Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-15
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

as level as one can get it without
standing on ones head.
The dial is then placed upon the
pedestal, and moved around until the
slanting or upper side of the gnomon
points North, thus casting a shadow
| across the face of the dial
Now keep on shifting the dial until
the shadow comedies with the correct
! time, as told by ones watch. For m.
hours the left edge of the shadow is
the time; for pm. hours the right edge
| The remaining hours of sunshine
must come along more or less correctly,
| provided the dial plate is perfectly
| level; and, of course, the plate kept
from shifting.
The fastening of the plate to the
| pedestal. therefore, is the next neceS-
sary step, not only to prevent it from
moving and thus throwing its time
telling abilities to the four winds, but
also to keep observers from moving it.
Most people. especially children, seem
to think that the main purpose of the
upright style Is to serve as a handle
| for them to move it.
Perhaps they feel that sundial must
be wound up like watch. At any
| rate, 8 out of 10 persons suffer from a
| desire to move the dial around on the
pedestal, and the only way to prevent
| this is to fix it down in some manner.
A neat placement for a dial, and by
far the cheapest, is an old tree trunk
which for some reason has been cut off
about 80 inches from the ground. Here
all one has to do is level off the stump
and nail or screw down the dial after
setting" it as detailed above.
Sun time, of course, is not chronom-
eter time, so one must make allow
ances, but in the main sundial will
be found to tell time with surprising
accuracy.
To coin a new Scotch joke, we would
say that the most misery man in the
world is he who protests because his
sundial will not tell time after the sun
goes down.
We repeat that the main purpose of
this old instrument today is not time
telling but beauty, especially in the
garden. Home-oWnerS feel, on the one
hand, that their gardens must have
some ornament other than grass, flow
ers and trees, but on the other they
realize that too many .pieces make a
spot Of beauty a mere museum.
Where Is the Sillier-looking garden
than the one incumbered with stone
benches, huge jars, statues, bird baths
and sundials, pergolas and other pieces,
any one or two of which might look
well, but which all together serve
merely to clutter up space which would
be better open?
The average garden looks better with
one such piece, either a bird bath or
sundial, in most cases. The fine thing
about both is that there need be neither
birds nor sun; the former is thing
Of beauty all by itself. and the second
OF beauty and great interest.
The best thing the sundial does, as
Bishop Butler suggested, is to point
North steadfastly. To those of a re-
ligious temperament it also points
Heavenward, whence ones help comes
|. The sundial Is thus not only a link
between the centuries but also is a re-
minder of the hopes and aspirations Of
mankind. Many of the notices which
adorn the rims of the dials take cog
nizance of this. The home owner who
regards the garden as a part of his
home is glad that he may have outdoors
written words which. like his books in
side, say something worth while, worth
reading. worth knowing. The sundial
comes closer than any other one thing
to being sermon in stone" 1t Is so
old that 1t is novelty, but is so per-
petually new that 1t will tell tomor-
rows time. Egypt. Rome, America, are
met together on your lawn when you
have a sundial.