Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1885-01-10
The Years Birthday.
Sunday School Gem.

AHO Ohthuoy vi VIC NeW ear
New Years Day The first of Janu-
airy! That is to say the same thing in
three different ways, is it not But /
wonder if it has ever occurred to the
young readers of the Gem to ask them
selves how the year happened to be
born on January 1st-Why it was
not born on March 10th, or October
9th, or some other date?
If you have never thought about the
matter at all, you will doubtless be
surprised to learn that January LIST
was not New Years Day at all until
just forty>six years before Christ was
born, when the great Roman, Julius
Cesar, made a new calendar. Before
that time the Roman year began in
March, and that is the reason that the
months called September, October,
November, and December were so
named. September means the seventh
month, October the eighth, etc,
In the ancient times July was called
Quintilis (from the Latin q,tir,tls, fifth,
and August, Sextilis from sert,ts,
SIXTH, but Julius Caesar wished to give
his own name to one of the months, so
he called Quintilis July. Sextilis was
also named August from Augustus
Cesar, who succeeded Julius as EN-.
peror of Rome.
must tell you Of a foolish bit of
vanity Of this same Augustus. Julius,
with the advice and assistance of a
wise man named Sosigenes, had ar
ranged his new calendar very careful.
ly. The years were to have three
hundred and sixty-fve days each, ex-
cept the fourth, which was to have
three hundred and sixty>six- This
would make the civil year almost ex-
actly as long as the one the sun marks
off for us, which is called the solar
year. There were to be twelve months,
and the first, third, fifth, seventh,
ninth, and eleventh were to have
thirty-one days each; the others were
each to have thirty days, except Feb
ruary, which was to have twenty-nine
usually and thirty every fourth year.
You see this arrangement would be
very easy to learn and remember, but
that vain and foolish Augustus, like
willful, spoiled child, said that Julius
month had thirty-one days, and his
month should have thirty.one days
too! Nothing less would content him,
and so a day was taken from February
and given to August; then, as that
made three months of thirty>one days
each come together, one was taken
from September and given to October,
and one from November was added to
December. So, just on account of
this vain freak of a foolish Roman, all
the children in Christendom have to
go about saying over and over this bit
of rhyme:
"Thirty days hath September.
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty,one,
Excepting February alone,
Which has twenty-eight, in fine,
Except in leap year, twenty-nine."
Or else they have to calculate on
their knuckles. Did you ever do that?
Close the left hand tightly, and let the
knuckles represent little hills with val
leys between. Call the first hilltop
January, the first valley February, and
so on, and you will find that the months
that fall On the knuckles will all be
long months and those in the hollows
short months.
But to return to our New Year.
Even now, though Caesars date for the
beginning of each year, January LIST,
is accepted in all Christian countries
except Russia, there are many people
who observe different one, The
Jews had their New Years festivities
months ago-on September Goth, and
the Mohammedans celebrated theirs on
the Dist of last October, but both Of
these will fall on different date next
year. They are regulated by the
moon. The Russian New Year does
not come on the day we now call the
first of January because, careful as
Julius Cnsar's calculations were he