Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-04-02
IT IS LEAP YEAR.
SPlNST ERS' LAST CHANCE DURING
THIS CENTURY.
Not Another February 10 Until February
100i-somo Curiositios of the CaIen-
dar-Why 1000 is Not IA Loap Year.

Thus far in the worlds history marriage |
has been one of the inevitable concom |
itants of human existence. Considered |
from a purely secular standpoint it bids |
fair to continue its career for cycles to |
come.
Eighteen hundred and ninety-six Ia the |
rallying time of the century for spinsters |
Immemorial use accords to woman in
leap year the right to usurp mans priv
ilege and WOO her a blushing mate. For
the year one motto would be, woman |
proposes, man disposes."
Hitherto in the annals of our century |
the leap year records show no extraordi- |
nary results from the spinster's efforts.
/ Eighteen hundred and nnety-siX WILL |
however, more than compensate for pas
| failures. Spinsters will array themselves
for supreme cndeavor.
| In the ordinary leap year the woman
hardly moves into the work with all her
powers concentrated. There is the Turk
ing suspicion of another leap year to
come If this be unsuccessful, and the
secret of expectation that in the interview
ing time some man may WOO her. In view
of these things she prosecutes her under
taking without the desperation born of
lack of hope in the future. In other words
she is unnamed.
We have changed all that for the leap
y
changed it for US centuries ago. The year
1896 is not to be an ordinary leap year In
1t spinsters must lead forlorn hope. They
must mass their forces for one great final
assault upon the citadel of masculine
Indifference to their wnsomeness.
Establishments, strategy-ayc, force
eVen--must be employed IT need be for
the gaining of success, the gaining OF
man. The reason of the vast Importance
of the year to spnsters is found In the
fact that 1t has no successor until 1901
/ When the bells ring i'm the year 1897 their
camors will toll the inability of woman to
propose for seven years. In other words.
the year 1900 will not be leap year.
There Will be seven years without any
grant of special privilege TO tho fair sex.
Bachelors who love their liberty must
beware for never before in their history
were the signs of capture SO alarming.
The new woman has plans for the new
year. looking toward u mana new man
or an "old man" Not only will the now
women themselves present Il dauntless
phalanx of Amazonian wooers, but the
emboldening effect of their example on
their less assertive sisters will be such
that any bachelor had best beware the
shyest maid. or he may lose his hand. II
not his heart. Seven years without OPP
portunity means for the ordinary spinster
no other opportunity. She will be in the
retired list when another leap year comes.
quickly-the getting of Il husband. An
artist has conceived of the SYMBOLIC spin
stcr, lariat in hand, watching for the mo-
ment when the fearing man may be caught
by its clingng loop The picture Is tho
precise representation of the fact
The spinstcr will employ force to the
utmost The uuveiling strands of the
lariat will be hurled by no warering hand
! and there will be no escape for him over
whose shoulders the resistlcss moose falls.
= The spinster will look in the glass and see
therein the shadow pictures coniured up
by sorrowful anticipation, the pictures Of
spinstors seven years hence, when the
} battery of charms will he routed by the
arms of Father Time. Spnsters will not
fail in 1896 If their utmost strength can
avoid defeat. If, after all, they do fall,
: they will mathematics the calendar MAX
% err.
4 It is curious prank those same calen-
dar makers have played, on the women
! directly and on the men indirectly,
The introduction of an additional day
into the calendar once In four years IL
necessary to prevent the average year
D from being too short. At the same time
, II maiics the average year little too
, long. This additional length Is so slight
that II accumulates very slowly. Never
, theless, II does accumulate, and by the
/ end of century 1t amounts to nearly a
Z day. For that reason once in hundred
[ years the auulllOlll Jay WHICH Hltl NJ Il
, year as leap year Is omitted, ana the
i average length of the years Is reduced.
The English law determined in l75l on
reforms in the calendar and from those
we draw and use. The original determine
. ton of the calendar was made by the
4 Pope. and afterwards II was adopted by
= an the countries except Russia ana the
= East From January -, 1852, the civil
: year was made to begin on that date,
= and not on March /, as many had II. In
: the same year eleven days We're dropped
from the calendar, from the third to the
thirteenth, inclusive, so that what would
: have been the fourteenth became the
: third.
v with this change effected the remainder
of the calendar followed its usual course.
d BY this change the day which would have
Il been December % became January Z,
o 1t was from this that the latter derived its
c name of Old Christmas Day
= The further regulation of the calendar
occurred in emitting the year 1900 from the
number of leap years. Therefore, in 1901
s Old Christmas Day fell on January 9, and
Il from that time until this that Is the day
of the month called by that name.
In Riders British Merlin" for 1901 We
find 1t stated that 1900 is not to be a lear
year. while 1901 is to be the NTH year after
Dissextile. or leap year, and the first year
of the twentieth century. For this coun'
try the first leap year was 1904, which Is
described as such In the almanacs which
were then current.
One old almanac for 1900 Moore's, names
the year as the forth after bsseXtile, oil
leap year, and then states that in spite
of its being the fourth year from leap
year 1896 the month OF February had only
twenty-eight days. Following this fash
ion 1902 Is called the sixth year after bis
sextile, and 1903 the seventh.
Curious as all this appears to us 1t Is
precisely what we will soon do. Through
out seven years there will be no Februory
90 after 1896. All of the births and other
events which occurred on that unfortunate
day of the month will have no opportunity
to celebrate their anniversary That &C.
centric date, February 90, will then have
an opportunity for renown brought on by
its absence.
The calendar adjustment by which these
matters were arranged reaches forward
to a distance that is startling to one whose
term of life is the seventy years OF man.
1t declared that the years 1900, 1900, 2lOO
1000, or any other hundredth year In time
to come shall consist of S65 days and no
more But the fact also remains that this
adjustment of the calendar was not quite
accurate The one day omitted once I'm
the century made the average year little
too short
To remedy this defect the adjusters
mazda tho following excetlon to the rule