The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-02-16
The following letter is long, but very read

N
The following letter is long, but very read.
All. The reader will understand that there
IRE only TWO questions at issue between
<tTuckahoe" and US. These are, first, Does
the night extend fcem dark till daylight
And second, Is the whole Of the night fol-
lowing Monday, Monday night, of that fol.
lowing Tuesday, Tuesday night, &c. Now.
read, and see II "Tuckahoe answers them
A Readable Letter from - Tuckahec y
Good.Humored Retorts on the bis.
patch.
fCorr.snondepce OF the Richmond Dispatch.1
KocKBRIDaE COUNTY. FA,}
February 10, 1876. J
In letter dated at Buchanan, February D,
1876. gave you some account OF the eHects
OF The storm OF that place the early part %
last week. Lest your critical remarks on
the letter should direct public attention TO
snn,a IN nocent- ID. d." of that town, or eX.
Cite unnecessary guessing. remark that the
writer Is not resident Of tbe place, neither
did he use the license, sometimes adopted,
which permits the ubiquitous correspondent
TO write from q place where he Ia not. l
was there seon after the occurrences trans.
pired, but only as traveller.
Your remark on my letter prove you to be
ho,h critic and good. natured tease. In
this case, however, my statement that the
roof of the church was blown off on the
morning of the ID has nothing 10 do with
your theory that all the darkness between
Tuesday aud Wednesday was Tuesday night.
You remember, doubtless, the old story Of
an eccentric sailor wbe appear ed before the
sapants of loyal scientific society in
London. ard asked their explanation of
most extrso: diDary feat which had occurred
on vessel then lying in the port: Another
seaman bad fallen flon the sails 10 the deck
and broken his leg; but, by the application
Of rope, be bad been Immediately restored
to the use of his limb, and enabled to 60
about on it without pain or material incon-
yenience. The Soudnts were greatly per-
picked, asked their informant many ques-
lions, and stated several HYPOTHESIS, among
which, one was that the tar usually
found on the ropes that are used about
ships might have produced the magical
effect. In despair they sent again for the
sailor. and begged him to search his mind for
some additional particulars that might aid
them in their investigations. He could give
them no more information, but added care
lessly. at the close Of the interview, that
there was one circumstance that might throw
some light on the subject-viz., the leg aods
q ,rooden one My escape in this case is
equally easy. remembered, after bad writ
ten my note, that the roof was blown Of at
O'Clock on the morning of Tuesday, and
therefore added the caret and the iDterliDea-
ton. (The boat was sunk at midnight)
might plead this as a bar to any contro-
yersy on the subject, and leave you, as MIR.
Randolph was wont to say, to your own
complacency," and to the happy enjoyment
of all the darkness between Tuesday and
Wednesday; but the spirit of retaliation
prevails even among the btst of friends, and
/ will ask you a few questions which seem
10 me to disturb your argument. II all the
darkness between the daylight of Tuesday
and the daylight OF Wednesday is Tuesday
night, what Is to become of people who rise
before day Wednesday morning! Are they
never up 10 the morning? In case OF an
other earthquake, when the Dispatch, With
extraordinary enterprise, sends its reporters
all over town to gather the particulars till
midnight has passed, what will 1t mean by
telling its readers that 1t went to press at 2
or3A. lip. Ri. Is after the meridian OF
Tuesday and holds till midnight, and A. NJ.
Is before the meridian of Wednesday and
applies to all the darkness of the night that
is left, then the first part of the night
belongs to Tuesday and the last part to
Wednesday; and If the latter be not Wed.
nesday morning it is Wednesday night; and
as o necessary consequence half Of Wednes.
day night is before daybreak Wednesday,
and the other half Is after dark Wednesday.
We shall be compelled to alter our nomencla.
ture so as to indicate whether when we say
Wednesday night We mean A. D. or =. D.
that Is, before Wednesday or after Wedues-
dag. If Wednesday begins at midnight this
conclusion is irresistible. If Wednesday
does not begin nj midnight, when does the
old year end, when does the new year be.
gin?
II we count the day of twenty-four hours
from midnight TO midnight, then, upon the
Dispatch's theory, each day gives its name to
one fourth of the next day. The first fourth
of Wednesday is Tuesday. No one can
reasonably refuse to say that night is night
and night lasts till dsybreak; but Tuesday
can't be Wednesday. "If it was not the
night Of the first, 1t was the night
OF the second" Then, as before said,
the other part of the night of the second is al
the last end Of the day, and each Gay has two
been blown of at 8 o'clock in the dark
between the two days, and l had said SO
O'Clock Tuesday night" this would have
been only half true. 1t was night, but /,
was not Tuesday, for Tuesday ended at II
midnight.
If / had said "3 O'Clock Wednesday
night" nearing in the early dark Of Wednes.
day, then, according to the Dispatch, /
would have meant, or should have meant,
O'Clock A.. M. OF Thursday; which would
have been twenty-four hours from the trath.
Iagree with the Dispatch that, strictly, night
lasts till daybreak, and, critically speaking,
our usage Is wrong when we call the last
half Of The night morning. But the Dis
patch must see that by the same exact method
of measuring language his way of avoiding
the difficulty extends each day to daybreak
the Mt xt morning, disturbs the calendar and
throws 1t into confusion, vitiaies all con-
tracts established and dated between mid
night and the dawn of day, aud declares all
the pious exercises OF those who pray the
old year out and pray the new one in, and
all the impious libations OF those who drink
4 the one out and the other 10, to be founded
"A upon delusiop.
The Jewish mode of dividing the nigh,
= into watches was more perspicuous. Yet il
Is evident that they reckoued each day tC
begin at midnight, for John, in bis account
of the resurrt ctiOD, says: "The first day Of
the week comeh Mary Magdalene, early
when it was yet dark" 1t was before day
yet il was the first, not the last day OF
the week; and 1t was the first day, aud not,
as the Dispatch would have said, the last
night. II the first chapter Of Genesis were
III Ia kkax> -