LEAP YEAR CHANCES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 19092, 26 January 1932, Page 3

LEAP YEAR CHANCES

THE PRIVILEGE OF 1932. WOMEN’S RIGHT TO PROPOSE. With the arrival of another leapyear, which for centuries has been associated with a custom of some import to the fair sex, feminine hearts may well be calculated to beat with renewed zest at the alluring prospect of romantic adventures. A reminder of the opportunities which tradition goodnaturedly puts in their way has been heralded in advance on the tramway concession cards, which advertise February’s extra day in red letters, conspicuous to all (says the ‘ New Zealand Herald”). To what extent the modern maiden values the privilege conferred upon her in a year of 363 days is a matter for debate. To judge by the marriage statistics she regards it with utter contempt, for there appear to be as many weddings in the normal year as in any other, but no one wishes to take dry figures seriously. Cynics like George Bernard Shaw and' H. L. Mencken would have it that the Modern Miss needs no assistance, either statutory or mythical, in mapping out her career, going so far, indeed, as to accuse her at ail times of excessive enterprise, a matter in which the "mere male” reveals himself in the colours of a passive and pliant accessory, a poor kind of fish, in fact, who childishly imagines he himself does the choosing, when all the time he is the chosen. But then Shaw, who has publicly claimed himself to have had the happiest marriage in the world, has no cause to be sarcastic on the question, and Mencken’s cynicism has been heavily discounted since the recent overthrow of his ov.’n muchvaunted celibacy. The origin of the leap-year mytii. is to a very large extent wrapt in obscurity, and even ladies 'who have had the good fortune to be born on 29th February, and now count only the leap-year birthdays, are often ignorant of the manner and being of the advantage they enjoy over their unlucky sisters. The origin of leap-year goes back to the days of Julius Caesar, whose astronomers, 46 8.C., took the 1 liberty of settling the solar year at 365 days 6 hours. These odd hours were set aside; at the end of every four years there was an extra day which nobody knew exactly what to do with, so it was tacked on to the end of February, which month had re- ; ceived the most niggardly treatment I in the allotment of days, i Of the origin of the custom for i women to woo during leap-year no j satisfactory explanations have ever ! been offered. It is interesting to learn, i however, that in 1928, a law was en- ! acted in Scotland by Queen Margaret. "The Maid of Norway,” quaintly setj ting forth that "It is statut and orI daint that during the rein of hir maist ! blissit Megese, for ilk yeare knowne as ! lepe yeare, ilk mayden ladye of bothe j highe and lowe estait shall hae liberte , to bespeke ye man she likes; albeit I he refuses to taik hir to be his lawful I wyfe, he shall be mulcted in ye sum | ane pundis or less, as his estait may be; except and awis gif he can make it appeare that he is betrothit ane ither woman then he shall be free.” In effect this statute amounted to a tax on bachelors, so that to that exj tent Scotland in 1288 was not so I medieval as might be supposed, con- | sidering the revival of bachelor taxes I in some portions of the modern world.