Lewisburg chronicle, and West Branch farmer. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1850, 1850-01-23
What Time Is uV

The 'Good Samaritan quotes our cor
recied statement with regard to the COM
pIc,ion Of the first halt Of the present cen.
,ury, (,hough We observe that owing to
mistake of their printer our article as quoted
will be unin,eligibIe to the readers. Of the
Samariian.) but disputes lis accuracy, and
presents the following adverse argument:
I'VE suppose that from the birth Of Christ, 365
DAYS had to expire before he was one yesr old and
ths, ,hose 365 days the frs, year Of the first
century. When the clock struck IL at midnight
al the end of those 365 days. the first year as
endeJ, when men began 10 count ONE, and imme-
distely the second year cOmmenced.and was CON-
ple,ed at the end OF 365 dSys,when men began to
count TWO. And if you 60 on thus 10 the end
OF the first century, you vii find that when men
began TO count one hundred l 90 years had already
expired so that what you call the year 100
was'' not 1.-THE last year Of the frs, century,, but
the first wear Of the second century. BY the same
mode of computation, you will find that the mo-
ment we began to count 1919. We we re in the
OH year OF the present century, and that now
we are in the 5lst year, sltho' we say 1850 until
The year 81 is comple,ed-just as in regard to
centuries, we sre now in the nineteenth century,
sl,ho' we say 1900. (&c..) intn the nineteenth
century is completed all which we con-
clude. (wi,h much submission. however, against
such high authority as the Chronicle, New York
Tribune, Public Ledger, German Reformed
Messenger, &c) thai the FIRST half Of the nine
teenh century is already past. and th.t we are
now Fastening over thu second half as fast ss the
wheels Of time can carry u.s.
Highly respectable authorities ore ar
raycd against US on this subject, in private
circles as well as in the corps editorial
Though we find that nearly all our exchan-
ges, including the N. Y. Courier & En-
quirer,' and N. Y. Evangelist have
re,raced their steps, and now admit, after
u sober second thought iha, the first half
Of the nineteenth century is not vet com.
pIe,e. But with, or without, This support, ,
aud resting solely upon the me, Is Of the
case, we think, Brother S~ineiord, that We
are clearly rlgh, on the main question in
dispute, and ,ha, you are laboring under a
n.sapprehension as 10 the true result OF
YOUR own arguments.
The question to be solved is, Have
eighteen centuries and hall Of the Chris.
ian era been completed ? We gay not.
We allese that up to IL o'clock. noon. o.
this day. january 23dD ls4s years and
22 days and half, only, have elapsed,
and no more. We maintain that the fig
ures "ls50' do not mean the pas, year
bu, signify the curren, year. now passing,
and indicate its particular number in the
catalogue Of years. In The current d ,,e'
in use throughout Chris,en dom. the mum
her Of the year is given 10 show wha
I year We are in, (not how many, IN rount
numbers, have gone by,) and the month
and day Of the month, 10 show hCw far IL
hat particular year we have Travelled
This will be made eviden, by an inspec'io,
of every document you can lay your hand
on. in which the date is formally set forth
II you. Brother S..~ho are lawyer, shou't
be called on 10 day 10 write deed of con
veyance, you would undou bredIy proceed
as follows: "This lndeniure, made ihi.
cad day Of January, IN the year OF ou'
Lord one thousand eigh, hundred and fifty
wi,nesse,h, &c. ye, YOU say above, Ju>l
the opposite, that " now We are IN The 5ls'
year." Perhaps you will attempt 10 escape
on the plea that a sor, Of legal fiction is
connected with the matter. But if 30. on
which horn Of the dilemma will you hang
the fiction ON the deed or the ediloria!
But, taking you on your own premises,
wha, is the result! II you count one i'm
me dia,eIy aiicr the completion Of The Is,
year, and fyo AT The end Of the % year,
and so on till the present time. you will
find that at the commencement Of the
present year when all the world began to
write 1850. you could only count ls49.
aud could not by any possibility get sim
gle figure beyond it and Of course could
not, according to your own reckoning,
count 1850 nnti after I2 O'Clock p. VI. of
the 3lst day Of December next. Which
concusvely proves two facts; lst, that the
frs: half Of the nineteenth century is not
yet finished. and %, that the system Of
dates in current use does not correspond
with the theory you lay down, and could
not have originated as you suppose it did.
As we are thus doubly right, you must
necessarily be just the reverse. Quid eruf
den,onsfrandum.
Byron.