Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-01-29

ed ten days. To set this matter right,
Gregory XIII. ordered that October 5,
1882, be called the 18th, that all centuri-
al years that are not mulJiplies of four
hundred should not be leap-years; thus
the year 1900 was, 1000 will be, 1895 will
be; but until 1904 there will not be an
other, thus eight years will elapse. The
Gregorian rule of emitting three leap
years in every 400 years, reducing these
to 146,097 days, gives to each civil year
365 days, 8 hours, 4S minutes, 40 sec
onds, which exceeds the solar year by
% minutes, 3S seconds, and amounts to
the difference of a day only every S,s66
years. This arrangement was intrOdu-
ced into England by Lord Chesterfield,
and at the time met with great opposi-
ton. So great was the popular feeling
on the subject, that Hogarth in one of
his pictures has a placard inscribed,
'Give US our eleven days" Lord Mac
clesfield's son three years after was op-
posed for Office on the ground that his
father robbed the people of eleven days.
Russia and the East still retain the old
style, consequently there is difference
of twelve days between their time and
ours. In France during the revolution
they abolished the Gregorian calendar.
and ordered that the year begin on the
22d of September, 1892, which they call
ed the year /; I793 was 2, &c. The wee K
contained ten days, the 10th being hol-
iday; all religion was abolished. The
year was divided into twelve months of
thirty days each; the five additional at
the end were dedicated to Virtue, Geni-
us, Labor, Opinion and Rewards. This
absurd system lasted until 1905, and was
discontinued by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Since then nothing has been done with
the calendar, although a bill was intro
duced in the last Congress looking to a
change.
THE LEAP-YEAR PRIVILEGE.
The privilege of ladies choosing their
husbands is thus explained in a work
entitled ''Love, Courtship and Matrimo-
ME-" London, 1906: albeit, it has nowe
become part of the common lave in
regarde to social relations of life as of
ten as every bissextile year dOthe re-
turn the ladyes have the sole privilege
during the time it eOntinueth of making
love unto the men, which they doe Ell
ther by words or loOkeS as to them it
seemeth proper; and, moreover, no man
will be entitled to the benefit of clergy
who dOeth in any way treate her propO-
sal with slight or contumely." The
above seems to establish beyond cavil
their right to reverse the accept order OF
thing at least once in four years. From
time immemorial there has existed le-
gend to the effect that in leap-year the
i customary regulations of cOurtShip may
properly be reversed, and offers of mar
riage proceed from the fair sex to the
male objects of their affection. We dc
not read that this privilege has ever
been taken advantage of to any great
extent by the ladies; but the tradition
is as strong in the minds of the people
as ever, and it bids fair to be transmit
ted in unimpaired freshness and force
to the latest generation. This being the
case, it logically follows that there is a
! peculiar idea of the inherent fitness OF
the right, otherwise It would have died
out ages ago, if there were not deeI
down in the human heart a conviction
:, that the ladies have some natural rights
in regard to the choosing and wooing ol
a parter for life. Whether they thinl
best to exercise the privilege is altogeth
er foreign to the question of right. Were
it not for this feeling this leap-year ira
ditiOn had long since been forgotten
All nations have their folklore; per
sons and places are invested with pow
ers which inspire the ignorant peasant
ry with dread, and cause them to shun
those places. There is a striking simi
larity all the world over between the
popular legends and traditions of differ
ent nations. They are reproduced will
slight differences of circumstance anC
ious damsel prepared for sleep by pin
ming to her pillow five long leaves, one
at each corner and one in the middle. II
she dreamed of her sweetheart she was
sure to marry him before the end of the
year, but to make it a dead sure thing
the candidate for matrimOny must boi
an egg hard take out the yelk and fill
its place with salt. Just before going
to bed she must eat the egg. salt. shell
and all, and neither speak nor drink af'
! ter it. If that wouldn't insure viviC
dream there surely can be no virtue In
charms. And in this connection it may
be proper to remark, the more / investi
! gate tie subject and ponder over tht
thousand and one charms by which girl:
may peep into the future and solve (tC
them) the most interesting question OF
their lives, the more deeply am / i'm
pressed with the conviction that great
injustice is done to woman by denying
her the privilege which tradition gives
her during leap-year. For of all wO
men she is most to be pitied who has q
hesitating lover, who boggles about
popping the question" He is worse
than bold one. How perfectly salts
factory was the conduct of that brave
old Puritan who rode up to the door OF
the
GIRL OF HIS CHOICE,
And, having desired her to be called oui
to him, said: "Rachel, the Lord hath
sent me to marry thee;" when the girl
answered, with equal frankness: 'The
Lords will be DONE"
What blessing in the household is
such woman, one whose spirits are moi
affected by wet days or little disap
pointments.
AS women have not to any great ex'
tent availed themselves of their pTivi.
lege in popping the question" we are
unable to say how they would do it, but
tits safe to say they could scarcely dc
worse than many men have done, as the
following will prove: An Irish girl who
was very anxious that her scatter-brain
brother should not be refused by young
English woman with whom he was des-
perately in love, implOred him tC
place to suit the different localities. DR.
Mackenzie, who seems to have given
considerable time to ferreting out the
origin of
LEGENDARY LORE"
Has very interesting chapter ON the
subject in his "Bits of Blarney." Wash
ington Irving has localized several leg
ends as American, but his "Trip Van
Wrinkle" has long since been traced to
German origin. Some years ago a sup
plement to the Thousand and One
Nights" containing an Arabian tale
called the "Sage Heycar," was published
at Paris. The translator noted the GU