88 
Old Time Gardens 
bears two exquisite verses — the gift of one poet to 
another — of Dr. Henry Van Dyke to the garden’s 
mistress, Katrina Trask. These dial mottoes are 
unusual, and perfect examples of that genius which 
with a few words can shape a lasting gem of our 
English tongue. At the edge of the dial face is this 
motto : 
“ Hours fly. 
Flowers die. 
New Days, 
New Ways, 
Pass by ; 
Love stays.” 
At the base of the gnomon is the second motto : — 
rn* • 
1 ime is 
Too Slow for those who Wait, 
Too Swift for those who Fear, 
Too Long for those who Grieve, 
Too Short for those who Rejoice ; 
But for those who Love, 
Time is 
Eternity. 
I have for years been a student of sun-dial lore, 
a collector of sun-dial mottoes and inscriptions, of 
which I have many hundreds. I know nowhere, 
either in English, on English or Scotch sun-dials, 
or in the Continental tongues, any such exquisite 
dial legends as these two — so slight of form, so 
simple in wording, so pure in diction, yet of senti- 
ment, of thought, how full! how impressive! They 
stamp themselves forever on the memory as beauti- 
ful examples of what James Russell Lowell called 
verbal magic; that wonderful quality which comes, 
