Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-02-26
WHO STOLE FEB. 29lh
The Second Month In The Year Has
-Four Weeks-And One Extra Day
Every Four Years The
Reason

| Our calendar has been a growth, a
| development, and its arrangement has
| caused a good deal of trouble first and
LAST, before reaching its present per-
/ fection. Some very wise men have
! had something TO do with the work
and others, not so wise, have had a
/ hand in it. Doubtless you would like
/ to learn how il came about that Feb
ruary has only four weeks. with an
extra day every four years. 1t is an
| interesting story. So, now, who stole
the twenty-ninth of February?
In the first place, long ago there
wasn't any February at ALL We de-
rive the names of our months from
! those of the ancient Romans, and the
| old Roman year began with March
the opening of spring, when that
| fighting nation was accustomed to set
| out on its military campaigns. The
| month took its name from Mars, the
I; Roman god of war. Aprilis, which
followed, derived its name from the
Latin word aperio-to open. The word
May came from Marie, the goddess of
growth, and June from Juno, the
queen of the goddesses. Then follow
ed Quintilis, the fifth month, and Sex
tilis, the sixth, and so on, up to De-
cember, the tenth and last month.
When Numa Pompilius succeeded
8 King of Rome. he had some ideas
of his own. and added two months to
the Roman year so as to make the
number twelve, one for each new
moon. He placed these at the begin
ming of the year and named them jan
uary and February. January took it's
name from the two-faced god Janus,
whose temple was always shut in time
of peace, and February received it's
name from the feast of publication
the februa-which was celebrated
about the middle of the month.
Now there was one serious defect
in this calendar; it did not give
enough days to the solar year, and
consequently things got a little mixed
after a while. 1t did not make much
difference to the common people, per-
haps, whether they were behind time
or ahead of time, but by the time of
Julius Caesar the calendar was about
three months out of the way So this
great man determined to reform the
calendar and have it more nearly
right. He talked the matter over with
the priests and the wise men, and
they figured out that the year ought
TO contain three hundred and sixty
five and one-fourth days.
This lengthening of the year made
it imperative, of course, that some of
the months should be increased, for
they could not all be made equal, be-
cause three hundred and sixty-fve
cannot be divided evenly by twelve.
Caesar therefore divided up the days,
giving some months thirty days, and
others thirty-one, with the exception
of February, to which he gave twenty
nine. After this was done there still
. remained the extra six hours in each
year to be accounted for, so he ar
ranged that there should be an extra
day in February every fourth year,
and that year has always been called
leap year
Since Caesar was so important a
man. the lord and master of the Ro-
man world, he also thought that one
of the months ought to bear his name.
He selected Quintilis and bestowed
upon this month his name of julius,
and July it has remained to his day.
Everybody then doubtless felt conf
dent that the calendar would answer
every requirement, and that it would
be satisfactory for centuries to come.
They did not take into consideration
the fact that some future Caesar
| might have some personal reason for
desiring and making other alterations
and this, in fact, is what did happen.
Julius granddaughter, the Young Oc-
tavius, under the name of Augustus,
succeeded as master of the Roman
world. He, too, had his ambitions
and one of them was to change the
calendar The great Julius had nam
ed a month after himself, so he, the
great Augustus. must likewise be hon
ored Accordingly he selected the
month Sextilis and changed its name
TO August, from Augustus. Sextilis
had been given thirty days, but it
would not do for August to have a
smaller number of days than July.
! Since julius Caesar had already rob-
! bed February of one day, Augustus
| deemed it wise to abbreviate still fur
ther that unfortunate month. This
cut February down to twenty-eight
days. with the additional day in every
four years. and gave to August
thirty-one days.
The name month" comes to US
from the old Saxon word monath
meaning the moon. The Saxon names
of the months were quite different
from the Latin names. They called
January the Wolf Month, because the
wolves were then the most trouble
some: February was Sprout-Kai
I Month; March the Lenct Month, be.
cause at that time the days length
j ened: April, the Oster Month, because
the wind then blew mainly from the
east: May was Tri-milkie, because
the cows were then milked three time:
I day: June was Wade Month, be
cause the cattle were then turned II
feed in the marshes; July was Hay
Month; August, Barn Month; Sep
tember. Grist Month; October, Mead,
Month; November. Wind Month, anC
! December, Holy Month II the Ro
mans never had conquered Britain, W,