March 31, Monday — Daylight-saving time began in United States on this date in 1918. So many mists in March you see, so many frosts in May will be.
April 1, Tuesday — New moon. All Fools' Day. The doors of wisdom are never shut.
April 2, Wednesday — Actor Sir Alec Guinness born, 1914. American Farmer magazine founded, 1819. Charles Martin Hall patented an inexpensive way to make aluminum, 1889.
April 3, Thursday — Moon at apogee. Outlaw Jesse James killed, 1882. Pony Express began, 1860.
April 4, Friday — President William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia, one month after his inauguration, 1841. Susanna Madora Salter became first woman mayor in the United States, 1887.
April 5, Saturday — Pocahontas married Englishman John Rolfe, 1614. "My Fair Lady" won the Academy Award for Best Picture, 1965.
April 6, Sunday — Daylight-saving time begins at 2 a.m. Time flies, whether you're having fun or not.
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: Are you familiar with the muralist Rufus Porter? I think I may have some wall stencils of his design in my entryway. —F.M., Portland, Maine
Answer: Sure, he left his mark on a lot of the houses in the Monadnock region of southern New Hampshire, as well as in Maine, Vermont and Connecticut. Born in West Boxford, Mass., in 1792, Porter moved with his family to southern Maine when he was still a child. His father later apprenticed him to a shoemaker back in West Boxford, but the cobbler business evidently didn't suit him, for he returned to Portland.
A jack-of-all-trades, the young Porter made his living as a musician (he played the fiddle, drum and fife), clam digger, farmer, dance teacher, and painter of gunboats, sleighs and houses. Many dance halls and taverns show the results of his primitive murals. It is theorized that Porter may have used stencils for some of the frequently repeated themes in his murals, such as sailing ships and red and white buildings.
Jean Lipman chronicled Porter's life and work in two books, "Rufus Porter, Yankee Pioneer" (1968) and "Rufus Porter Rediscovered" (1980), both published by Clarkson Potter. She mentions that some of his earliest works are evident in Sebec, Maine, but that by the 1830s he was working primarily in Massachusetts, along the Connecticut River. In the mid-to-late 1820s, he was in the Monadnock. Porter died in West Haven, Conn., in 1884, virtually unknown.
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: Why is the Boy Scout handshake done with the left hand? — T.H., Roanoke, Va.
Answer: Part of being prepared, we'd guess. Boy Scout founder Robert S. S. Baden-Powell was a strong believer in the practicality of being ambidextrous, or able to use both hands with nearly equal dexterity. While many lefties can tell you how inconvenient it is to use their left hand for tools such as traditional scissors, many power tools, machinery and even cars, Baden-Powell evidently believed the ability was a handy one. The handshake was devised to help promote that ability, no doubt.
Around the beginning of the 20th century, Baden-Powell was joined in his belief by others who formed the Ambidextral Culture Society, whose mission it was to promote the training of both hands to perform fine motor tasks. It is surmised that the group eventually dissipated for lack of practical accomplishment.
In The 1995 Old Farmer's Almanac, Jon Vara wrote an informative piece on the subject, called "The Sinister Truth About Handedness," which is filled with odd facts and surprising discoveries about lefties, or "southpaws." For example, did you know that lefties typically stir their coffee counterclockwise, while a right-handed person will stir clockwise? Or that upon entering a room, lefties typically bear to the left?
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: Was the Easter bonnet originally a milliner's device for generating sales? — R.Y., New London, Conn.
Answer: Probably not, although there's little doubt that they would have rejoiced in the increased demand. Our calendar has changed over time, and the vernal equinox (March 20 this year) and the Easter season used to roughly coincide with the New Year in the pre-Gregorian calendar. (The New Year was celebrated on March 25.) One of the New Year's/Easter rites was the wearing of new clothes to celebrate the changing season and warmer weather. The Easter bonnet was just one element of the new attire, and a particularly handy one upon which to lavish lace, ribbons and bows, fruits and flowers, or fancy feathers, depending on what was in vogue. Even today, hatmakers observe "the Season," which lasts roughly from April to August and represents the best weather for appearing in public with a new headdress.
Women rarely wore hats before the 16th century, and men wore them primarily for travel. By the 18th century, men's bulky, powdered wigs made hats somewhat impractical, though men still carried them. Women had even more towering wigs and hairstyles then, but chose to balance lightweight hats atop the mounds of hair. Theater programs had to request the removal of hats, for the ease of viewers sitting to the rear. By the end of the 19th century, hats were practically regulation for any respectable man or woman, and the collapsible opera hat, smoking cap, top hat, bowler and cane-hooped bonnet all had had their day in the sun. Straw bonnets, including the tight-fitting "cloche" for women, the boater and the Panama hat, found their popularity in the 1920s and 1930s.
Send your questions to: Ask the Almanac, The Old Farmer's Almanac, Main St., Dublin, NH 03444. Every day the editors of The Old Farmer's Almanac answer a question on the Internet. All questions are archived there as well. On the World Wide Web, the address is www.almanac.com © Yankee Publishing