Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-02-29
NOW'S THE DAY AND
NOW'S THE HOUR; SEE
FAIR LADY'S POWER
goth of February Brings With
1t a Prerogative Buttressed
by Honorable Tradition
LEAP YEARS APoGEE
Maid and Widow Alike Privileged to
Choose Life Partners Whom They
Know as Affinities

This is the day that proves 1t Is lear
| year. Leap year is the year that women
| not only may choose their own mates
| without considering the desires oil tne
men. as they always have done but, h
| addition, It is the year they may do SO
| frankly without waiting for the men 70
bring forward bushingy the proposals
which the girls have predestined they
| shall make to them.
So 1t is an important day. It is the
I 29th of February, four times rarer than
Christmas. II is not marked by any
particular ceremony, because, as matter
Of fact, the famous leap year prerogative
extends to every day in the year II was
leap year, you see, on January l. ana III
will be leap year on December 81. Ana
when you pass next December 81 ana
draw n breath of relief in January, 1911
because that dreaded leap year with It's
girl proposala is over the girls VIII see
no difference in the times, but VIII go on
selecting the right man, willy nllly' just
when he is unsuspeCting and thinks hlm-
self safe.
FAMOUS LEAP YEAR PROPOSALS.
There are some celebrated cases of fam.
Gus women coming out of cover ana pro-
posing directly as we'll as indirectly There
is a legend to the effect that Queen Eliza-
beth proposed to the Earl of Essex, VINO
f1ereuDOn ueNelOpGU SINli
speed that he qualified for the sprinter
class Only second in Importance among
women to the Virgin Queen is 1nez Mill
holland Boissevain In the opinion OF MIR.
and Mrs. Inez Milholland BoisseValn. She
proposed to Mr.. N1lholland BoisseVain
She proposed to him three times before he
guessed the right answer. She let 1t be
known some time ago that she would con-
sent to be interviewed on the subject
"Do you believe that woman should
directly propose marriage to man
came the unexpected question
why, certainly" brightly replied the
Justly beautiful and famous young suf-
fragette. THE one who first realizes the
affinity of heart and soul should make IL
known to the other"
ITO whom does this realization first
Gomez" asked Mrs. Inez Milholland Bois'
sevaln.
I'm a majority of cases, among which
ia my own, this realization comes first TO
the woman" replied Mrs. 1nez Milholland
Boissevain. She went on TO say that she
did not believe in wedding rings and
thought they were relics of barbarism.
Relics, that Is, of the days when women
were the chattels of men.
1t Is a frlghtful thing to differ from this
important parsonage, but 1t might pc SAID
parenthetically that the master OF tne
chattel is the slave of the chattel. ANY
one who owns HOuSelul VI IuA ihSuA
and a house. too, can tell you how that
bunch of possessions comes in the end
to own him. He has to stay and use 1t
if he is really to own 1t; and If man
has to stay home In order to boss his
wife, where is the mastery" in thatF
Especially when so many women enjoy
being bossed The Sultan may have a
thousand wives, but he rarely has the
chance to leave Constantinople.
JULIUS CAESARS MISTAKE.
Fully intending to return to the pro-
posal phase of leap year, let us take a
look at the astronomical side of the case
Julius Caesar Is credited with drawing
I'D a calendar with 365 days and six hours
to the year. That looked good enough, but
after about 1900 years December's silver
strands began to get entangled with the
golden locks of June. speaking, so to speak,
poetically The months began to show
tendency TO overlap and get out of place.
If they had let 1t go much farther we
would soon have been eating Christmas
pudding on the 4th of July, or, what would
have been much worse, not eating Christ
mas pudding on Christmas Day.
So the Pope, Gregory XIII, finding that
Caesar had overlooked a little matter of
II minutes and 12 seconds, which was an
annual overflow, removed IL days from
the calendar-jumped ahead that many
and established leap year. But that was
not all: even that was not accurate
enough. So once In 100 years we drop a
leap year, and leap years are only such
years that can be divided evenly by four.
Now to return to the proposal feature
Of the leap year, One of the things which