Since 2024 is a Leap Year, Historic Jacksonville, Inc. is wondering—does the “Ladies’ Law” still hold? According to tradition (which can be traced to 1288 and Margaret Queen of Scots), during a Leap Year a lady has the privilege of suggesting marriage between herself and a bachelor acquaintance. In the event of the gentleman’s refusal, he was expected to present the lady with some compensation, a more common one being a new black silk dress. We did find an 1885 newspaper quip with a niece asking her aunt why she had so many black silk dresses!
We don’t know how many Jacksonville ladies may have taken advantage of the role reversal tradition, but we do know that in February 1884, the “Oregon Sentinel” reported that local ladies held a “Leap Year’s party at Madame Holt’s Hall.” Prominent Jacksonville family names appear on the dance committee lists: Orth, Prim, Helms, Plymale, Linn, Hanley, Ulrich, Klippel, and Cameron among others. For the evening at least, the ladies adopted the following resolutions:
· Every lady is expected to act like a perfect gentleman.
· No gentleman will dance unless asked by a lady.
· No gentleman will walk across the floor unless leaning upon the arm of a lady.
· Any lady insulting a gentleman will be put out of the hall at once, and all gentlemen will be protected from rudeness while in the hall.
· Gentlemen will dance on the right side of a lady as a matter of course.
· Any ungentlemanly behavior on the part of a lady will be promptly checked by the floor committee.
· Any gentleman showing a lady attention shall be warned once and put out twice.
· Any gentleman asked by a lady to dance can excuse himself by fibbing about his engagement if he chooses, and all will be well.
We have not had a chance to check the local newspapers for any subsequent marriages, but we do suspect that a good time was had by all!