“Is it?” said Rollo.
“Yes,” said his father, “I think it is the biggest gnomon I ever saw.
“But how are you going to mark the hour lines, Rollo?” asked his father.
“Why, we are going to drive little stakes down into the ground.”
“’Seems to me that you can contrive some better plan than that,” said his father.
“Why?” said Rollo. “Is not that a good plan?”
“Not very good,” he replied; “because you cannot be exact in driving down stakes. The beauty of a dial is its exactness. I should think that you would do better to put a board down upon the ground, and mark your lines upon that.”
“O, the board would get knocked about,” said Rollo.
“I dare say that Jonas would contrive some way to keep it steady.”
“But he says he can’t do any thing more about the dial to-day, for he must attend to his work.”