Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1909-05-12
DIVIDES THE WORLD.
The Line That Marks Where Day
Begins and Ends.
IT TRAVERSES The PACIFIC.


Came to Be Established - Spots
Where Today, Tomorrow and Yester.
day Are Still Confused tumble.
It is evident that the day must begin
somewhere, though it is a confusing
thing to undertake to determine just
where, for one may go on and on
around the world and never catch up
with it. On the other hand, if we are
not careful in reasoning we will reach
the absurd conclusion that it is Mon
day noon and Tuesday noon at the
same time in any given lace.
A writer in the st. James Gazette
treats this peculiar phase Of the sub
ject in 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 III
hours later-that u.s. Tuesday noon-in
London. AS this is redDctio ad absur-
dunn, we have to look for the limit,
which does, in fact, exist, on the prin-
ciple that as one moves westward the
time gets earlier and as one moves
eastward it gets later.
Before the decentralization of the
globe there was no difficulty When
on 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 a little
later over Dublin it became Monday
noon in Dublin, and so on until it
reached the western limit Of the
known world.
When the sun passed over that limit.
that was the end Of noon for that Mon
day, and nobodyeknew 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
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 remarkp BILE spot the time
, jumps twenty-foU hours onward
from noon one day to noon on the next
day. The situation Of the line has been
located quite ortuitously-namely, by
the circumstance whether any given
place was first reached by civilized
| man journeying from the east or from
the west.
The discoverer brought with him the
almanac from whence he came, and If
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 voyaging 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
5 There must still be many islands IL
that ocean where it is not yet decided
to which side of the line they belong
and where. if one were put down, one
s would not know whether it were to-
: day. tomorrow or yesterday.
There must also be many islands
there which. never having been per
manentIy occupied By civilized people
change their day from time to time, sc
that ship calling there coming from
:, China might arrive on Tuesday, while
5 another ship calling at the same time
4 from Americawould arrive on Mon
It day There must be people living 81
e near this line that By going a few mile:
d they can leave today and. get into to
4 morrow or, by going back, can fine
x yesterday.
Jamaica's Green Turtles.