Old Time Gardens Part 23

One side has the chain of links bearing the names of the thirteen states, enclosing a sunburst bearing the words, _American Congress, We are One_. The reverse side is shown on this page. It bears a print of a sun-dial, with the motto, _Fugio, Mind Your Business_. The so-called "Franklin cent" has a similar design of a sun-dial with the same motto, and there was a beautiful "Fugio dollar" cast in silver, bronze, and pewter. Though this design and motto were evidently Franklin's taste, the motto in its use on a sun-dial was not original with Franklin, nor with any one else in the Congress, for it had been seen on dials on many English churches and houses. In the form, "Begone about Your Business,"

it was on a house in the Inner Temple; this is the tradition of the origin of this motto. The dialler sent for a motto to place under the dial, as he had been instructed by the Benchers; when the man arrived at the Library, he found but one surly old gentleman poring over a musty book. To him he said, "Please, sir, the gentlemen told me to call this hour for a motto for the sun-dial." "Begone about your business," was the testy answer. So the man painted the words under the dial; and the chance words seemed so appropriate to the Benchers that they were never removed. It is told of Dean Cotton of Bangor that he had a cross old gardener who always warded off unwelcome visitors to the deanery by saying to every one who approached, "Go about your business!" After the gardener's death the dean had this motto engraved around the sun-dial in the garden, "Goa bou tyo urb us in ess, 1838." Thus the gardener's growl became his epitaph. Another form was, "Be about Your Business," and it is a suggestive fact that it was on a dial on the General Post-office in London in 1756. Franklin's interest in and knowledge of postal matters, his long residence in London, and service under the crown as American postmaster general, must have familiarized him with this dial, and I am convinced it furnished to him the notion for the design on the first bank-note and coins of the new nation.

An interesting bit of history allied to America is given to us in the finding of a sun-dial which gives to American students of heraldic antiquities another dated s.h.i.+eld of the Was.h.i.+ngton "stars and stripes."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sun-dial at "Was.h.i.+ngton House," Little Brington, England.]

In Little Brington, Northamptons.h.i.+re, stands a house known as "The Was.h.i.+ngton House," which gave shelter to the Was.h.i.+ngtons of Sulgrave after the fall of their fortunes. Within a stone's throw of the house has recently been found a sun-dial having the Was.h.i.+ngton arms (argent) two bars, and in chief three mullets (gules) carved upon it, with the date 1617. The existence of this stone has been known for forty years; but it has never been closely examined and noted till recently. It is a circular slab of sandstone three inches thick and sixteen inches in diameter. The gnomon is lacking. The lines, figures, and s.h.i.+eld are incised, and the letters R. W. can be dimly seen. These were probably the initials of Robert Was.h.i.+ngton, great uncle of the two emigrants to Virginia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dial-face from Mount Vernon.]

Through the kindness of Mr. A. L. Y. Morley, a faithful antiquary of Great Barrington, I have the pleasure of giving, on page 367, a representation of this interesting dial. It is shown leaning against the "pump-stand" in the yard of the "Was.h.i.+ngton House"; and the pump seems as ancient as the dial.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sun-dial of Mary Was.h.i.+ngton, Fredericksburg, Virginia.]

In this book are three other sun-dials a.s.sociated with George Was.h.i.+ngton. At Mount Vernon there stands at the front of the entrance door a modern sun-dial. The fine old metal dial-face, about ten inches in diameter, which in Was.h.i.+ngton's day was placed on the same site, is now the property of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, Jr., of New York. It was given to him by Mr. Custis; a picture of it is shown on page 368. This dial-face is a splendid relic; one closely a.s.sociated with Was.h.i.+ngton's everyday life, and full of suggestion and sentiment to every thoughtful beholder. The sun-dial which stood in the old Fredericksburg garden of Mary Was.h.i.+ngton, the mother of George Was.h.i.+ngton, still stands in Fredericksburg, in the grounds of Mr. Doswell. A photograph of it is reproduced on page 369. The fourth historic dial is on page 371. It is the one at Kenmore, the home built by Fielding Lewis for his bride, Betty Was.h.i.+ngton, the sister of George Was.h.i.+ngton, on ground adjoining her mother's home. A part of the garden which connected these two Was.h.i.+ngton homes is shown on page 228. These three American sun-dials afford an interesting proof of the universal presence of sun-dials in Virginian homes of wealth, and they also show the kind of dial-face which was generally used. Another ancient dial (page 350) at Travellers'

Rest, a near-by Virginian country seat, is similar in shape to these three, and differs but little in mounting.

In Pennsylvania and Virginia sun-dials have lingered in use in front of court-houses, on churches, and in a few old garden dials. In New England I scarcely know an old garden dial still standing in its original place on its original pedestal. Four old ones of bra.s.s or pewter are shown in the ill.u.s.tration on page 379. These once stood in New England gardens or on the window sills of old houses; one was taken from a sunny window ledge to give to me.

Perhaps the attention paid the doings of the American Philosophical Society, and the number of scientists living near Philadelphia, may account for the many sun-dials set up in the vicinity of the town.

G.o.dfrey, the maker of G.o.dfrey's Quadrant, was one of those scientific investigators, and must have been a famous "dialler."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Kenmore, the Home of Betty Was.h.i.+ngton Lewis.]

On page 373 is shown an ancient sun-dial in the garden of Charles F.

Jenkins, Esq., in Germantown, Pennsylvania. This sun-dial originally belonged to Nathan Spencer, who lived in Germantown prior to and during the Revolutionary War. Hepzibah Spencer, his daughter, married, and took the sun-dial to Byberry. Her daughter carried the sun-dial to Gwynedd when her name was changed to Jenkins; and their grandson, the present owner, rescued it from the chicken house with the gnomon missing, which was afterward found. Its inscription, "Time waits for No Man," is an old punning device on the word gnomon.

At one time dialling was taught by many a country schoolmaster, and excellent and accurate sun-dials were made and set up by country workmen, usually masons of slight education. In Scotland the making of sun-dials has never died out. In America many pewter sun-dials were cast in moulds of steat.i.te or other material. A few dial-makers still remain; one in lower New York makes very interesting-looking sun-dials of bra.s.s, which, properly discolored and stained, find a ready sale in uptown shops. I doubt if these are ever made for any special geographical point, but there is in a small Pennsylvania town an old Quaker who makes carefully calculated and accurate sun-dials, computed by logarithms for special places. I should like to see him "sit like a shepherd carving out dials, quaintly point by point." I have a very pretty circular bra.s.s dial of his making, about eight inches in diameter. He writes me that "the dial sent thee is a good students' dial, fit to set outside the window for a young man to use and study by in college," which would indicate to me that my Quaker dialler knows another type of collegian from those of my acquaintance, who would find the time set by a sun-dial rather slow.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sun-dial in Garden of Charles F. Jenkins, Esq., Germantown, Pennsylvania.]

There have been those who truly loved sun-dials. Sir William Temple ordered that after his death his heart should be buried under the sun-dial in his garden--where his heart had been in life. 'Tis not unusual to see a sun-dial over the gate to a burial ground, and a n.o.ble emblem it is in that place; one at Mount Auburn Cemetery, near Boston, bears a pleasing motto written originally by John G. Whittier for his friend, Dr. Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, and inscribed on a beautiful silver sun-dial now owned by Dr. Vincent Y. Bowditch of Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts. A facsimile of this dial was also placed before the Manor House on the island of Naushon by Mr. John M. Forbes in memory of Dr.

Bowditch. The lines run thus:--

WITH WARNING HAND I MARK TIME'S RAPID FLIGHT FROM LIFE'S GLAD MORNING TO ITS SOLEMN NIGHT.

YET, THROUGH THE DEAR G.o.d'S LOVE I ALSO SHOW THERE'S LIGHT ABOVE ME, BY THE SHADE BELOW.

A sun-dial is to me, in many places, a far more inspiring memorial than a monument or tablet. Let me give as an example the fine sun-dial, designed by W. Gedney Beatty, Esq., and shown on page 359, which was erected on the grounds of the Memorial Hospital at Morristown, New Jersey, by the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, to mark the spot where Was.h.i.+ngton partook of the Communion.

What dignified and appropriate church appointments sun-dials are. A simple and impressive bronze vertical dial on the wall of the Dutch Reformed Church on West End Avenue, New York, is shown on page 346. The sun-dial standing before the rectory of Grace Church on Broadway, New York, is on page 364.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sun-dial at Ophir Farm, White Plains, New York, Country-seat of Hon. Whitelaw Reid.]

There is ever much question as to a suitable pedestal for garden sun-dials: it must not stand so high that the dial-face cannot be looked down upon by grown persons; it must not be so light as to seem rickety, nor so heavy as to be clumsy. A very good rule is to err on the side of simplicity in sun-dials for ordinary gardens. What I regard as a very satisfactory pedestal and mounting in every particular may be seen in the ill.u.s.tration facing page 80, showing the sun-dial in the garden of Charles E. Mather, Esq., at Avonwood Court, Haverford, Pennsylvania.

Sometimes the pillars of old bal.u.s.trades, old fence posts, and even parts of old tombs and monuments, have been used as pedestals for sun-dials. How pleasantly Sylvana in her _Letters to an Unknown Friend_, tells us and shows to us her cheerful sun-dial mounted on the four corners of an old tombstone with this fine motto cut into the upper step, _Lux et umbra vicissim sed semper amor_. I mean to search the stone-cutters' waste heap this summer and see whether I cannot rob the grave to mark the hours of my life. Charles d.i.c.kens had at Gads.h.i.+ll a sun-dial set on one of the pillars of the bal.u.s.trade of Old Rochester Bridge. From Italy and Greece marble pillars have been sent from ancient ruins to be set up as dial pedestals.

If possible, the pedestal as well as the dial-face of a handsome sun-dial should have some significance through a.s.sociation, suggestion, or history. At Ophir Farm, White Plains, New York, the country-seat of Hon. Whitelaw Reid, may be seen a sun-dial full of exquisite significance. It is shown on page 375. The signs of the Zodiac in finely designed bronze are set on the symmetrical marble pedestal, and seem wonderfully harmonious and appropriate. This sun-dial is a literal exemplification of the words of Emerson:--

"A calendar Exact to days, exact to hours, Counted on the s.p.a.cious dial Yon broidered Zodiac girds."

The dial-face is upheld by a carefully modelled tortoise in bronze, which is an equally suggestive emblem, connected with the tradition, folk-lore, and religious beliefs of both primitive and cultured peoples; it is specially full of meaning in this place. The whole sun-dial shows much thought and aesthetic perception in the designer and owner, and cannot fail to prove gratifying to all observers having either sensibility or judgment.

Occasionally a very unusual and beautiful sun-dial standard may be seen, like the one in the Rose garden at Yaddo, Saratoga, New York, a copy of rarely beautiful Pompeian carvings. A representation of this is shown on page 86. Copies of simpler antique carvings make excellent sun-dial pedestals; a safe rule to follow is to have a reproduction made of some well-proportioned English or Scotch pedestal. The latter are well suited to small gardens. I have drawings of several Scotch sun-dials and pedestals which would be charming in American gardens. In the gardens at Hillside, by the side of the Shakespeare Border is a sun-dial (page 378) which is an exact reproduction of the one in the garden at Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott. This pedestal is suited to its surroundings, is well proportioned; and has historic interest. It forms an excellent example of Charles Lamb's "garden-altar."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sun-dial at Hillside, Menand's, near Albany, New York.]

On a lawn or in any suitable spot the dial-face can be mounted on a boulder; one is here shown. I prefer a pedestal. For gardens of limited size, much simplicity of design is more pleasing and more fitting than any elaborate carving. In an Italian garden, or in any formal garden whose work in stone or marble is costly and artistic, the sun-dial pedestal should be the climax in richness of carving of all the garden furnis.h.i.+ng. I like the pedestal set on a little platform, so two or three steps may be taken up to it from the garden level; but after all, no rules can be given for the dial's setting. It may be planted with vines, or stand unornamented; it may be set low, and be looked down upon, or it may be raised high up on a side wall; but wherever it is, it must not be for a single minute in shadow; no trees or overhanging shrubs should be near it; it is a child of the sun, and lives only in the sun's full rays.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Old Bra.s.s and Pewter Dial-faces.]

In the lovely old garden at the home of Frederick J. Kingsbury, Esq., at Waterbury, Conn., is a sun-dial bearing the motto, "_Horas non numero nisi serenas_," and the dates 1739-1751,--the dates of the building of the old and new houses on land that has been in the immediate family since 1739. Around this dial is a crescent-shaped bed of Zinnias, and very satisfactory do they prove. This garden has fine Box edgings; one is shown on page 173, a Box walk, set in 1851 with ancient Box brought from the garden of Mr. Kingsbury's great-great-grandfather.

The gnomon of a sun-dial is usually a simple plate of metal in the general shape of a right-angled triangle, cut often in some pierced design, and occasionally inscribed with a motto, name, or date.

Sometimes the dial-maker placed on the gnomon various Masonic symbols--the compa.s.s, square, and triangle, or the coat of arms of the dial owner.

One old English dial fitting we have never copied in America. It was the taste of the days of the Stuart kings, days of constant jesting and amus.e.m.e.nt and practical jokes. Concealed water jets were placed which wet the clothing of the unwary one who lingered to consult the dial-face.

The significance of the sun-dial, as well as its cla.s.sicism, was sure to be felt by artists. In the paintings of Holbein, of Albert Durer, dials may be seen, not idly painted, but with symbolic meaning. The mystic import of a sun-dial is shown in full effect in that perfect picture, _Beata Beatrix_, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. I have chosen to show here (facing page 380) the _Beata Beatrix_ owned by Charles L. Hutchinson, Esq., of Chicago, as being less photographed and known than the one of the British Gallery, from which it varies slightly and also because it has the beautiful predella. In this picture, in the words of its poet-painter:--

"Love's Hour stands.

Its eyes invisible Watch till the dial's thin brown shade Be born--yea, till the journeying line be laid Upon the point."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Beata Beatrix.]

Andrew Marvell wrote two centuries ago of the floral sun-dials which were the height of the gardening mode of his day:--

"How well the skilful gardener drew Of flowers and herbs this dial new.

When from above the milder sun Does through a fragrant zodiac run; And as it works the industrious bee Computes its time as well as we!

How could such sweet and wholesome hours Be reckoned but with herbs and flowers!"

These were sometimes set of diverse flowers, sometimes of Mallows. Two of growing Box are described and displayed in the chapter on Box edgings.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Faithful Gardener.]

Linnaeus made a list of forty-six flowers which const.i.tuted what he termed the Horologe or Watch of Flora, and he gave what he called their exact hours of rising and setting. He divided them into three cla.s.ses: Meteoric, Tropical, and Equinoctial flowers. Among those which he named are:--

=========================================================== | OPENING HOUR. | CLOSING HOUR.

----------------------------------------------------------- Dandelion | 5-6 A.M. | 8-9 P.M.

Mouse-ear Hawkweed | 8 A.M. | 2 P.M.

Sow Thistle | 5 A.M. | 11-12 P.M.

Yellow Goat-beard | 3-5 A.M. | 9-10 (?) White Water Lily | 7 A.M. | 7 P.M.

Day Lily | 5 A.M. | 7-8 P.M.

Convolvulus | 5-6 A.M. | Mallow | 9-10 A.M. | Pimpernel | 7-8 A.M. | Portulaca | 9-10 A.M. | Pink (_Dianthus prolifer_) | 8 A.M. | 1 P.M.

Succory | 4-5 A.M. | Calendula | 7 A.M. | 3-4 P.M.

Of course these hours would vary in this country. And I must say very frankly that I think we should always be behind time if we trusted to Flora's Horologe. This floral clock of Linnaeus was calculated for Upsala, Sweden; De Candolle gave another for Paris, and one has been arranged for our Eastern states.