The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1908-01-29

ina. takes the origin back TO about
the year 400, which would seem to give
it good deep roots. This is the story
as told by the tradition mongers:
One day, as st. Patrick was strolling
along the shore of Tough Noagh, he
was accosted by st. Bridget, who with
much weeping and wailing declared that
the sisters in her nunnery felt them
selves to be deeply abused because
they, as women, had not the privilege
of popping the question. At that time
~celibacy, although approved by the
Church as the proper life, and conse-
quently made binding on the individual
by a private vow, was not enforced by
a general and absolute rule of the
clergy.
st. Patrick was sternly resolved up
on celibacy for himself, but he was so
moved by the lamentations of ST..
Bridget that he offered to help out the
nunnery ladies by conceding to them an
occasional enjoyment of the privilege
of proposing. Being an ecclesiastic,
his thoughts naturally turned on groups
of sevens; so he said they might pro-
pose once in seven years.
Seven years! No wonder st. Bridget
demurred. A girl who was ID when
n of these privileged years came
would be II before she would get
another chance, and all the best years
of her life for that special purpose
would be gone. For at that time a
woman of 81 was as much of a matri-
monial antiquity as a woman of 81 is
today.
Consequently, so the story goes, St.
Bridget threw her arms around st.
Patrick's neck and exclaimed:
"Arrah, Pathrick, jewel! / daren't
go back to the gurrls wild SIGH a pro-
posal. Mex it wan year in four"
To which the genial saint replied:
"Biddy, acushla, squeeze me that
way again and I'll give you leap year,
the longest one of the lot"
Thus encouraged, and bethinking her
that she herself had no husband, st.
Bridget forthwith proposed to st. Pat
rick. But he had taken the VOW of
%celibacy, so he had to soften his refusal
with a kiss and the present of a silk
gown.
"And ever since them" says Walsh,
who tells the story in his "Curiosities
of Popular Customs" if a man refuses
a leap year proposal he must pay the
penalty of a silk gown and kiss"
However, there is a limit to this obi
cation, for other authorities say that
the lady cannot claim the dress unless
at the time of the proposal she is the
"wearer of a scarlet p%etticoat, the
lower portion of which she must ex-
hibit to the gentleman, who by the law
of leap year is compelled to present to
the lady the dress which shall cover
the petticoat."
This reference to the claw of leap
year is more serious than might be
supposed, for it is declared that the
women proposing was actually upheld
by laws in Scotland, France and Spain,
"while in England the custom was so
deeply rooted that it needed no laws to
uphold it.
In 1928 a law was passed in Scot
land making a man liable to a fine of
not more than n hundred pounds for
refusing a woman during leap year I'M
less he could show that he had proposed
to somebody else prior to leap year., or
had been engaged by some other in
quiring oma
That there is something inherently
perverse in leap year seems to be at
the bottom of all the superstitions
about it. For instance, in Great Brit
ain the country folk used to declare
that peas and beans twisted the wrong
way in leap year and that buds set the
wrong way. There was an old belief,
too, that children born in leap year
were unlucky, because the year was
diyisible by four, which was an un-
lucky number:
one thing is certain, the 10Th of
February is more scantily provided
with saints than any other day in the
year, ST. Oswald being the only one in
the calendar for that day.