Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Webb C. Hayes, November 7, 1869

COLUMBUS, OHIO, November 7, 1869.

MY DEAR WEBB: Yesterday one of the teachers in the public schools tried an interesting experiment in the rotunda of the State House. He suspended an iron ball weighing twenty pounds by a fine wire from the top of the dome and by letting it swing as a pendulum demonstrated very satisfactorily that the earth moves from the west to the east. The wire had to be one hundred and twenty feet long to reach from the dome to the floor. A line was drawn on the floor due north and south and the ball set to swinging directly over the line. In an hour the line of the ball's motion was nine degrees variant from the north and south line, showing that in forty hours the variation would go clear around the circle. It was a curious demonstration, but while everybody saw the result, only a few seemed to fully comprehend it.

I have a large number of the coats of arms of the States cut from the letters I get. If you want them I'll send them to you. You must always write with ink. You forgot to give the year in dating your last letter. Your letter as a whole was very well written. - Ruddy and your mother send love to you and Birch.

Affectionately, your father,

R. B. HAYES.

WEBB C. HAYES,
        Fremont.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 68-9