s
about the year of our Lord 532."

"Why did they wait so long?" asked Joe.

"You know," he said, "that at first the Christians were very few and
weak; during the first three hundred years they had all they could do to
escape with their lives from their enemies. But after that they became
very numerous and powerful, and were able to establish their own
customs. So in 532 a monk named Dionysius Exiguus proposed that they
should abandon the old way of counting the years, and adopt the time of
the birth of Christ as a starting-point. He thought this would be a very
proper way of honoring the Saviour of the world. So he took great pains
to find out the exact time when Christ was born, and satisfied himself
that it was on the 25th day of December, in the 753d year from the
foundation of the city of Rome. The Roman Empire at one time included
most of the known world; and the Roman people, proud of their splendid
city, counted the years from the supposed time of its being founded. At
first the Christians did the same; but they were naturally pleased with
the idea of Dionysius."

"Was he the first man who tried to find out what day Christmas came on?"
asked Joe. "I should think everybody would have been anxious to know all
about it."

"Doubtless there was much interest on the subject. But you know the
early Christians had no newspapers, and very few books. Scarcely any of
them could even read. Besides, it was very difficult in those times to
travel or gain information; and it was dangerous to ask questions of the
heathen, or for a man to let them suspect that he was a Christian. And
then when we consider that the calendar was in confusion, because even
the wisest men did not know the exact length of the year, and there were
various ways of counting time, we need not be surprised that the
Christians disagreed and made mistakes as to the time when the Saviour
was born. In the fourth century, however, St. Cyril urged Pope Julius I.
to give orders for an investigation. The result was that the theologians
of the East and West agreed upon the 25th of December, though some of
them were not convinced. The chief grounds of the decision were the
tables in the public records of Rome.

"But let us return to Dionysius. His idea of making the year begin on
the 25th of December was thought to be rather too inconvenient, and so
the old commencement on the first day of January was retained, as the
Romans had arranged it. But the plan of D