Does one correct the sun? ELOISE [_From behind the dial._] Ian! Correcting the _sun_! IAN You see there are only four days in the year when the apparent time is the same as the average time. ELOISE [_In growing alarm._] Do you mean to tell me the sun is not right with _itself_? IAN I’ve tried to explain it to you, Eloise, but you said you could get the feeling of it without understanding it. This curve [_Pointing_] marks the variation. Here today, you see, the shadow is “right” as you call it--that is, average. It will be right again here in September and again on December twenty-first. ALICE My birthday! ELOISE Ian, you mean to say the sun only tells the right _sun_-time four days in the year? IAN It always tells the “right” sun-time, but here the said right sun-time is fifteen minutes behind its own average, and here it is sixteen minutes ahead. This scale here across the bottom shows you the number of minutes to add or subtract. ELOISE [_With bitterness._] Add! Subtract! Then you and your sun are false! IAN No, Eloise, not false. Merely intricate. Merely not regular. Machines are regular. ELOISE You got me to bury the clocks and live by the sun--and now you tell me you have to _fix up_ the sun. IAN It was you who said bury the clocks. ELOISE I suppose you have to do something to the North star too! IAN Yes, the North star is not true north. [_He starts to point out its error, sighting over the style of the dial._ ELOISE What _is_ true? What _is_ true? IAN [_With vision._] The mind of man. ELOISE I think I’d better have a clock. [_A new gust._] You told me I was to live by the sun and now--after the clocks are in their graves--what I am to live by is _that snake_. [_She points at diagram._ IAN You are a victim of misplaced confidence, Eloise. Sometimes when one feels things without understanding them, one feels the wrong thing. But there’s nothing to worry about. The sun and I can take care of the sun’s irregularities. EDDY Take heart, Eloise. It’s a standardized sun. IAN It’s not a blindly accepted sun! ANNIE [_Who comes as one not to be put aside._] What’ll I do when it rains? IAN You’ll use your mind. ANNIE To tell time by? [_Looking to ELOISE._] I think I’d better find another place. ALICE [_Coming forward, regarding this as a really serious matter._] No, don’t do that, Annie. ELOISE [_Tearfully._] You don’t _know_ the _wonders_ of your own mind! ANNIE No, ma’m. [_After a look at the sun, becomes terrified._] It’s going down! EDDY Yes, it goes down. ANNIE How’ll we tell time when it’s dark? IAN _Sine sole sileo._ ANNIE Is that saying how we’ll know when it’s time to go to bed? IAN The doves know when to go to bed. ANNIE The doves don’t go to the pictures. ELOISE [_Hysterically._] You’ll grow, Annie! ANNIE I’d rather have a clock! [_Exit._ IAN She’d rather have a clock than grow. ALICE Now why can’t one do both? IAN