The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1880-01-18
LEAP YEAR.
A Season Which AccOrds Special
Privileges to the Ladies.
Origin of the Custom Dating Back
Into the Misty Ages of An
tiquity-Legendary Lore
Some Neat Ways of
Popping tho
Question.


had tho effect of again starting inquiry rs to
the origin of the custom which allows women
during leap year to assume tho privilege
which, during tho other three years, Is the
sole p~rerogative Of men. To trace the origin
or foundation Of this custom Is a work OF no
small magnitude; every step Ia beset with
difficulties formidable md seemingly insur-
mountable; days. weeks and months have
been spent. aud very little gained to repay
tho expenditure. Old, mnsty and dust.la1en
tones have been patiently examined In the
~ ,rt to find something upon which to base
Il theory In the absence Of any tangible fact,
but without success. Those who possess ever
so little knowledge or antiquity are aware
that It's current Or thought differed very
much from Its tendency In our own
period. This instructive feeling is by
no means without q basis In fact, If 1t be
true that the same motives ruled men in
all former ages as ut present, 1t must still be
allowed that the sources of their knowledge
nave been unknown to us, and that something
Infinitely more potent than Imagination
originated the traditions and monuments
that have como dow 10 our time. Modern
philosophy and all our habits of thought eup-
poses the progressive development OF tnstl-
buttons. and herewith Of arts aud sciences.
At the same time, however, It. cannot bs de-
MED that certain fountains OF knowledge have
been allowed to dry up. Us ths wells of Ahrh-
ham were filed with dust. What these were
are clearly indicated by tho missing links i'll
the chain of events. which alone can furnish
Information IA to the origin OF many Of our
customs aud traditions. After all. It seems
to have been oue OF those mythical legends
which, after long years, Is accepted as % Tact,
and that the ladies' havs n greater privilege
during the 500 days OF Ieap-year than during
those that contain only 365.
CHANGES IN THE CALENDAR.
The want of uniformity in the calendar was
for Il long time a source of trouble TO the
earlier astronomers. Tho p0pes and em-
perurs were continually Issuing DEGREES IN i0-
gard to 1t, lengthening the month, taking
days from ono month and adding them TO
another, that 1t was with great difficulty
earlier historians were able to agree as to the
time an event took place. but, thanks To that
monument OF human patience and Labor,
"L'Art dc Neretlcr les Datee,' we are able to
bring order out OF chaos and Tx with reason
able certainty the date Of carly transactions.
In early times the Roman pDnttff5 regulated
the length Of tho civil year so imperf"etly
that In the time of Julius CiD5ar the spring
occurred In what the calendar called summer.
Cmaar, with the help of SOsigenes, reformed
the calendar, and introduced the present ar
rnngpment ot having three years OF 363 days
| followed by one Of 36G, dividing the year
| Into months nearly as ut present. Pre-
vious to 1882 the year IN most cn'iil-
of December, but this was not uniform:
some had the twenty-iifth OF March and
others Easter day. Ia England, for n long
{ me. they had two different dates. The con-
fusion which arose from there being Two
| nodes of computing dates in one kingdoIn
must be sufficiently apparent to every one.
| RemarkabIe examples Of the confusion pro
| duced by this practice are afforded by two OF
the most celebrated events In English his
tory. King Charles ! Is said by most an
| chorttcs to have been bpheaded on the tbir-
tieth of january. 1913: while others, with
equal correctness, assign that event to the
thtrtleth of January, 1919. The revolution
| which drove james IL from the throne 15
stated to have taken place In February, 1858
by some writer's, February, 1859. These dis
crepancies arise through some historians
| using the civil and legal year, and others the
historical. In former times September had
thtrty-one days, and August had only thirty
but the Emperor Augustus. not liking the
idea that Julius Gte5ar's month july
| should have more days than his, took one
from September, AMI to http III the elfnlnatA
character of the months took one from No
vember ami gave 1t to October. The custom
OF dating time
FROM TIE BIRTH OF CHRIST
was first proposed by Dionysius Exignus, q
learned monk. about the etxth century, Thus
| the calendar stood until 1852. when 1t was dis
covered that through errors In the Julian
method 1t had gained ten days. 70 set this
matter right, Gregory Kill ordered that De-
tober 5, 1882, be called the fifteenth, that all
ccnturiaI years that are not multiple8 OF four
hundred should not be leap years., thue
tho year 1000 was, 2000 will be, 1896 Will be,
but till 1904 there Will not be another, thus
eight years will elapse. The Gregorian rule
of emitting three leap years In every four
hundred years, reducing these to lag ,O97 days,
gives to each civil year 800 days, 3 hours, =
minutes, 40 seconds, which exceeds the solar
year by % minutes, 3S seconds, ana amounts
to the differences OF n day only every 1851
years. This arrangement was introduced
into England by Lord Chesterfield, and Mt the
time met with great opposition. 80 great WIS
the popular feeling on the subject that Ho-
garth In one OF his pictures has Il plaGard III
scribad, Give us our eleven days" Lore
Macclestield's sou three years after was op-
posed for office on the ground that his father
had robbed the people OF eleven days: Rus
sin and the East still retain the old style
consequently there Is a difference OF twelve
DAYS between their time and ours. In France
during the Revolution they abolished the
Gregorian calendar, and ordered that thu
year begin on the twenty-second OF Septen
Der, 1892, which they called tho year /; l79
was Q, etc. The week contained ten days, tn
tenth being q holiday, all religion was abol
ished. The year was divided into twelvl
months of thirty days each: the i've addi
ttCnal at the end were dedicated to virtue
genius, IaDOf, opinion anu IeWaIuS. IliS az
surd system lasted until 1905, and was dis
continued by Napoleon Bonaparte. Sine
then nothing has been done with the calendar
although a bill was introduced In the las
Congress looking to a change.
THE LEAP-YEAR PRIVILEGE.
The privilege OF ladies' choosing their hus
bands Is thus explained Ia a work entitled
glove, Courtship and MatrimoDie," London
1900 albeit 1t has now become a part OF thu
common lave in regarde to social relations 0
life that as often as every bissextiie Year doth
return the ladyes have the sole privilege dur
Ing the time 1t continueth OF making love un
to the men, which they doe either by word
or lookes as to them 1t seemeth proper; and
moreover, no man will be entitled to thu
benefit of clergy who doeth in any way treat
her proposal with slight or contumeiy." Tn
above seems to establish beyond cavll thel
right to reverse the accepted order OF things
at least, once In four years. From time i'm
memorial there has existed a legend to tn
effect that in leap year the customary regula
tions of courtship may properly be reversed
and offers OF marriage proceed from the fal
Sex to the male objects OF their affection. W.
do not read that this privilege has ever beer
taken advantage OF to any great extent by tht