Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-13
Where the Days s.oo .,a End Most Powerful Swimmer
| 81 :':s:: s {: ::: : Fifteen-Year-O1d Girl
Where the Days

r the circumnavigatiOn of the globe
there is place where the day begins
4 or ends according to the direction
you are sailing. Before the globe was en-
circled and there was limit to our
knowledge of its confines. there was no
difficulty in locating the meridian of a
given place, as the sun moved westward
and on until it reached the western limit
of the known world; that when the
sun passed over the limit that was the
end of noon, for instance. Monday, and
nobody knew what the sun was doing
until he reappeared on the eastern limit
of the known world, bringing with him
Tuesday morning.
II is evident, therefore. thai while the
sun was in the unknown abyss between
the west and east he dropped the at
tribute of making the time at all places
directly under his rays Monday noon. and
it Tuesday noon.
AS the confines of the world We're
pushed further eastward and westward,
respectively. the unknown abyss where
this change OF attribute had to Ice made
got narrower and narrower. Until when
the globe was circumnavigated tie place
of change became simply a line. This
line exists, and is the place where the
days begin. AS the sun crosses this re-
markable SPOT the time jumps twenty
four hours onward-frcm noon one day
to noon the next day. The situation
OF the line has been located quite fortui-
tOusly-namely by the circumstance
whether any given place was first reached
by civilized man lourneying from tie
east or from the west. Tie 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 ii he came from the
east 1t would he earlier than the time in
the country that he came from.
The meridian $50 degrees east and west
from Greenwich. which crosses the Pa
cific ocean from the Aleutian to the Filii
islands, is called the International dat >
line. At that line each new day Is bo n
at the instant when it is exactly noon
of the preceding date al Greenwich. {
am at Washington and 4 am. at San
Francisco. 1t is clear to see that if one is
crossing the Pacific and cont .nuei to the
old calendar without changing it. he
would find upon MS arrival at Japan,
Australia or New Zealand, that he was
one day behind in the day OF the week
and the month.
10 clear the timekeeper of this con-
dition, vessels that cross tie cne-hundreh-
and-eishtieth meridian strike off DAY
wAen going west and repeat Il day WIT n
going east.
Tie International date Inc is Sig
irreSu iar in its passage across the Pa
cic. When il IS Monnay noon in Wash
inSton ii is Monday afte rno n in EnS
land. When it is noon here it is from
> to q hours after noon of the same day
IN eastern Europe. Z to 10 hoCrS after
noon in Asia. and 10 to II hours after
noon i'm the Philippines of the same da".
Now, for example. If You Start from
Washington at noon say. o. Monday,
so west and travel as fast as the earth
revolves. or constantly keep the sun
at ali places throrg Il, which you pass.
came back to Washington it would still
would he Tuesday noon. which is absurd
That's why you have to drop day at
some point goinS one way. repeat it
going the other and the one-hunired- and
eightieth mel ian has been selected by
nautical men for thai purpose.
America was reached by oivilzad men
vCyaginS west ward. and China BY men
travelling eastward. and the result is that
the inc which marks whe:e the da -
begin lies between these two. in the Pa
ctic ocean. and instead of being "A
straight lire. zigZags about. dividing
islands which happened to he discovered
from the east from those which happened
to be discovered from the west. There
still many islands IN that ocean
where il s not yet decided To which
side Of the line they belong. and where,
if one were put down. one would not
know whether it was TODAY, to borrow or
yesterday.