about four in the afternoon of December
That is an odd slip . He means nineteen fifty-seven , of course . '' I beg pardon , but there is no mistake . It was about four in the afternoon of December the 26th , one day after Christmas , in the year 1857 , not 1957 , that I first breathed the east wind of Boston , which , I assure the reader , was at that remote period marked by the same penetrating quality characterizing it in the present year of grace , 2000 . These statements seem so absurd on their face , especially when I add that I am a young man apparently of about thirty years of age , that no person can be blamed for refusing to read another word of what promises to be a mere imposition upon his credulity . Nevertheless I earnestly assure the reader that no imposition is intended , and will undertake , if he shall follow me a few pages , to entirely convince him of this . If I may , then , provisionally assume , with the pledge of justifying the assumption , that I know better than the reader when I was born , I will go on with my narrative .