February, 1906 AMERICAN 
10—A Sun-Dial which forms the Central Figure for the 
Grass Walks of a Garden 
William M. Ostrander, Esq., has erected in the garden 
of his home, at Ogontz, Pa., a sun-dial, Figure 5, designed 
by Lawrence Vissher Boyd. Its position in relation to the 
garden is such as to give the impression that it stands as a 
sentinel in front of the arched entrance way to the garden. 
It has a pedestal constructed of hardwood, in classic form, 
which rests upon a stone foundation. The dial is of stone 
with bronze metal points. 
There is a very beautiful dial, Figure 1, placed in the 
center of the grassed lawn of the estate of J. O. Gilmore, 
Esq., at Overbrook, Pa. ‘The pedestal, very delicate in its 
form, is carved in an exquisite manner. 
Mr. James Boyd, of Haverford, Pa., has a dial, Figure 
10, of excellent design, and its true beauty lies in 
its simplicity and in its relation to the garden. It 
forms the central figure for the grassed walks which 
are lined on both sides with many beautiful grow- 
ing plants and flowers. On the face of the dial is 
cut the following inscription: ‘“‘He who sleeps the 
morning through, in the afternoon his work 
must do.” 
There have been many sun-dials made with 
flowers and boxwood, and it was a pretty device of 
the gardener, recorded by Marvel, who in the days 
of artificial gardening made a dial out of herbs and 
flowers. 
A very excellent motto for a sun-dial is: 
The hours which my faithful shadows point 
out to thee, 
Remember, have been taken from thy life. 
The dial jests the clock when it says: 
A clock the time may roughly tell. 
I never if the sun shine well. 
A sad reminder is given to us of the fleeting hour 
in the following motto: 
The last hour to many, perhaps to thee. 
“IT embrace all hours” and “I wait for no one” 
are good inscriptions for a dial, as well as ‘“Time 
is short and life is fleeting.”’ 
Macbeth gives one good motto: “Life is but a 
walking shadow.” A similar motto is, ‘‘As a 
shadow, such is life,’ and another, ‘“‘Shadows are 
and like shadows depart.” 
A motto containing a certain amount of merri- 
ment is: 
Be the day weary, 
Be the day long, 
Soon it shall ring to evensong. 
Domes AND “GARDENS 
99 
And then there is another: 
I mark not the hours unless they be bright, 
I mark not the hours of darkness and night; 
My promise is solely to follow the sun, 
And point out the course his chariot doth run. 
Stained glass sun-dials are very beautiful, and there is an 
adaptability about them that makes them suited to a variety 
of designs. The hours are read from the inside, the shadow 
being cast by an exterior projecting gnomon, which is not 
visible, and are numbered the same as a clock, from right to 
left, instead of backward, as on the ordinary dial. 
Many of our suburban gardens and the gardens of the 
large country estates are beautified by the presence of the 
sun-dial, many of the old antique dials being resurrected and 
placed in important positions in the gardens; and when we 
gaze on their silent gnomons pointing to the sky through 
night and storm, waiting but the sunshine to perform their 
duties, a perfect emblem of faith unfailing, 
True as the dial to the sun, though it be not shone upon, 
we find ourselves wondering, with David Copperfield, ‘“‘Is 
the sun-dial glad, I wonder, that it can tell the time again?” 
*Tis an old sun-dial, dark with many a stain, 
In summer crowned with drifting orchard bloom, 
‘ricked in the autumn with the yellow rain, 
And white in winter like a marble tomb. 
La 
I say, then, spare and reverence the old sun-dial wherever 
you may find it; I say more, if you have a fine sunny lawn 
requiring some ornament upon it, instead of rearing a bad 
plaster bit of mock statuary, or a cheap iron urn, rear a sun- 
dial of good pattern, and if carefully lineated and fixed ac- 
cording to the latitude of your homestead it will be one 
thing about your premises that will always tell the truth. 
onl “ee ees 
11—The Sun-Dial Used as a Substitute f 
or the Unsightly Blind Window 
