Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-11-26
WHERE ARE WE AT2
The Problem Of the Centuries Re-
viycd-Is This the Eighteenth
or tho Nineteenth

10 -,
column devoted to questions ana AZ
swers, replying TO j, A, Marble fails,
Texas, who evidently asked why i t,ls
is called the 10Th century, sald' -, ~
cause at the end Of II the world VIII pc
1900 years older than it was az uie
made In the Daily Republic on the -lsI
of October, last. Again, in the Issue
of the same paper of the date OF lSth
of November, under the heading, Notes
for the Curious is this statement
Thus 1t is plain to be seen that inc
Nineteenth century will not end untii
L. O'Clock, midnight, on December 81,
1900, and that the Twentieth century
will begin Immediately and will be mark
ed, Jan. /. IDOL Evidently the editor
Is speaking from the old custom of call
ing this, the Nineteenth century, when
is an error and easily disproved Inc
time he fixes for the Twentieth century
viii be only the beginning Of the Nine
teenth century. The custom of calling
this the Nineteenth century arose main-
ly from the manner of dating lime, say,
1893, supposing it to be 03 years over
and above 1870, and the error consists
in saying 1900 and 93. which is not cor
rect 1t is intended to mean the 93rl
year of the Eighteenth century. 1t is
the vilest sophistry, and serves to con-
fuse thoughtful students of history by
placing specified events in the wrong
century. OF Tue ftHANIN lutNu Ol lut
date. | witnessed the confusion of
teacher who was examining a student
asking "whAt time in the Eleventh
century did the battle of Hastings oc-
cur?' The thoughtful young man re-
Piled 81 do not find it in the Eleventh,
but in the Tenth century, on the 18th
day Of October. 10G6" He was right:
II it was not the siNty-sixth year Of the
Tenth century. what was it, The edit
or of the Republic is therefore wrong
when he states that the world will be
1900 years older at the end Of this cen
fury than it was at the birth of Christ.
il will be only 1900 years older for the
reason given by DR. Stout of Dallas
that IF the First century included 100
years. the Eighteenth century is also
entitled to its complement OF years, and
j. NOT ended until the ey0iration Of the
Goth year of the century, therefore this
is only the Eighteenth century, The
error is not in the system of chronology,
but in the thonghtlessness of teachers
who take no pains to think for them
selves, and follow in preference an
erring custom handed down to them
by supposed scientists, The time be
tween the ending of the Eighteenth
centry-our time-ani the begin
ming of the Twentieth century is Just
100 years wide. But. ms the custom
stands the LIST day Of January, 1900.
will be hailed by feryid orators and flu
1t is automatic that q day, or n year.
or century Is never complete until its
last second Of time has expired. At
the end of the Seventeenth century the
Eighteenth century began; and TO fill
out its existence the Eighteenth will
have TO complete its term before the
Nineteenth can come to the front. If
that is not true. there is no truth in
| chronology What is then gained by
| overlapping the centuries, saying this is
| the NincteenthY Only this. by overlap
| ping all the way back the First century.
| the .grandest Of all centuries, will he
| inevitably smOthered out and have moth
| ing loft 10 overlap. Try 1t backward
| and see for yourself.
II is not with the centuries as II is
with & running count The century has
| n definite status beginning All one
and ending with ninety-niue; and all Of
| them progress in the same manner.
| When one Is out, another instantly oc-
cupies the stand from which the first
was DISPLACED, and the greatest events
| of historical interest occurring in either
| Is announced as belonging to ii alone
| The date of tho 1th of July. 1TTG. i,
recognized as the date Of the declaration
| OF The indenrndence OF the United States
| and the dating Is verv truthful as IL
stands. meaning the 10Th wear Of the
| seventeenth century. The war Of seccs-
| sion il dotcd in history as beginning in
| 1861. meaning the G1st year of the
| Eighteenth century. I am aware that
| 1t Is a thanliless job, FIGHTING an old cs-
| t0hlished custom. hut this does NOT de-
ter me from defending my own CON
| yictiOns.
might MS well state here that the
same error exists in reference to the legal
| are OF men. A young man votes. and
| M the rast Of Il, when he has passed
| IBIS twentv-tirst birthday, when in truth
he has only entered on his twenty-iirst
year, and is not twenty-onc years Of age
| until that year has expired If. there
fore, he had case in court involving
such n question: he wopll have To plead
| strongly on the custom dodge to gain his
suit year Is not u year until it has
come to It's end.
Respectfully,
~ @. OSBORN. NJ u
| The above communication Is nm answer
to much disputed question, in which the
writer takes the ground that we are liv-
ing in the eighteenth century. II this
opinion should obtain there would be a
direfu confusion in dates. and there
would have to he an unearning of much
that has been in nany instances most
painfully acquired.
The argument which, in our judgment.
sustains the popular theory that we are
now living in the Nineteenth century is
this; When the first ninety-nine years
of the Christian era ended it was the sec
ond century which followed, hence the
year loi was not in the first, but in the
second century. The year POO began the
third century, and so on down the line
Of the centuries until now, and the first
day of January in the year of our Lord
1900 will usher in the twentieth century,
unless we do not admit that the first hun
bred years of the Christian era constituted
century.