The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-07-21
FRG NEWS
From the London Globe.


cut in a squared block of marble. On
each side face are the days of three
months, arranged in perpendicular col
umns, each month headed by it's prop
er zodiacal sign. This calendar also
contains astronomical, agricultural an"
religious information. Similar to
this ancient marble calendar of Pom
peii were the clog almanacs useu
long ago. According to DR.. Plot,
these were still in use in Staffordshire
in 1906 The clog was cut out of the
block of wood so as to look like four
elongated rectangular pieces of wood
united by their edges. When held in
front it presented four edges and four
faces. Notches were cut on the edges
one for each day, and these were d.
vided into weeks by longer notches for
the Sundays. Special days were sig
nified by appropriate figures on the
corresponding faces. A gridiron de-
noted ST. Laurences, a wheel ST.
GATHERINGS, an AK st. PauIs, while
drinking horn might stand for Christ
mas. Sometimes the notable days
were marked in Runic staff. Speci-
mems of these curious calendars may
he seen in the British Museum. the
Bodleian, the Ashmolean and others.
Let us glance for a moment at on?
modern calendar A curious point
is the irregularity in the number Of
the days in the different months. We
could hardly remember the right
lengths if it were not for the familiar
rhyme:
Thirty days hath September.
The explanation carries us back to
Roman history 1t was the vanity
of Roman emperor which rendered
the barring Of tie r~yme peca say
in the oldest Roman calendar, the
months wee OF &c days Of % Gays
each. BIT whtr Julius Caesar re-
formed the Calendar If Nina Pom
pilius he gave them alternately 81 and
80, beginning with January. February
was an exception, and was given 20
days in ordinary, and so in leap yea1s
After Caesars death the month Quin.
tillis ives renamed julius in his honor
Some time later Augustus chose the
following month, Sextilis, as his own,
and called it Augustus. But it had
only 80 days and it was not to be
endured that Augustus should be in
ferior to julius. So the emperor took
one day from February, leaving it but
2S, and gave it to Augustus. This dis
turbed Caesars orderly arrangement
and three months of 331 days, viz :
July Auguts and September. came
together. The extra day of the lat
ter was. therefore. given to October
and a day taken from November was
given to December.
The calendar like so many other OF
our institutions, has been a thing OF
SLOW growth, and herein, perhaps. lies
the secret of its stability This is
illustrated by the fate of the brand
new calendar of the French republic
At the time of the revolution an at.
tempt was made to get rid of the
Roman names of the months and 9th
err associations, A new calendar was
arranged by a committee, of which
the moving spirit seems to have beer
Philippe Fabre d'Eglantine. dramatist
and revolutionist. The old month.
were cut up so that from eight to II
days of one were united with from .,
TO 10 days each. They received tn,
following poeical and descriptive
names: Nendemaire vintage: Bru
MARE, foggy; Frimaire, sleeting: Nj
vose, snowy; Pluvose. Eainy; Ven.
tose, windy; Germinal, budding
Floreal, floreal, flowery; Prairial
pasture; Messidor, harvest; Thermi
dor, hot and Fructidor, fruit The
first month began with the autumn
equinox and included eight days Of
September and of October, Five
extra days were added under the title
of Sans-culottides every ordinary year
and six in leap year. The Roman
names of the days were likewise abol
ished in favor of the more prosaiC
Primidi, Duodi, Tredi, etc. Thi.
calendar remained in use for Is years
and then Janvrier, Lundi. Mardi ant
Co. came back and have remained.
The French began the new repub
lican year with the autumn equinox
and the oldest Roman year probabl'
began with that of spring. March wa
its first month, as it was in our owl
until 1892. In that year England tai
Oily accepted the reformed calenda
of Pope Gregory XIII, and January
For some time previously, however. j
became the legal New Years day
had been observed as the popular BIZ