The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-01-15

tence ala not and could not begin gu
the conclusion OF the fuli period OF wv
years after his death.
Lot rs assume this son 70 nave bsen
born contemporaneously with christ, from
whom the era takes It's name. Tnen inc
year | would have been the hrst year
Of the cblld's life; the year the see,
ond. the year 90, the ninety-nintn, ana
40 forth. That the years OF the Christian
ticle OF doubt. The year L. or the year
100. or any other year. Is composed OF
Ss5 days. II has beginning and an ena.
ing. II Is composed OF the first day ana
OF the last day and OF all the Intermediate
days. All these days together consu-
tute the year. The year l OF this era
began with the birth of Christ, and u
lasted S65 full days. and men tho year
2 began. The year 100 began at the END
Of the year 90 and 1t lasted for s6o days
thereafter IL was designated as the year
A. d. 100 When the year 100 expired
the year iOi would begin its course. Now
as 1t takes 80 years with S65 days added
TO. make 100 years this son would NOT
have been 100 years old, and have passed
into the second century OF his life, TIL
the full completion of 100 years from
birth, that is not till the end OF the
year 100. The day following the compile
nun VI tue year wv Nphih w hioA -
in tho calendar thus: January |, A. D
10l.
II the second century thus began OIL
January ], 101, the twentieth century will
OF course begin on January /. 1901 How
many years should there be In the nine
teenth century? One hundred. of course
At midnight on December 81, instant how
many of the 100 years will have eX-
pired? Everybody will answer only SO
10 "A ,,.tn t,,,p cd
year of the nineteenth century begin
On January l. 1903. When will this one
hundredth year end? At midnight on
December 81. 1900 When the bell at mid
night on December 81. 1900, sounds out
the knell of the old year and the birth Of
the new one. then and not till then, will
the 100 years Of the grand old nine
tenth century be finished. Shall we de-
prive this. our nineteenth century, OF its
last year. promising as that year does
to be prolific of such great events and
of further adding to It's colossal achieve.
ments.
TIL the nineteenth century ends. the
twentieth can not begin. 1t is now clear
trust when the nineteenth century ends
II you look upon the dial OF the clock
at midnight the hand marks IL. One day
IL then ended and another day then To-
gins. Look at the clock one hour later
and see the hand standing nj /. An in
slant before 1t was not I. An instan'
after 1t was not L. Here. the notation
is used to indicate 1eeting instant o
time, separating the first hour from toe
second hour, making the end OF the frs
hour and the beginning OF the second hour
While this is the clockmaker's method Of
marking or separating time, 1t Is not the
method Of the chronological, diding time
into years and centuries. These method.
differ from the necessity of the case. In
chronology and designed year means tine
S65 days elapslng between the beginning
and the end OF that year. II It be desired
to mark the tme more closely than by
bare mention of the year the month. the
day of the month and the hour Of tht
day are mentioned. All the confusion
and discussion hae perhaps grown out oil
the failure to note the difference between
the method of the makers of time pecel
and the method of the makers of chronolo-
gies or calendars. S. G. Mccormick.