Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1900-04-18
BILL ARP AS AN EDUCATOR
He Tells About the DAYS and
Months.
H0WS THEY GOT THEIR NAMES.
Arr, Then Discusses Other Matters es
lnterest.-Content With His Lot,
and Happy rIau.

did not have any names for many cen
turieS except by Cheir numbers as the
first DAY and second day, etc, but in
course OF time the Scandinavi;tns gave
thens names in honor of their gods, the
sun and moon and Saturn and Wooden
and Thor. etc Wooden was their great
est god and T'uor was the god of the
Slouds. Wednesday used to be Wod-
ensday and Thursday w;s ThOrsday.
They believed that Thor made thun
der by picking up two great mountains
in the sky and clapping them together
and that he was ten miles high and his
arms twenty miles long But the divis-
ION nf the year into monuhS and how
and when the molrthS get thei;
names Ts not generally known TO the
young people. and perhaps will not un-
ell somebody tells them. I was think
ine about this month ot April and how
II got its name from Il Latin word tina;
means TO open because during the
month the earth begins TO open for che
seed to come up and the grass to grow
and the buds on the trees open into
leaves and flowers Young peopla
should know that away lack before the
Christian era there were but ten
months and the year ended with De-
cember and began with January be
cuse their god JaITus was double
faced god and with one face looked
back at the old year and with the
other looked forv ard at the new year.
fhat was pretty and appropriate. Be
fore the reign OF Numa January ana
February were not in .hc beginning uf
the year. hut those old Roman empc-
ForS and the old popes did what they
pleased with time. and 50 January was
Ia ltaf fntNHr .,
Then Numa trMnsp1sed February to
please i.upercus, another god who they
said was the she wolf that suCkled
RUmulus and RemlLs in cave, and
the Romans established a yearly fes-
tival in honor of this she wolf and
called il February, which means eXpi
alton. March WIS named in honor or
Mars. another god. and the 25th or
March was the beginning OF the year
for 1000 years not only with TIE
Romans but with many Christian ma
lions. Indeed. II was not changed
trom this distinction until the yen"
1882. and il seems to me Il pity that ,t
ever was changed The time OF the
vernaI equinox, the 21st OF March.
seems more like a new year and come
han does the cold bleak midwinter or
the first day OF January.
The next month to April was named
in honor OF another god or goddess
named Maias. who was the mother or
Mercury. Then came June name
given in honor or Junius. the god OF
youth. Then came the other four
months. September. October Novem-
Der and December. Gods and goddess
es had given out / reckon. But later
on julius Caesar imagined he was
god and made a new month and called
Ink uIYoI 4 t.ft a "A ~.
same thing AMI called it Augu,, or
course they had to rob the other
months OF some OF their days in order
40 get these two months in. Now, my
young friends just think of il. how the
civilized Christian world has been i'm
posed upon by superstition. Every day
in the week and almost every month in
the year named in honor OF some imag-
mary god that the heather people wor-
shipped Paul preached a grand sermon
when he said to them: Whom ye ig
norantly worship him declare | unto
you" Not only did we get from them
the names of days and months, but thu
names of all the planets except one.
and that is the earth that we live upon.
How faithfully they did worship their
gods. How loyal were they TO Jupiter
the god of all gods whom they imag-
lined sat upon a throne on the top OF
Mount Olympus. an imaginery noun
tain far up in the heavens, and from
there overlooked and blessed the chill
dren of men. Love is the foundation 0f
icharacter or every goo, whether real or
imaginary. II is worthy OF reIaem-
brance that all the historic nations
worshiped gods whom they believed 10
be good. No people have ever wor-
SHIPPED god who did not love and care
for the children OF men. There were
gods OF evil. too, but the people did not
love them. They feared them just rs
we fear the power OF Satan now. The
origiz OF many things of every day use
in the business OF life is a curious and
interesting study. For fnsi1lnce who
established the exact longth or an incn,
a foot. a yard. Who fixed the weight
of pound OF sugar or u ten dollar
coin OF gold or bushel OF meal
These things haven't been fixed so
very long. The nations have been
working on them for centuries and
they were not finally agreed on until
about $50 years ago. During the reign
OF King George ~ the house of parlia
ment in London was burned UP and the
standards OF weights and measures was
burned UP with 1T. and IL took years
TO reproduce them. for although thou
sands OF people had yard sticks and
weights and measures. they were not
exactly alike Many yardsticks were
n trife snort and there were scales to
buy by and scales to sell by and so
with peck measures and half-busheI
measures, for there were dishonest