Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-01-20
those passing in his own mind EdinBug, Re
We find the following correspondence, in
which many OF our readers will be interested,
in the Boston Advertiser of yesterday:
WOPCESTEP Inn 10 1879

MY Dear Slr:-As promised YOU the other
evening at my house, have now the gratfca-
ton TO be able to restore throu sh your hands TO
its proper place the ancient and ong-missing
sun-dial, that ! remember TO have seen when a
boy on the steps Of Harvard hall.
Were to SOP here | should leave YOU in
veritable foe of justification, which, happily,
can in some degree dIspel; and so will proceed
TO relate TO YOU all that is known to me about
this venerable chronometer since the bright day
in June, 1926 when nv father pointed it out to
me and showed me the time by it, us we were
standing on tue steps Of the aforesaid hail My
tather-Abiel Jaques-was a graduate of the
university, OF the class of 1897, and am even
now trying 10 ecall what he said on the occa-
sion, something OF which | have a dim and
dreamy recollection, about as follows; 1--WE
poor students who had no Watches used 10
make great use OF this as our only time-keepor,
anu we conld even distinguish the shadow of
the gnomOn IN moderately cloudy weather" IT
is little curious that "the biz word" gnomop
then for the first timeiadmitted into nv ears
remained fixed there, and, but for that the other
words adhered to il as bits of iron to a magnet,
what my father then and there said would have
long ago slipped through the meshes of NV
tleacherous memory.
Aud now come 10 chapter second of the his
tory. In August, 1867, / addressed a letter to
President Hill, from which, fortunately retain
ing copy, make The extracts that follow:
WORCESTER, Mass Aug. 10, 1867.
III. L
hope, seem TO contain a sufficient apology for
the liberty that a stranger takes in addressing
you. This is what | have 10 communicate:
Rummaging few days ago, in nv garrett
came upon large, Acknowledgements bronze
sun-dial, which had lain there overlooked and
forgotten, for many years. Upon the face of
this instrument, among much other beautifully
cut lettering and figuring, was engraved 'W &
$. Jones, Holbon, London, "-evidently the
company name OF the makers. There was this,
also,-"Lat d deg, % min, % sec" AS | sat
carefully examining this old-style chrOnometer
gradually became able to explain to myself
how il came where had Just been so surprised
10 find it; and, in word, have perhaps no
longer any reason to doubt that this must be the
identical sun-dial that remember to have first
seen, about the year 1926 on porch Of one of
the row of college buildings Harvard hall,
Hollis hall, &C., &c.,-at Cambridge.
Here is what now indistincty recollect of the
circumstances under which find myself some
what strangely in possession of tins old relic:
n Sixteen or twenty years ago--certain-
ly previous TO the year 1852, the year when ne
dled-mY father bought tins instrument, for
mere trite, OF some obscure dealer in second
hand articles, etc, IN Bosom. My fathers ac-
count OF lift remember at all correctly-was
that the ShOpkeeDer had represented to him
that the sun dial came from neighborinr town.
having been condemned and thrown aside for
some reason or other. My father, however
recognized, or at least thought he recognized
the instrument in moment, paid the price and
took ii away, not deeming it eXDedIent TO I'M.
part his suspicious to the man OF Old Junk. in
regard 10 the article that had Just changed own
erS. remember somewhat distinctly, at the
time when my father came home and showed
me his purchase, that he expressed ave doubts
OF the truth of the shopkeeper'S story; also that
months afterwards, he determined, on the next
occasion Of going TO Boston, TO take the sun dial
BACK to Cambridge, whence it seemed so highly
probable that it must have been stolen. Mean.
WINE, the instrument was temporarily laid out
OF sight in our attic, among great variety of
articles that, not being in daily USE naturally
hnd their way TO such repositories Weeks
months, and years passed away, until, in o.
tober, 1852, my father, feeble and forgetful
through old age, at last crossed the bourne be-
Eond which time and the measures of time are
no longer known. From the day of his death,
and indeed from date long previous to that
event, DO not remember to have once had that
OLD dlal before my eyes or IN my thoughts.
Inns IS all my memory has retained of the
facts in the case NM Ny object in writing is
to inquire whether the ancient sun dial of Har.
ward hall, If that be the building, is missing,
and, II SO, whether the shop keepers improba,
BILE story can possibly be correct as to its hayinr
been thrown aside, &c., &c. The instrument
am writing about is ten or eleven inches IN di-
ameter and Of very highly finished workman
sup. 1t has evidently been at some time long
exposed to the weather; but, in so far as can
judge, 1t Is entirely unnjured, and is as perlect
Tor its use as it ever was NM But briefly and
to the point, if, as ] can hardly doubt this sun
DIAL was stolen from Harvard hall, or wherever
1t was placed among the group of COLLEGE
buildings, should DE most happy to return il,
IT, alter all, by any possibility ii does not belong
to the university at Cambridge, | purpose to
keep it until can make inquiries elsewhere.
Ills research, OF course would have been rem
dercd needless if the longitude as well as the
IltItnHp for IL.
designed had been en- craven on il
Hoping to hear from you soon in reply to
this, remain, most respectfully,
our obedlent Sc want
GEORGE Jacques
10 Thomas Hill, D. D., president of Harvard
university
To this letter. the substance of which have
Just quoted, President Hill made the following
reply:
CAMBRIDGE, August % 1867.
Ny Dear Sill have made particular in
qurleS since the receipt of your lavor Of the
18Th instant, among the older off .ers Of the
college, and can only give YOU. these facts.
gathered from them and from the records,
/. Many mathematical and astronomical in
strumentS were given to the COLLEGE, of which
dnd only the value recorded, but without descrip
tion.
2. A sundial made in ENGLAND, ten or twelve
inches in diameter, was given to the college, and
p iced on the steps in front of HIrvard hall |
When the college added the vestibule to the |
original hall built by the province, this sundial |
was put upon projecting stone under the sec
ond story window of this vestibule. More than |
twenty wears ago, it was stolen at night-as was
supposek by miscmeVous students FROM mere
sport. lit now appears probable that it was
subsequently sold to a junk dealer, and by him
sold TO your fatner.)
md no record of the Gift OF this dial TO the
college, although may find it on further search
But II is matter OF certainty that, however the
college came by it, she never parted with it vol
untarllv-lt was stolen from her; and it is a
matter of strong probability that it is the verv
DIAL IN your possession. As an astronomical in-
Strum mt, it has oil course, in our DAYS of twenty
three leet telescopes and eectro-chronO graphs
NO value to the COLLEGE, and could be useful only
IN country town, off tine line OF direct railroa1
communication, But, as souvenir of the past.
and as the probable rift OF donor whose name
may vet recover, it has a value TO us: and the
college will accept gratefully your offer to return
1t 10 us, at your convenience.
nave business frequently in Sutton, and il
you think the claim of the college to the owner
ship IS made ont will call for it some day, as
return from Sutton, and bring it home in my
own hands. Or, If you wish to brinr it yourSrif
at any time, should be happy to see YOU, and
show You the other astronomical resources OF
tue college at the expiration OF Il century from
the time when Harvard hall was built and the
sundial probably erected. Very respectfully
yours, THOMAs HItr
Here properly ends the second ehaoter of nv
narrative, which, indeed. needs only a word or
two more to be as full and complete as, from
any present knowledge of mine, I can make it,
The PROMISED visit from President Hill was
never made. In anticipation of it, however,
kept the dial on my bedroom table for months
when ut length there occurred under my general.
ly quiet root one of those domestic catacvsms
styltd-idr eupbenliSte-"h OuSe-ceanng" and
the Old solar horologe was again ignOmiliously
remanded 10 its former retirement in NV attic.
where again came upon it last SUMMER e.
IN July, 1871 And now, moi having had occa
sion to go to Boston for over year, and NOT
knowing when | may have Il call to that quar-
ter OF the State, | have determined TO send this
instrument "home, as a consignment TO ,our. |
sell. And sincerely hope that, the next time |
visit Cambridge, | may have the satisfaction to |
see it here again Sin position, Not less as an
old-style timekeepcr, than as a memento of the
ancient days when Massachusetts was a B itish
colony, and George the Third was king"
=, iruly yours, GEORGE JAQuEs.
10 Prol. Ellis Peterson, Harvard University.
Fun IN lNDIANAPoLIs.-A day or two since |
a ruralist from Anderson, or theetbDuts visited |
The city on business, and in the cumse of hi |
petegrlnltions purchased n package Of Romu |
candles for the purpose of anu ,ing his progeny |