MISCELLANY 





shire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, 

 North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio (from 

 5.30 A. M. to 9 A. M. only), Oklahoma, Oregon 

 (vote for presidential elections only), Pennsyl- 

 vania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South 

 Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Wash- 

 ington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, in the years 

 when elections are held therein. In 1908 in 

 holding such elections the date is Novem- 

 ber 3d. 



NOVEMBER 1908. Thanksgiving Day (usu- 

 ally the fourth Thursday in November): Is 

 >-d in all the States, and in the District of 

 Columbia, Arizona, and New Mexico, though in 

 SOUR- States it is not a statutory holiday. 



DBCEMBEB L'.VTH. Christmas Day: In all the 

 , District of Columbia, and Territories. 



Sundays and Fast Days are legal holidays in all the j 

 States which designate them as such. 



There are no statutory holidays in Mississippi, but 

 by common consent the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, 

 a:il t'hn>tmas are observed. In New Mexico, Wash- 

 ington's Birthday, Decoration Day, Labor Day, Flag- 

 Day (June 14), and Arbor Day are holidays when so 

 (if-iunat.-,! t,y the m.vrim.r. In Smith Carolina, Thurs- 

 day of Fair Week is a legal holiday. 



Arbor Day is a legal holiday in Arizona, Maine, 

 Maryland, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, the 

 dav being set by the governor; in Texas, February 22d; 

 Nebraska. April 22d; Utah, April 15th; Rhode Island, 

 second Friday in May; Montana, second Tuesday in 

 May; Georgia, first Friday in December; Colorado 

 (school holiday only), third Friday in April; in Okla- 

 homa, the Friday following the second Monday in 

 March; in Arkansas, first Saturday in March. 



v Saturday after 12 o'clock noon is a legal holi- 

 day in California in public offices, Illinois (in cities of 

 200,000 or more inhabitants), Maryland, Michigan, New 

 York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, 

 Virginia, the District of Columbia (for banking pur- 

 poses), and in New Orleans, La., and Charleston, S. C.; 

 in Louisiana and Missouri in cities of 100,000 or more 

 inhabitants; in Tennessee, for State and county officers, 

 ami in Colorado during June, July, and August; in 

 Indiana, first Saturday in June to last Saturday in 

 October, inclusive, for all public offices in counties hav- 

 ing a county-seat of 100,000 population or more. 



There ia no national holiday, not even the Fourth 

 of July. Congress baa at various times appointed 

 special holidays. In the second session of the Fifty- 

 third Congress it paased an act making Labor Day a 

 public holiday in the District of Columbia, and it has 

 recognized the existence of certain days as holidays for 

 commercial purposes, but, with the exception named, 

 there is no general statute on the subject. The procla- 

 mation of the president designating a day of Thanks- 

 giving only makes it a legal holiday in the District of 

 Columbia and the Territories. 



CHURCH DAYS 



r and Rogation Days are certain periods 

 of the year devoted to prayer and fatting. 

 limber Days (twelve annually) are tin- Wednes- 

 day after the fiM Sunday 

 t, after the feast of Pentecost (Whit Sun- 

 thc festival of the Holy Cross, and 

 after the festival of St. Lucia. Krnber Weeks 

 an- the weeks in which the Ember Days ap- 



Rogation Days arc the tlm unedi- 



lloly Thursday or AHcru-K.ii 



r, the ('!: over and fesfjval of 



the resurrection of Christ. '11,. h name 



is probably deri\ed |>,, m that of the Teutonic 

 podde^ of spring. < Mera or Eos t re, whom* festi- 

 val occurred about the same time a- 

 tion of Easter. Those of the early On 

 who believe the Christian passover to be a 

 commemoration of Christ's death adhered to the 



custom of holding the Easter festivity on the day 

 prescribed for the Jewish pasch, the*14th day of 

 the first month, that is, the lunar month of which 



i the 14th day either falls on or next follows the 



; day of the vernal equinox. But most of the 

 Christian Churches, attaching greatest impor- 



\ tance to the day of Christ's resurrection, held to 

 Easter's being celebrated on the Sunday which 

 followed the 14th day of the moon of March, 

 the dav on which Christ suffered. This quest i< >n 

 was the cause of a serious difference in the 

 Church as early as the Second Century, and was 

 not finally settled until the Council of Nice in 325. 

 The rule was then adopted which makes Easter 

 day to be always the first Sunday after the full 

 moon which happens upon or next after March 

 21st; and if the full moon happen on a Sunday, 

 Easter day is the Sunday after. By this arrange- 



| ment Easter may come as early as March J_M. 



j or as late as April 25th. This sacred festival is 

 celebrated in every part of the Christian world 

 with great solemnity and devotion, and generally 

 also with proper sports and observances. Among 

 the best known of the latter is the custom of 

 making presents of colored eggs, called pasch or 

 pace eggs. This custom originated from the 

 old German legend of a white hare stealing into 

 the house on Easter eve and secreting a number 

 of beautifully colored eggs in odd corners for 

 good little children. In America, where the 

 hare is practically unknown, the custom has 

 been transferred to the rabbit, its near relation. 

 Hence, the colored Easter eggs are popularly 

 referred to as "rabbit's eggs." 



OLD ENGLISH HOLIDAYS 



These holidays, with their names, had their 

 origin in mediaeval England when the state 

 religion was that of the Church of Rome, and 

 they are still observed generally or in some 

 parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 



JANUARY GTH. Twelfth Day, or Twelfth-tide, 

 sometimes called Old Christmas Day, the same 

 as Epiphany. The previous evening is Twelfth 

 Night, with which many social rites have long 

 been connected. 



FEBRUARY 2o. Candlemas: Festival of the 

 Purification of the Virgin. Consecration of the 

 lighted candles to be used in the church during 

 the year. 



FEBRUARY 1 ITU. Old Candlemas: St. Val- 

 entine's Day. 



MARCH 25TH. Lady Dav: Annunciation of 

 the Virgin. April 6th is old Lady Day. 



JUNE 24TH. MMsummer Day: Feast of the 

 Nativity of John the Baptist. July 7th is old 

 Midsummer Day. 



JULY 1ST i rithin's Day. There was 



an old superstition that if rain fell on this day 

 it would continue forty days. 



AUGUST lax. Lammas Day: Originally in 

 LriL'l.ind the festival of tho wheat harvest. In 

 .rcli the festival of St. Peter's miraculous 

 no- from prison. Old Lammas Day is 

 M i:ith. 



SEPTEMBER 29rn. MichaclmoK FeaatofSt. 



1. the A i ihaclmas is 



.-r Mill. 



r. AfltofioWNMM.' Allhallows 



<>r All Saints' Day. The previous evening is 



