FEBRUARY 



2145 



FEDERAL HALL 



EBRUARY, the second and the shortest 

 month of the modern calendar year. Its name, 

 no longer significant in any way, used to mean 

 a great deal to the ancient Romans, for it came 

 from a word meaning to purify; this was the 

 month in which the people were purified for 

 the religious festivals of the following months. 

 The primrose is the special flower for Febru- 

 ary, and the amethyst is its gem. 



Its History. February was not one of the 

 "pioneer" months that is, it was not in that 

 earliest calendar year which Romulus drew 

 up. Numa, however, added Februaris, but 

 placed it at the very last of the year, and not 

 for centuries was it transferred to its perma- 

 nent place after January (see CALENDAR). 



All the rest have thirty-one, 

 Excepting February alone, 

 Which has but twenty-eight, in fine, 

 Till Leap Year gives it twenty-nine. 



says an old rhyme; but February has not 

 always been so far short of its sister months 

 in the number of days. Until the time of 

 Julius Caesar it had thirty days, but Caesar 

 took one from it to lengthen out his honor- 

 month, July; and when Augustus named the 

 eighth month after himself, he, too, took from 

 February the extra day needed. Every four 

 years comes leap year (which see), and gives 

 to the month a twenty-ninth day. 



Its Character. February is cold and stormy 

 in north temperate regions. Often the very 

 heaviest snowstorms of the year come in this 

 late winter month, though it is likely, too, to 

 have occasional warm, sunny days that point 

 forward to spring. There is an old belief, 

 valueless but interesting, connected with Feb- 

 ruary weather. On the second of the month, 

 Groundhog Day, it is said the groundhog 

 pushes his way out of his winter burrow and 

 looks about him. If he can see his shadow he 

 creeps back for another sleep of six weeks, but 

 if the day is cloudy he knows that spring has 

 almost come and there is no more time for 

 dozing. 



Special Days. February has an unusual 

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number of days of- peculiar interest, most of 

 them birthdays. Lincoln, Washington, Dickens, 

 Lowell and Longfellow these are but a few of 

 the great men whose birthdays fall within this 

 month; and every one of these had the char- 

 acter and the determination to achieve high 

 ambition which make the story of their lives 

 the most inspiring sort of study. 



There is Saint Valentine's Day, on the four- 

 teenth day, named for a Catholic Saint, but 

 given over to that kind of sentiment which 

 must not be taken too seriously. Candlemas 

 Day, which falls on February 2, is a festival of 

 the Roman Catholic Church, during which the 

 candles to be used in services throughout the 

 year are consecrated. (See pages 2146-2147.) 



FED'ERAL HALL, an historic building in 

 New York City, the first capitol of the United 

 States, therefore the building in which the 

 First Congress met. The building had been 

 known as the City Hall. It stood at the cor- 



FEDERAL HALL 



The building which housed the First Congress 

 of the United States, whose most important work 

 was probably the passage of the first ten Amend- 

 ments to the Constitution. Washington stood on 

 the upper balcony when he took the oath of office 

 as President. 



ner of Broad and Wall Streets; to be more 

 in keeping with the new government it under- 

 went extensive repairs and was rechristened 

 Federal Hall just before Washington's first 



