages, has ever been a favorite. 

 From an old album I have received this poem writ- 

 ten by Professor S. F. B. Morse; there is a note 

 with it in Professor Morse's handwriting, saying he 

 saw the motto on a sun-dial at Worms : — 



TO A. G. E. 



Horas non numero nisi serenas. 



The sun when it shines in a clear cloudless sky 

 Marks the time on my disk in figures of light ; 



If clouds gather o'er me, unheeded they flv, 

 I note not the hours except they be bright. 



So when I review all the scenes that have past 



Between me and thee, be they dark, be they light, 

 I forget what was dark, the light I hold fast ; 

 I note not the hours except they be bright. 

 Samuel F. B. Morse, 



Washington, March, 1845. 



The sun-dial seems too classic an object, and too 

 serious a teacher, to bear a jesting motto. This 

 sober pun was often seen : — 



life's but a shadowe 



man's but dust 

 this dyall sayes 



dy all we must. 



