San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1880-04-17
This Is a.enP Yenr-Why:

This II l.caP Yeur-Why:
When the number Of the year i,
diyisible by four il is Leap Year, ant
such is the case with 1880. JusI
about the time tho March number o
the American Agriculturist reaches
its readers, perhaps while Thousands
Of boys and girls are looking over it
pages. and even reading this very article
it will be the Goth OF February-tht
Leap Yeur day that comes once in fou'
years. Nearlya year ago we saw lit
Ito girl then about three years old who
had never had an anniversary of hel
birthday ; but this year she will have
one, and we hope it WILL be big enough
to make Up for all the misfortunes Of
being born on the 10Th Of the short
ost month in the year. da t
Leap Year" we have been told is m
odd year," but it has just been shown
that it is altogether even. Why is il
odd I? we may ask, and the reply comes,
Its the year when the boys are girls
and the girls are boys, and everything
turned around" o! yes, we begin to
seol They have "lcup year" parties
and leap year rides" and leap year
this and that" and the girls do the
inviting, aud driving, and managing,
and many Of the company" things
which the boys claim for their
own on other ordinary years. 1t is
said that such matters are some
,ipes carried SO far that the young
lady proposes to the young gentleman
of her choice, and he has the privilege
OF accepting or refusing as he sees fit.
Well we will admit it is on odd year,
though it is cven all the same, But
why do We have leap years ? There
must be some good reason for adding
one day to every fourth year as it
comes arrouad to US. What is it?
The earth moves around the sun
once year, rs you all have learned
from your geography. The time re-
quired for the earth to pass around
and return to the place from which
itstarted is called solar or SUN year
the year made by the heavenly bodies.
In olden times. men did not know that
the earth moved around the sun, II
there was any moving it was done by
the sun they thought and it did seem
to move. TO this day we all say that
the sun rises and sets. Knowing so
little about the revolution Of the earth
il was very hard for men to arrange
the divisions of time 80 that they
would correspond with the solar year.
The ciuiI year is the one made by man
and like many human things, it was at
first very inperfect-that is the cirii
year and solar year did not correspond
very closely. In the time Of julius
Caesar. the two kinds of years had got
SO out Of place that the spring of the
civil year came in midsummer. To
use an illustration, we will have two
cog wheels that work into each other.
IL both wheels are in all respects alike
the same places will always come to.
gether at each revolution but suppose
one wheel Is triAe smaller than the
other, the wheel representing the civ.
II year smaller than the one Of the So
lar year, then any points once togeth-
er will keep getting farther apart.
This was just the trouble between man $
year and the natural year. Caesar re-
arranged the civil year in 46 before
Christ, aud introduced the system Of
having three years Of $50 days aud
then one Of 366-the additional days
being given to February. The solar
year is 365 days, ) hours, IS minutes,
and f9l seconds, so that Cesar's year
of 1851 days. averaging the four. is
almost IL minutes 200 long. The point
is to get these two years; the year Of
the heavens which We cannot alter.
and the year Of the alrinscs to agree.
Matters vent on as they had been
stared BY julius Cesar Siih los Of
eleven miru:es 4 year uutil l5s2. ever
sixteen hundred year, whoa Z, Be