The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-10-01

Al hnoWleuSe. IHe youth > department
in the newspapers and magazines is
growing into Importance and their let
ters to the editors betoken studious in
quiring minds. The art of letter writing
is itself not only an accomplishment, but
good part of polished education.
Letters indicate character and good let
tiers require thought. The letters OF
notable men and women are the best
part of their biographies. They are
an index to the heart, the emotions,
the disposition. Time was when but
few could write at all, and the opening
OF mail IN country town was a small
affair. | know from experience, for
when was in my teens my father was
the postmaster and l had the work to
DO. There are now at least ten letters
per capita to where there was one in
those days. One great drawback on let
ter writing then was the cost of postage.
A letter to place within the State was
1212 cents and the postage had to be
paid by the person receiving it, and if
1t was a poor letter he felt like he was
cheated. Many a letter was handed
back to me with such remark as
well, Il reckon it's from Dick Jones,
over in Arkansas, and / hain't got the
money. just put it back until | come
ag'in.'
1t keeps me busy nowadays to an
swer all the letters / receive. My wife
and daughters help to keep up the CORE
spondence with the faraway boys and
the other kindred, but good friends who
write kind letters to me must be an
swered in person. Such letters are a
pleasure and a comfort. M
Then, there are many letters asking
for charity or a little help for a church
that only remind me how poor I am.
But these letters from inquiring minds
who are in pursuit of knowledge and
perplexed about the mysteries of nature
always interest me, and | have to pre-
tend to be wise man whether / am or
not
Now, here is one from a pretty school
girl in her teens / know that she is
pretty, because she writes a pretty let
ter and there is not blot nor an era
sure or an misspelled word. She wants
to know where the day begins and why,
and where the nayigators first find a
change. OF course that is worth know
ing, and | suppose that very few out
side of the colleges and the continental
travellers and the sea-faring men UNI
derstand it.
Well, my dear girl, the day begins just
where man begun-in the garden of
Eden. If the Creator had chosen New
York or Charleston for that garden, the
day would have begun over here on this
continent and extended westward to
California. as the people multiplied and
carried it there. OF course the day kept
its name and its date around, and east
of Palestine as far. as the sea. but
westward the tide of empire takes its
way" and so did the tide of time. Co
lumbus brought the day with him to
this continent. From our eastern coast
the people took it to California, and
from there the missionaries took it to
the Sandwich Islands, and it fcontinued
to follow the sun until the navigators
got around to Bombay and Hong Kong
and Cairo and found they had lost a
day and it was Monday instead of Sum
day. And those who sailed eastward
and travelled against the sun found
they had gained a day and it was Sat
urday instead of Sunday.
But it is not so now, for there is an
international line in midocean-a mon
dean that has been established by the
great powers and accepted by the navi-
date line. This line is 100 degrees west
of Greenwich and runs from New Zea-
land north to Beering straits and goes
not far from Samoa. 1t is just half way
around the world from London and is
called the Antipode of Greenwich. 1t is
1900 miles west of Hawaii and 5000
miles west Of San Francisco. This line
is check-marked on the up-to-date maps
and Sunday is printed on the west side
and Monday on the east. Nayigators
tell by their log books and compass
when they have reached it, and the
captain or the mate announces with
great ceremony: set the day clock
back twenty-four hours. We have
crossed the line
For many years our American rail-
ways. as they pressed their way from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, found the
question of time very confusing, and
hence by consent of action they es-
tablished four divisions Of railway time
and marked longitudinal lines 1000
miles apart to indicate them. When
the train crosses one of these lines the
passengers set their watches back or
forward just one hour, for the sun
moves or seems to move Just 1000 miles
an hour These mondean lines divide
time into eastern, central, mountain, and
Pacific, and they pass through New
York city, ST. Louis, Denver and Car
son City, and therefore when it is II
O'Clock in New York city it is only 8
O'Clock in California. The railroad com
panies, however, could not cut their lines
in two to suit these mondeans and hence
their railroad time is a zig-zag crooked
line to fit their terminal points, but it
approximates the mondean.
This is not all that could be written
about time and where the day begins,
but it is enough to satisfy the school
girls and boys, and especially the pref
ty girl who writes me from McRae. In
these days Of telegraph and ocean cables
it seems very funny to us veterans that
when a message is sent from London it
gets here two or three hours before it
starts, and if we send telegram to San
Francisco today at noon it gets there at
8 O'Clock this morning. The battle of
Manila was fought ON Sunday morning,
but the news of ii came on Saturday
night before. How is that!
Edgar Poe wrote a pretty little story
called ''Three Sundays in Week." in
which he told about a young man who
r..ac adonfad and raa,.ad ~, n r;.l Ill