Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-03-30
The Heavens IN April
: By WILLIAM r. RIGGE

tain day, we know that this can
not happen again for FIVE or six, and
sometimes even II, years. whereas
when the day Is fixed it may not
be to our liking and then there will
be no hope OF relief. An untried
method 10 not safe.
The Months.
While the scheme of adjusting the
week to the year is readily disposed
OF by calendar reformers, there is
a battle royal on the months. The
first question to be solved is as to
whether the weeks should fit the
months also, that is, for example,
whether the 9TH, 14th, 2lst and 18th
of every month in. the year should
be Sundays. Some vehemently de-
mand that it must be so, others as
stoutly rejoin that it is impossible.
In order to make the same days
of every month fall on the same days
of the week, it has been proposed
to divide the year into IS equal
months of % days each, the extra
one or two days being disposed of
in the manner mentioned before.
This would be a most admirable
solution except for that 18th month,
which would rot allow US to divide
the year into halves and quarters.
This kills the scheme for all except
its proposers.
The difficulty of the 18th month is
solved by other reformers by taking
IL months of % days each and in
sorting summer half-month after
June and a winter half month after
December, or again by a spring
week after March, a summer week
after June, an autumn week after
September and winter week after
December. As these weeks or half
months are not to belong to any Of
the regular IL months, how shall we
make a contract for two months or
more when the half-month or the
season week interrupts them? The
proposers may explain away the
difficulty, but the common people
and the lawyers, each in their own
way, may find the method very devil
Gus.
Equal Months Impracticable.
The idea of making all the months
perfectly equal and to have a full
number of weeks is then completely
abandoned as impracticable by an
other class OF refermers. But here
again there is no units. Some want
to divide the year into equal
quarters of Is weeks each, and the
quarters into 8 months of 4, 4, 5 or
5, 4, 4 weeks each. But this makes
the months very unequal in length,
and the continual phraseology Of
long month or short month is at
least awkward, while the word
month by itself may. give rise to
serious Observation-Disclosures.
The attempt to make the same
days of all the months fall on the
same days of the week is then COM
pletely thrown overheard in another
plan, which assigns to the months
in each quarter 80, 80, 81 days, so
that in the first months of each
quarter, January, April, July and
October, the Sundays should fall on
the 9TH, l4th. 21st and 18th, in the
second month of each quarter on
the 5th, 18th, 10Th and 10th, and
in the third month on the 3rd, 10th,
18th, oath and 31st. The rule is
to be remembered in that the first
Sundays of the months in each quar-
ter shall fall on the successive odd
numbers, the 9TH, 5th, 3rd.
This is the calendar proposed by
Fiammarion, the dean of French as
tronomers. No doubt this scheme
has many advantages-so has every
scheme each in its own way-but
.he principal object is not attained
III shat there is not one but three