The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-01-16
rheTwen,ieth Century.

Editor of The Times:
Ssir,-The opinion of mine with reference
in YOUR issue of the 7th. while in the main
correct / am afraid gave an impression
OF cock-surenesS upon my part that L bE
no means feel At all events, 1t created
in me a desire to enter. into niue more
exhaustive statement Of the question.
The most satisfactory way Of deaAng
with this question would be. IL possible,
to settle it as fact. Now, even ignorant
people are aware that our practice OIL
computing time from Christ did not begin
with His life in the world. For several
centuries Christians used the calendars
in vogue where they lived. 1t was not
until J41 that Justnian. having grown
dissatisfied with the existing method,
adopted the calendar which. had been de-
viSed nearly twenty years previously by
Dionvsius. a Roman monk. III making up
his Easter tables He made the year go
! to begin January list in the year tJ4 A. Y.
c.. from the founding of Rome). Now, II
we could only discover whether he m
tended, by writing January 1, .'2', that
five hundred and twenty-five Years .had
been completed since. Christ. or that ne
was then entering upon the five hundred
and twenty-1ifth year, say. II we could
but discover this. the question would ne
entirely ended in fact. Butt ;,m unable
to ynelrth any such explanation upon, the
part of this gentleman. and. therefore,
INFER that we are driven back upon our
ordinary methods OF calculating such
n;u.ers. The year lying between q child S
birth and the followin anniversary we
do not call one. but designate 1T in
terms of months, and when we say ''one'
with reference to his age.5we mean that
he has completed one year. II a man
tells US that he is iifty.six, we understand
that he is passing through the fifty
seventh year of his life. 1.-THE traveller.
from New York to San Francisco sees
upon a mile-post the figures 500 he
knows that he has traversed 1900 miles,
Still more striking is the illustration from
a decade of years. IN our. dates we begin
the decade with zero I AXE, for example.
the decade through which we have Just
passed ,Wllen We used the. cipher in 1880
we designated the first year: then. in 1888.
0 represented the tenth year until it was
competed. If this be true OF tens, why.
not of the multiple OF ten found in the
century? If Astronomers designate the
year Immediately preceding our era as
diately following be o. "A. D.
But 10! at this point arrives the last.
number of the Homiletic Review, and in
IT'S prospectus calmly tells me that It
hopes TO make this, the closing year OF
bsfore. Then l,tnE-to the standard Die
t,onarv, and under theaword "century'.t1
read that the nineteenth century means
from 1901 1900. 1t also profoundly re-
marks that "a century ueSinst, VITA tne
beginning of the first day in its first year
and does not end until the close ofszthe
last dav in its hundredth year. Won
lerful. indcedO But when I further read.
s:rhis mode ofreckoning Is often confused
Viii, the common mode of stating the age.
OF a person. my heart sinks. know the
editor is against ane, and conclude that,
after all. he has had a tip from Dionysius
that has not been vouchsafed me.
Seriously. with such great authority
against mel supside, and wonder if We
had not all best behave ourselves. quietly,
fn,.. a few months longer. when all doubt
Of our being in the twentieth century will
be disoelled. =a :, ~, 81
Richmond Jan. II 1ssa3