Good Mistress Sundial Lyrics
Someone asks a sundial what the hour is. She cannot say, because it is raining and she only works when the sun shines on her. She suggests asking her neighbour, the Four-o'clock.
Good Mistress Sundial
"Good Mistress Sundial, what's the hour?"
"Alack! to tell you I haven't power.
It rains; and I only can work, you see,
When the sun is casting his light upon me.
I'm nothing at all but a senseless block
Whenever his beautiful rays depart;
But ask my neighbor, the Four-o'clock;
She carries the time o' day in her heart."
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/good-mistress-sundial/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Mary Mapes Dodge
- Tune
- Two voices: a polite question and a regretful answer
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
What Does Good Mistress Sundial Mean?
A sundial tells the time by the shadow of a pointer, which only falls when the sun is shining. That is the whole joke of the answer: on a rainy day Mistress Sundial is "nothing at all but a senseless block", a piece of stone with no shadow to read. Alack is an old exclamation of regret, like oh dear.
Her suggestion is a pleasant surprise. The four-o'clock is a garden flower whose blooms open in the late afternoon, so it "carries the time o' day in her heart" in a way no clock does. The little conversation has two speakers, and children can take one part each.
History and Origin
The verse is in Rhymes and Jingles by Mary Mapes Dodge. The title page is dated 1875, although the copyright entry in the book says 1874.
Learning Activities
- Shadow clock: push a stick into the ground on a sunny day and mark where its shadow falls every hour.
- Two voices: one person asks the time, and the other answers as the sundial.
- Rainy-day clock: talk about other ways to tell the time when it is cloudy, such as a clock or a watch.
- Look up a flower: find a picture of a four-o'clock plant and see when its flowers open.