Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1880-03-09
This Is Leap Year-Why?

When the number of the year is divis
, ible by four it is Leap Year, and such
, the case with 1880. just about the time
this, the March, number of the Anseri
can Agricalt1rist reaches its readers
perhaps while thousands of boys AM
girls are looking over its pages, AM
even reading this very article, it will b
the 9th of February-the Leap yea
Day, that comes only once in fou
years. Nearly year ago we saw lit
tie girl then about three years old VIII
had never had an anniversary of he
birthday; but this year she will hav'
one, and we hope it will be big enough
to make up for all the misfortunes of be
ing born on the 23th Of the sh0rtes
month of the year.
"Leap YEA" )" we have been told, "is
an odd year; but it has just been showr
that is altogether evesa. Why is it odd
we may ask, and the reply comes, ut il
the year when the boys are girls and the
girls are boys, and everything is turned
around" o! yes, We begin to see
They have ''leap year PARTIES" and
''leap year rides,n and "leap year this
and that" and the girls do the inviting
and driving, and managing, and many
of the company" things which the
boys claim for their own on other and
ordinary years. IT is said that such
matters are sometimes even carried so
far that the young lady proposes to the
young gentleman of her choice, and he
has the privilege Of accepting or refus-
ing as he sees fit. Well we will admit
it Is an odd year, though it is even all
the came. But why do we have leap
years? There must be some good rea-
son for adding one day to every fourth
year as 1t comes around to us. What is
| it?
The earth moves around the sun once
a year, as you all have learned from
your geography. The time required for
the earth to pass around and return to
the place from which it started 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. If there was any NOV
ing it was done by the sun they thought; !;
and it did seem to move. To this day
we all say tbs sun rises and sets. Know
ing so little about the revolution of the
earth, it was very hard for men to ar
range the divisions of time so that they
would correspond with the solar year.
The eiviy year Is the one made by man,
and like many human things. it was at
first very imperfect-that is, the ciUil
year and solar year did not correspond
very closely. In the time of Julius
Caesar, the two times of year 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. If both
wheels are in all respects alike, the same
places will always come together at
each revolution but suppose one wheel
| is trif1e smaller than the one of the
solar year, then any points once togeth-
er will keep getting farther apart. This
was Just the trouble between mans year
and the natural year. Caesar rearranged
the civil year in 46 Before Christ, and
introduced the system of having three
years of 365 days and then one of 366-the
additional day being given to February.
The solar year is 365 days, s hours. rs
minutes and 494 seoo- ds, 80 that Cssar's
year of 1851 days, averaging the four,
is about II minutes too long. The
point is to get these two years; the year
Of the heavens which we cannot alter,
and the year Of the almanacs to agree
Matters went on as they had been start
laa 81 aI:s bx julius VS. Gssss % xish loss Of L
| 1unOtCu C01S9 WaOA ~ uSS6Ap Ctlu6ub y
that the little yearly LOGS was too great
and must be remedied. How could this
be done was the question. Atthis time
q Pope took the matter up-it was a
time when Popes had great temporal
power-and decreed that the fifth of
October be called the 18th, and ell the
Intervening days to be cancelled. This
only sets right for the time being, but
the same Pope, Gregory XIII, made it
a rule that the century gears not divisi-
BILE by eight be not leap years. Thus
100, 1900, and 1900 are not leap years,
according to the new rule. This omits
three leap years in every 400 years.
With this arrangement the civil and
solar years almost coincide, the solar,
exceeding by only a24 seconds, or a day
in about 9. 900 years-a matter too small
to need attention.
Those who have llowed US through,
and we fear 1t has been rather dry for
the younger readers, will see that it has
been quite hard matter to bring things
around straight. The leap year comes
from the fact that there is fraction OF
day in the solar year which it would
not be convenient to have in the civil,
so we put enough of the fractions to-
gether to make day and have the ex-
ira one on the leap year, or every fourth
year.-Americon Agricultatrist. March L.
LEOPATR AS NEEDLE.-l General
Loring. of the Egyptian Army, in St.
Paul Pioneer Press. l-"How is that
obelisk regarded in Egyptq''
ut is the only object Of great histori-
cal interest left Alexandra, and it won't
be there long. 1t is the first object you
see in approaching the city from the sea.
The obelisk that went to England had
been buried for hundred years in the
sand some thirty feet from the one stand.
ing. Both were brought, from Heliop-
oils by. Cleopatra and placed in front OF
the PALACE of the Caesars. The New York
obelisk is much better preserved than
the English trophy, and the writing on
it is more distinct. It is one of the old
est obelisks in the world, and was con-
structed during that splendid era of art
of the twelfth dynasty, a thousand years
before Joseph. Not a man in Egypt
could realize that the Khedive had given
it away. They were all wonder-struck.
When England was moving her obelisk
there was general rejoicing in Egypt
when the rumOr came back that it was
lost in the sea-"
what is the color of the New York
obelisk ?n
1T is the color of brown stone front
on Fifth Avenue. It came from the ia.
nous quarry six hundred miles above
Cairo. I think it is about seventy feel
high. The granite fresh from the quar-.
ry, sparkles like Jewels. The grandest
of all obelisks is still sacred in the Tenn.
pie of Karnak. 1t is hundred feet high
and is the most beautifully cut and en-
grayed Of all known Obelisks. The one
in Paris was in this temple and is the
second in height in the world, There il
one in the quarry like the one at Karnak.
The New York obelisk is thousand
years older than either of the others
The most interesting one, historically
is still at Heliopolis. 1t was cut 3,O64
years B. c., and preserves all the style
and grandeur of the finest sculptures OF
that brilliant epoch of Egyptia1 art. II
is the only object left Of the splendid
city of'0n.' 1t stood in front of the
Temple of the Sun, of which Joseph's
father was the priest, where Moses
learned his Egyptian wisdop aud where
Plato, Eolpp ahd Rythagoras learned
their philosophy"
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