Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1906-05-23
THE SNARLS OF TIME
POPE GREGoRY'S CORRECTION or
The JULIAN CALENDAR.

Twenty-One Days Tan r5s2-Commo-
don the Change Made I'm England.
Did you ever hear OF the famous
short month OF October. which had
only twenty-one daysr Some three cen
turtles ago In southC "A Europe men
tried 10 correct an error that had been
growing continually for more than
thousand years, and the result was
mat they called the day after Oct. 4,
1882. Oct. - instead OF Oct. 3.
We get our ideas and principles re-
garding the calendar from two sources.
Roman and Jewish Every one knows
that the names OF the months are
Latin, and I'm the histories we read how
the various Roman rulers changed the
distribution Of days within the month.
etc, 10 suit their pride or political
schemes, much as modern politicians
hasten or postpone n convention. and
brought things into great confusion
until Julius Caesar decrced that the
coming year should consist OF 800 DAYS
and every fourth year OF 1866. The OK
ira day was To be inserted between the
oath and 10Th OF February. In their
way Of numbering the DAYS OF the
month, which seems 10 us SO awkward.
the 9th was seXto caleudas. or the
sixth day before the calenGs of
March. When the extra day was in
serted IL was called the second sixth.
or. I'm Latin. bisSeXto calendas. whence
our bisseXtilc.
From Jewish sources we get other
Ff.atF
the passover was celebrated on the
very day OF the first fun moon after
the spring equinox. The carly Chris
tians. or many OF them. tool, the same
day. but this lei 20 Charge OF heresy.
TO discussion. criticism and even con
tempt: 50 10 was decrecd probably 10y
Constantine the Great I'm 30 \. d. in
connection with the council of Nicaea,
that the Christian festival Easter
should bc observed on the Sunday fol
lowing the passover. and the other
movable fcasts Of the church were
made dependent on ibis SO the ele-
ment OF fixed day of the week was
brought into the calculation
In this year 25-the vcrnal equinox
fell on March p. and. If Caesars work
I'm establishing lie Julian calendar had
only been correct. this event would have
happened on this date forever. But ma
ture seems 60 abhor simple ratios as she
was said To abhor a vacuum. Unf0rtu-
nately for simplicity the year is not ex-
actly $50 days g hours. but about II
minutes II seconds less. So the inscr-
ton OF the extra day I'm four years was
OVERRIDING the correction. as was known
even in the dark ages. but after the re-
vival Of learning and the establishment
OF obServatorics it was commented on
In the council OF Trent and was very
much discussed 10y mathematicians.
And by The middle Of the sixteenth cen
fury the lU t,rcds Of small errors had
accumulated % ten days. SD the vcrnal
equinox fc.l not ON the DIST. but on
the 18th. II March.
This was the condition of things
when. IN 1872. Pope Gregory XIII. was
elected. lie realized the glory that It
would bc 90 his reign if this confusing
matter was settled. and SO set COM
pany or mathcmaticianS To work out
the problem. not only ~ rectifying the
old errors. but OF providing rules TO
prevent errors In the future The hard
est part OF the work was 10 fix the
movable church feaSts without doing
violence 10 the traditions. That a good
deal could be said about the work IS
evidenced by the book of 500 pages
written 10y ClaviuS. one of the cOmpa-
ny. The result was that I'm 1881 pa
pal bull was issued declaring. among
other things. that in 1852 the day fol-
lowing oct. 4 should be called oct. 10
and that centuries should not be leap
years unless divisible by 400.
Rulers and states that were then
Catholic responded 10 the pope's re-
quest for acceptance OF the reform. In
France the ten days were dropped aft
or Dec. .. 1852; IN Catholic Germany
the change was made In 1884. but the
Protestant states delayed until Feb.
10 March u. 1000. In Switzerland and
Poland there was such resistance made
that the troops were necessary TO sup
press IT,
The change was long delayed In Prot
estant England. which would not will
ingly accept an alleged reform due to
pope that had encouraged the ar
mazda. But the need of the uniformity
among neishboring states was too
great. and in 1IJ1 Lord Chesterfield IN
PRODUCED into parliament bin for the
reform of the calendar. Some details
Of the law may be quoted from q maya
zine of September. 1852: sept. II
This day the GregOrlan style took place
I'm all Europe. Asia, Africa and Amer
lea p MS day. had not this act passed,
would have been the Sd of September,
but II was now reckOned the 18th. elev-
en- nominal days being omitted. Every
fourth year will be blSScXtile. or leap
year, until 1900. which will be COM
mon year of 500 days. but 1904 viii be
n leap year. Easter and the movable
feasts thereon depending are 70 be
reckOned according to the new tables
| prehXcd TO the act of parliament. All
| the fixed feast days are to be
! kept on the same nominal day as here
tOfOre. Payment of rent notes.
the attainment of majority or eXpira-
| ton Of apprenticeShips shall
not be accelerated hereby. II
servants wages are usually paid AT
the quarter days. eleven days wages
may be deducted ont Of the present
| quarter and the reckoning for the
| future so regularly on" Such were
some of the minute provisions of the
/ act. 1t will be readily believed that
! ignorant people could not understand
| this. and we are told OF mobS marching