I wore my blue and yellow, waited for candy from Leap Day William (he didn’t show up again), and leapt around foolishly. I love leap day! It’s fun!

Guess what? The Ann Arbor Argus of 1896 loved it too. Or at least they liked it. They sure did go out of their way to explain it. They also mentioned the thing about women being able to ask men to marry them on Leap Day. That’s right there in the first sentence. I sort of zoned out on the rest. The whole article is here.

A few decades earlier in 1864, the Michigan Argus reported on a Chicago girl who took an ad out in the paper under the “Wants” section. I am 100% in love with this young lady and hope she landed a dude worthy of her. Question though–why did they call Chicago the city of mud? I have not heard that before!

The 1888 paper told a tale of a Leap Year Party at Hangsterfer’s Hall (where Mongo BBQ is now). 35 couples attended and the “committee on introduction” performed their part well so I’m presuming that means a good time was had by all. The odd part is that the party seems to have been held in January. I’m sure there is a story there but we will be left to wonder what it was!

This came from the paper in December, 1892. Does anyone get it?

I hope Leap Day William finds us all next time around!