Doug Greenman, age 8, of Colville, T~Jashington, for his question:

Was Washington's birthday the 11th or 22nd of February

 This can be a touchy problem for a young person who happened to be born on February 22. Of course, this is the day Americans celebrate the birthday of our first president. Surely, you would suppose, we could not make a mistake about something as important as this. But, someone is sure to point out that President Washington was actually born on February 11. This is a real blow to a person's pride. Well, you will be glad to know that George Washington himself celebrated most of his birthdays on February 22. So you can proudly claim his birthday as your very own. However, keep in mind that most, but not all Washington's birthdays, fell on February 22. He was actually born when the calendar said February 11, 1732. But 20 years later that old calendar went out of style. To bring the new style calendar up to date it was necessary to drop 11 days from the year 1752. Then he was 20 years old, Washington's birthday was moved up 11 days to February 22. And since we still use this same new style calendar, this is the historic date of Washington's birthday    and also the birthday of Doug Greenman