The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1859-04-02
From Moore. Rural New Yorker,
The Domiuicai letter.

As an explanation Of the meaning and
use Of the Dominica letter is seldom found
in any book or paper, perhaps an article
respecting it may not be unin,ercsting TO
many rural readers. The writer heard it
explained hv one of his teachers somo
years since but has never seen an expla-
nation in print though some old arithme-
TIC !; said to contain 1t.
The first seven letters of the alphabet
are to he used for the purrcsc Of deter
mining the day Of the week, or month,
without referring to a calendar or alma
nae. Let lis observe III the first place, how
! these letters are applied to the days Of the
year The first day of the year is designa-
ted by the letter A, the second by T. the
! third by {. and 50 on, repeating the letter
! for every seven days. Now. by continuing
/ thus through the year and noting the let
/ tiers which fall on the first day of tEe
months we shall find that they occur in
! the following order, \, b, d, g, B, L, G, G,
! T, A. d, + These twelve (seven differ
cnt) letter. constitute the basis of reckon
ing for any year. \ always designating
the first day Of January,sD. the first of
! February, d the first of March, and so on.
/ The following couplet Will assist in remem.
beg;ng their order
AtDover Dw-Is George E-own Esquire,
Good Carlos Fyuch And David Fryer
Let Us now consider how the seven let.
tcrs are applied to the days Of the week
Since 4 always desirnates the first day Of
the year. il necessarily de>ignates the day
of the week oa which it occurs. also, tho
/ day following. and 20 on. If the first day
. Of JANUARY occurs or Friday, then A will
designate Friday i Saturday, Gc; if on
Tuesday, then 4 VIII designate Tuesday,
L Wednesday. dc We see then. that tho
same letter d"-!gnatos different days OF the
wcr!l IN different years. hut the same day
Of the week throughout the same year.
Iv knowing the lcttcs designating par
t;cular day Of the week. we know at once
the letters ior the other day. oil the week.
The letter de9i.natin2 Sunday is the one
fixed on from which to reckon 1t is ge-
neraiiy given IN the Almanac. andis called
t3,,e Uehuq). Lord day, or Sunday letter.
S.nca that day Of the week on which
the first Of january occurs i designated
tv : tho day following i b. &c. we rea-
Gi.y ascertain the Dominical letter. as it IS
the one falling on sunday. linus, when
the first u January occurs on " eduesdav,
the letter ial!in" on Sunday : /. which IS
tn. Sunday or Dominica letter for tho
year The first Of January this year oc.
cured on Saturday. and the Sunday or
Uomiu:caI letter i B. Now. on what day
By the cauplat. the first Of July Is c.
Then the ftu l. =. or Monday. On what
dav viii Christmas occurE The lst Of De-
ceuber !, :. tIcu the 2l.i Is F and tho
.5th 3. or SuuGar .i19iH. it j, the second
Wednesday of AIar. what day Of the
month Is i? Tho 1t of May j. 3, or Sun
day. -L-n "Wednesday i the -ith, and tho
second "Wednesday the ll,h. 1t is tho
third FRIDAY in October. what day Of tho
month j. il The first of october Is A, or
.-;url y. th.n Friday Is the IN, and tho
third Friday : tn 2I=t
The Sunday OF Dgminical, of 1871, was
, Then ;uc first Of July being q. the 4th
was e. ~ Saturday. The 1t Of May being
3. w. Friday Then the first W ednesday
gr.s tho 9th and the second the 18th
There are two D5minical letters for leap
year. Til" first letter ! used for the first
two months and the second, which Is the
letter preceding the first in order of the
! 81, '.ah-t ! used FOR the remaining 'Sn
months, and cOmpcnSatcs Tor the addition
al day in February. The Dominical letter
of any year : the letter preceding. in tho
order Of ,nc allhabet, the Dominical letter
Of the preceding wear. /. NJ 6.
House q Refuge, Rochester, y. y, 1859,