Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1892-01-06
Leap Year and its Observances.

Leap year we all KNOW 10 Do that
one which has S66 rather than 365
days in the year this was arranged
so that the perfect system of time
might work itself out, and the 10Th
day of February is said TO be the one
on which the sun frowns because
somebody has to do an extra days
work. If according to some scientists
ode sun do move," il is probably old
Sol himself who has an extra hard
time Of it. This year is the one in
four during which lovely woman has
the privilege of asking her sweetheart
to be her very own. When this GUS
tom first came into use nobody knows,
but if the legends are TO be trusted it
was leap year when Eve made her
appearance in the Garden of Eden
and suggested matrimony to Adam,
but about this no man is certain.
Among the Roman maids leap year
was ushered in with great festivity,
and gay parties assembled at the va
rious houses, where special kind of
spiced cake was cut, in which was a
ring. and the young woman fortunate
enough to get the ring was the one
who would take her choice from the
group of handsome Roman men and
ask him to be hers. In Scotland a
less dignified procedure obtained-the
maidens who were anxious for hus-
bands were required to jump broom.
stick, and the one who leaped the
highest had the credit of being the
most desirable bride. As we have a
fancy nowadays for tracing every
thing back to antiquity, may it not be
possible that the skirt dancing is only
an outcome of the broomstick leap
ing? In any case, the maiden who
proposes in leap year does not suffer,
for the man brave enough to say no
to her has to give her the sweetest of
kisses and a silk gown.
1t would seem as if prefacing a kiss
with refusal would not add to its
sweetness, and there are stories of
high tempered women who nearly bit
the lips off of young men who dared to
deny them their wish. II, however,
the swain is agreeable, then the duties
of the bride elect began at once. She
must give him "a faire gold ring" and
a linen shirt made by her own fingers
to show that not only is she capable
of loving him truly and well, but that
she also knows how to care for his
comfort. The maiden of to-day would
have no trouble to get the ring, but
how many of them could put the
many neat stitches required to make
a fine shirt?
And yet, after all, there are more
ways of asking man to marry you
than putting the straight question to
him. Women can look love in their
eyes, can speak it and yet be silent,
can tell it by touch Of the hand
without ever using pen. She is in
deed an ignorant woman who cannot
make a bashful wooer understand
that she is ready and willing to listen
to the story of his love and to tell him
how much she loves him in return.
This is a lesson that one seldom needs
to teach. Folly may lie in women
eyes, but after all a deal of wisdom
is also found there.
The patron saint of the Goth day
of February is st. Oswald, an old
Saxon one, who was great believer
in the desirability of marriage. who
tied true lovers knots into the holy
bonds of matrimony and was joyful
thereof. So if you wish to suggest to
a shy admirer what he ought to do,
ask him to read about st. Oswald and
to discover how good and holy are
his ideas and practices. If this doesn't
suggest matrimony to him he is pre-
destined To he n bachelor forever.