“The calendar has been somewhat revised since you were on earth before, or rather, since you so unceremoniously skipped from the society of your friends; and I suppose you have not kept note of the changes in time?” looking at him in a quizzical manner. Cobb laughingly acknowledged the sally, and requested him to continue.
“It was as long ago as 1920,” proceeded Rawolle, “that the new order of time went into effect. In that year, a commission of scientific gentlemen was convened by direction of the national legislature for the purpose of considering the feasibility of making such a change in our calendar as would simplify it and make it more uniform. The result was that the calendar, as we use it to-day, is quite different from that which was in vogue during your time. We now divide the whole day into twenty-four hours, as formerly, but number them from one to twenty-four. Our time-pieces have two hands, but they are not used as were those of old time; one hand marks the minutes, and the other marks the seconds. The hours are marked by numbers showing themselves through a circular slot in the dial, changing every hour. One hour after midnight the dial shows the figure 1; and so on up to 24, which is the close of the day. Thus: 12 o’clock, old style, is 12 dial, new style; and 5 o’clock, old style, is 17 dial, new style. We do not use the word ‘o’clock’ any more, but employ the word ‘dial,’ instead. The word ‘dial,’ however, is usually omitted, the customary expression for time being simply the numerals of the hours and fractions thereof. The commission could not ignore the fact that the excess of 57.2 minutes per day over the 86,400 used in the computation must still be carried forward as an excess to be afterward accounted for; for 86,400 was the nearest number to the whole which was a common multiple for three numbers, representing seconds, minutes, and hours. The excess, being 5 hours 48 minutes and 47.8 seconds per year, is still carried forward to the fourth year, where it is taken up as an extra day, and is called ‘Old-Year-Day.’ The year, as now divided, consists of 13 months of 28 days each, and one day over. The year has 365 days, as of old, but the first day is not counted as a day of any month; it is called ‘New-Year’s-Day,’ the next day being January first. There are 28 days in each month, with a new month, Finis, added. New-Year’s-Day is neither Monday nor Tuesday, nor any other day of the week, but simply New-Year’s-Day; and January first is always Monday. The advantages of this system are, that every month commences on Monday and ends on Sunday, having just four weeks. In leap-year the additional day is called ‘Old-Year-Day,’ and is just before New-Year’s-Day; these days are legal holidays. This, with some other minor alterations, is the way the calendar stands in every civilized nation to-day.”
“But is it not a little confusing to you, this change from the old to the new style?”
“You forget that I never used any other,” laughingly returned Rawolle.
“True; I had forgotten that fact. But does not this extra day interfere in many ways with the dates of bills, notes, and other legal documents?”
“Not at all. The extra day is simply New-Year’s-Day—a day of time to fill in the year, but not for any other purpose. In regard to the dating of official papers, they are dated the next day, and this day is as if it never existed. Do you comprehend?”
“Yes, I comprehend your statements, but not having had any experience in the use of this new order of dates, I cannot say that I am fully aware of how it works.”
“You will find no difficulty in its application, I assure you.”
Without speaking further on the subject, all busied themselves in their preparations for the journey eastward.