THE MEANING OF MONDAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 58, 2 December 1919, Page 4

THE MEANING OF MONDAY

Monday has always had a bad reputation (says tho "San Francisco Bulletin").. It began wilh one when it was flret called Monday or moonday. The day bdore' wns _ sundity, and the primitive Saxon having probably suffered from being too nmen in tho sun thought it was time to worship the moon and to name a. day iu her honour. Out of that original insult have grown innumerable others, as Black Monday, Jiiue Monday, Mondayland, Mondayish, and kindred variations which you will lind in the dictionary. And seeing that this is Monday, and that you «re probably afflicted with its psychological associations, let us save you the troublo of turning t'o Webster. There is ijuite a lot about Monday in tho dictionary. After puzzling through tho derivations you come to: — Black Jlowlay.-Easter Monday, 13C0, a remarkably dark day on which there wero violent hailstorms; hence any Easter Monday. At boys' schools, the first Monday alter the holidays. liiue Monday.— In Bavaria, the first Monday before Lent, so named from tho blue coloiu\ of the church decorations. A time and occasion When tho spirits aro depressed. Monday laud.—Land whose possession by a cottager depended upon his labouring for his lord, one day iu tho week, usually on a Monday. Mondayish.—Liko a clergyman on Monday; tiri-d out. With boys returiiii.g to school after the holidays, cuiigregations fac-.'d with blue church decorations, cottagers v/orfciug a dead horse, and clergymen recovering from their Sunday sermons on that day, is it any wonder that Monday lias nu evil reputation? What other day in the week could have looked cheerful ivith sudi a loud on its shoulders?

A man, believed to be tho oldest) human being' in tho world, who lives in Kentucky, iccently celebrated his 131 st birthday. His name is John Shell, He has a daughter aged 97.