relish the restraint which their senior attempted to impose, and the instruction with which he was continually endeavoring to cram them.
"Ha! a sun-dial," said the old follow; "an excellent opportunity for investigating the subject of dials! They are of great antiquity—very great antiquity. The first we have any account of is the dial of Ahaz, of which we read in the Second of Kings, and on which the shadow went ten degrees backward, as a sign to King Hezekiah; and in this connection I deem it proper to observe that the miracle was probably effected by means of refraction, performed on the atmosphere by the agency of clouds or vapors rather than by an interruption of the course of the earth or any of the heavenly bodies. I will remark about the dial, first, as to its antiquity. Ahaz began his reign just four hundred years before Alexander, and twelve after the foundation of Rome. How long the dial was in use before the time of Ahaz, we know not; without doubt a considerable period. Some writers insist that Anaximenes, the Milesian, four hundred years before Christ, was the first who made a sun-dial. Others bestow this honor on his countryman, Thales, who lived two hundred years earlier. I will not now speak of Aristarchus, nor of Papyrius Cursor, and others named in history as having made dials; for the moderns have brought dialling to much greater perfection. Opportunity, however, is wanting, else I would give you a lecture on this rigidly mathematical science. Nevertheless, if you will lend me your crayon, I will teach you how to construct the common dial, referring you, at the same time, for more special scientific information, to the works of Rivard, De Parcieux, Dom. Bodos de Celles, Joseph Blaise Garnier, Gravesande, Emerson, Martin, and Leadbeater. Now for a gnomonic figure. Let A, B, C represent"———
"Tom! I say, Tom! what the deuce are you loitering there for? We are having lots of fun up this way."
Whereat the two youths, in the most abrupt manner, took to their heels, leaving pencil and paper in the hand of the astonished preceptor, who, slowly shaking his head, but without a word of comment, walked reluctantly forward.
