OCR Text |
Show Bj Till! IMUHUItVTION. Ll A good many ptoplo know all about UJ' Inauguration day, what It Is for, what R la done, and all thut, but every une Jl' does not know Its origin, how or when B It eume to be uur of tboau who brought H.l It Into existence. There are n urn-Ill urn-Ill berof IradUloue connected with the It' , occasion and numerous legends re H raiding It, aud these aro eo closely II , Interwoven with the real history that III It must naturally be the case that ac-I'r ac-I'r tual kuowledge regarding II la tome-1 tome-1 vihat llmlled. Tho uarritloua con-PJ con-PJ earning the day that have come down Kl to us are as nuiueroua as they are en-L en-L tertalulng, but molt oousplcuous K among them Is ono to thotllect that HJN llenjamlu I'rankllii telectid the fourth BflJ of March as the day, I ho reason Pj uaslgned for tho selection of that pju 1 articular day was that during the two IKi J centurlea followluir, It would fill on Wm ) Bunday less olteii than It would had BflJ ' another day been oppolntoJ. In- III deed, so probable doea thla esplanitl n teem, and so generally l It believe i that miny historical wrllera have asserted It tu be a fact In ojnurctlon with tho rtattment, legeiida have grown up around It, which, although very Interesting, do not aerve to rove much. There la a tloud upon I'ranklln's title, however; ho waa a man who was not very particular or strict in hit observance of Hunday, and tho statement state-ment that ho figured to prevent Inauguration day from falling on the Holy day aa much na nllle, acvme loba absurd. InJeoJ, If we have been correctly Informed, all dnya to hint were very much alike, aod If Hunday happened to find him with plenty of work on hand It mattered lnt, It waa done Juit the nine. Htlll, he was known to have a great deal of regard tot other peoplo'e wlsliea aud preferences, pre-ferences, aud tho ircdlt first aboe given to him may be right alter all. It seems that tho llrtt day set was WeJneiday, eleven years before the close of the Istt century, aud up to tho preiunttlmo It hni fallen on riunday Ibreo tloies; tho next tlmo will be 1017, and after that in 10H aud 1073, It thus appearing as previously abown lien In that by the selection of March 4 the falling of the day uu the Sebuith has been reduced to a minimum, mini-mum, three times in a century. We are advlnd that ou the !!nd of July, 17M,'onp,rcM was i otlfled that New Hampshire had ratllljl the Constitution and It thus becamo the (iireuielaw. On the 1,1th of thu following fol-lowing Heitember, Connrt-s, after much debite, passed the following resolullom Ilciolveil, That tho first We.lnesd.iy or January tuxt l7-o lie tho day lor appointing ap-pointing flcciora In tho several stutes which beforo tho ssiil day shall have Mllneil the aalil ninstlliitioli; Dial Ike llrst Wediieslny In I'obruary next bo tlio day for tho electors tu aeinbloln their respective atalea hiiI vote ror 1'ioat-dent, 1'ioat-dent, and that the llrst Wednesday In March next bo the lilno uu 1 the prc'cul Matol t'onuresa the laee for eornlilniie-log eornlilniie-log proceeilllia niidrr the aal,l eotutltu-lion. eotutltu-lion. The first Wednesday in March hap-J.eucJ hap-J.eucJ to bo the till, and before the next election the diy of the month, uot the da) of tbu week a, formsrl), waa find upon na luaiigurntlou day for all time to come, whether or not It was aslccted by Kraukllu. It Is notoriously the worst day In the ;ear, being, nine tlims out of ten, nt WathlDilin, raw, chilly, stormy or windy, aometlinei all of them, as was the caie ou tjkturjay last; but rarely la lla Hue day at any time os piste In tho tonipiinte' xno. Wash-lngtou'a Wash-lngtou'a aacoul Inauguration was happily nu exception, tho wiathcr lielug perfect anJ the aun shining brightly. This was on March 1. 17'M, theday being Moujay. All l'reslJents, however, have not been Inductod into otllco un tlut day or date. Of the twont-threo, lilt ulneteeji of them were fornully Inaugurated In-augurated aud but elxtedii uf these, on that date, that Is, If tho llrst tlmo only iHicoimteJ. Washington look thooilh tbe llrst time ou A rll HJt.t and Taylor and Hayes were inaugurate I uu Monday, Mon-day, March &tb. Thu eauiu la true of Monroe'a aeoond luauguralliii, but hit llrst was. an the regular day. It should be stated, hoitever, that lu order to iiisko auuraucedJUbly euro Hayes took the oath twice, thn first time belu privately pri-vately on the rcguUllondai; lutnsthis was tiuuday and there were sumo doubts n t) Its legality, It waa determined deter-mined to repeat the purforiuauco next day, which was done. The inauguration inaugura-tion ceremonies invariably couchide with a grand ball, which the 1'rreldeiit attends whether hepirtlclpatiaut not; lie rarely doc. |