The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1894-03-23
WHEN DOES THE CENTURY BEGIN
The Twentieth Does Not Commence Until
January l, 1901.

New York Mail and Express.
At an uptown club the her after
noon it was the following remark upon
this subject of a new century which
set the ball a-rolling;
"To thoughtful man the midnight
of New Years eve must be solemn
moment. (The speaker considered
himself a conversatiOnalist. One
marks the glimmer of another mile
post on the highroad of time, and he
realizes that his feet rest upon the
boundary that divides past and fu-
ture."
Good effort. old man, interrupted
his vis-a-ys irreverently.
The conyersationalist eyed him Sc
verely and continued; About that
time he makes resolves and has even
been known to keep them. But think
of crossing the threshold of century
of making new resolutions and turn
ing over new leaves for a hundred
years: That is an experience only
given to a few and then but once in a
lifetime. We are all of us coming to
it too, if we only live seven years
longcr.h J
"You mean six, though, not seven"
corrected his companion, with a smile
of conscious superiority.
"No; that's where you are away
off: Now wait, and just count them
on your ilngers-'94, '95, '96, '97, '9S,
80. 1900. You see, that's
"Oh, hold on; 1900 isn't in it, you
know; that belongs to the next cent
ury."
The smile of conscious superiority
in turn spread over the features of the
man who had first spoken.
my dear boy, you had better go
back to your kindergarten and learn
how to cou IT."
Nothing but bet could logical ly
follow sach remark, and bottles of
the usual size and quality were wa
gered amid much disputing on the
part of interested bystandcrs.
The dudes across the room, while
they watched the proceedings, forgot
for a moment to stare at the girls hur-
rying along the avenue, but sat de-
vouring their cane heads, their eyes
bulging like inverted soup plates, in
an attitude which they mistook for
that of deep thought. Then they
rung for cigarettes and Irish icebcrgs.
Since then the club has been in a
gentle ferment, and the amount of
wagers awaiting settlement is some
thing awful TO contemplate.
To relieve these peoples minds and
to put the doubts of Others at rest
the Mail and Express gives the fol-
lowing explanation and On excellent
authority:
1901 IS THE FIRST YEAR.
The confusion all seems to arise
from the fact that the number of the
year which goes to complete the cent
ury, as the year 1900 or 1900 or 1900,
always contains the two figures of the
century which is to follow. One
would not think of saying in ordnar.
counting that the number 100 belong
ed outside of the first hundred, or
that the second hundred began before
the number 20l. So in counting tht
years of a century the year 1900, for in
stance. every day Of 1t until midnight
of December 3lst, Is necessary to com
plete the full measure of the years OF
the nineteenth century. The twenti
eth will not begin until the following
day, which will be January !, 1901.
1t is probable, however, that during
the last years of every century of TIN
Christian era the same subject ha
been discussed, with the same diver
sity of opinion. This only goes t,
! show how little humanity learns from
! facts not handed down consecutivel.
from generation to generation. LIE
but slight break occur in the con
stant scrutiny Of an idea, and tn
ground must be retraced as lesson
! repeated In the ears Of inattentiv
0 children.
In 1868 there appeared IN the His