316. When was the “Dark Day”?
May 19, 1780, was so called on account of a remarkable darkness on that day extending over all New England. In some places persons could not see to read common print in the open air for several hours together. Birds sang their evening song, disappeared, and became silent; fowls went to roost; cattle sought the barnyard; and candles were lighted in the houses. The obscuration began about ten o’clock in the morning, and continued till the middle of the next night, but with differences of degree and duration in different places. For several days previous the wind had been variable, but chiefly from the southwest and the northeast. The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known.
317. When was the “Day of Barricades”?
May 12, 1588. On this day the Duke of Guise entered Paris, when Henry III., at his instigation, consented to take severe measures against the Huguenots, on the promise that the duke would assist him in purging Paris of strangers and obnoxious persons. No sooner, however, was an attempt made to carry out this plan, than the populace arose, erected barricades, and attacked the king’s troops with irresistible fury. Henry III., having requested the Duke of Guise to put a stop to the conflict, fled from Paris, and the moment the duke showed himself to the people, they pulled down the barricades.
This name is also given to Aug. 26, 1648; so called on account of a riot, instigated by the leaders of the Fronde, which took place in Paris on that day.
318. Why are the oceans so named?
When, on the 27th of November, 1520, Ferdinand-Magellan swept into the calm waters of that new sea on which he was the first to sail, he named it the Mar Pacifico, on account of its peacefully rolling waters and its freedom from violent storms.
The Atlantic is so called from the Atlas Mountains near its eastern shores, or from the fabled island of Atlantis, which was situated in its bosom.
The Indian Ocean is so called because it lies about India and the Indies.
The Arctic Ocean lies directly under the constellation of the Bear. Greek Αρκτος, a bear.