Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1907-05-31
DIVIDES THE WORLD,
The Line That Marks Where Day
Begins and Ends.
IT TRAvERsEs THE PACIFIC.
The Way This Important Boundary
Came to Be Established - Spots
Where Today, Tomorrow and Yester.
dav Are Still a Confused tumble.

Where Today, Tomorrow ana Yester'
day Are Still a Confused tumble.
It is evident that the day must begin
somewhere, though 1t Is a confusing
thing to undertake to determine just
where, for one may so on and on
around the world and never catch up
with 1t. On the other hand, II we are
not careful in reasoning we will reach
the absurd conclusion that 1t Is Mon-
day noon and Tuesday noon at the
same time In any given place.
A writer in the st. James Gazette
treats this peculiar phase Of the sub
ject in a very definite way.
Seeing that as one moves westward
the time gets earlier and earlier, so
that when it is Monday noon In, Lon
don it Is some time on Monday morn
ing in America, it follows that, If this
principle were continued without limit
halfway round the world, at the same
moment that it was Monday noon IL
London it would be also twenty-four
hours later-that Is, Tuesday noon-in
London. AS this Is reductio ad absur-
dunn, we have to look for the limit,
which does, in fact, exist on the prln-
ciple that as one moves westward the
time gets earlier and as one moves
eastward it gets later.
Before the circumnavigation of the
globe there was no difficulty, When
on a Monday the sun stood over Lon
don it was Monday noon In London.
AS the sun moved Ito use the popular
phrase) westward and stood q little
later over Dublin it became Monday
noon in Dublin, and 80 on until 1t
reached the western limit OF the
known world.
When the sun passed Overt that limit,
that was the end Of noon for that Mon
day, and nobody knew what the sun
was doing until he reappeared on the
eastern limit of the known world,
bringing with him Tuesday morning.
1t is evident, therefore, that while
the sun was In the unknown abyss be-
tween west and east he dropped the at
tribute of making the time at all places
directly under his rays Monday noon
and took to himself the attribute OF
making it Tuesday noon.
AS the confines of the world were
pushed farther eastward and west,
ward, respectively, the unknown abyss
where this change Of attribute had to
be made got narrower and narrower
until when the globe was circumnavi-
gated, the place of change became
simply line.
This line exists and Is the place
where the days begin. AS the sun
crosses this remarkable spot the time
jumps twenty-four hours onward
from noon one day to noon on the next
day. The situation Of the line has been
located quite fortuitously-namely, by
the circumstance whether any given
place was first reached by civilized
man journeying from the castor from
the west.
The dlscoverer brought with him the
almanac from whence he came, and II
he came from the west the time In the
new country would be later, and If he
came from the east it would be earlier
than the time In the country he came
from.
America was reached by civilized
man voyaglng westward and China by
man travelling eastward, and the result
is that the line that marks where the
DAYS begin lies between these two in
the Pacific ocean and, instead OF being
straight line, zigzags about, dividing
Islands which happened to be discover
ed from. the east from those which
happened to be discovered from the
west.
There must still be many Islands III
that ocean where 1t Is not yet decided
to which side of the line they belong
and where, If one were put down, one
would not know whether 1t were to-
day, tomorrow or yesterday.
There must also be many Islands
there which, never having been per-
manently occupied by civilized people,
change their day from time to time, so
that a ship calling there coming from
China might arrive on Tuesday, while
another ship calling at the same time
from America would arrive ON Mon
day. There must be people living so
near this line that by going few miles
they can leave today and get into to-
morrow or. by going back, can find
yesterday.