Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1850-04-12

fesls oa tie first Of Ap'd.--1iis IS said
TO have been begun from the mistake ef
Noah sending the dove out of the ark
before the water had abated, on the first
day Of the month among the Hebrcxs,
which answers to our first of April, and
to perpetuate the memory of this dcliv-
erance, it was thought proper, whoever
forgot so remarkable circumstance, to
punish them by sending them upon
some sleeveless errand similar to that in
effectual message upon which the bird
was sent by the patriarch.
"The subsequent, too, has been cut
out of some newspaper: "No antiquary
has ever tried to explain the custom of
making April fools 1t cannot be COR
nected with the feast Of the ass for tha;
was on the 18th day; nor with the ccrc-
s4e1y oi the lord OF misrulc' in England,
nor of the abbot of unreason,' for these
frolics were held at Christmas The
writer recollc is that he has met with
conjecture somewhere, that April-day is
celebrated as part of the fcstivity of
New Years day. That day used to be
kept on the 25th day of March. All an
tiquarians know that an octave. or 8 days
usually completed the festivities If our
forefathers. Ifso, April day, making the
octayc's close, may be supposed to be en-
ployed in fool-making, all other sports
having been exhausted in the foregoing
seven days. Doucc says, Il am con
vinccd that the ancient ceremony of the
feast of fools has no conncxion whatever
with the custom of making fools on the
first of April. The making of April
fools, after all conjcctures that have been
made touching its origin, is certainly
borrowed by us from the French, and
may. think, be deduced from this sim
pie analogy: The French call them
April fish. /. e. smpletons; or, in other
words, silly mackerci, who suffer them
selves to be caught this month. But, as
with us, April is not the season for that
fish, we have substituted the word fool.
THE first Poetry Written in Ame;'ica.
"A Correspondent of the Bangor Wing
thus claims fora popular nursery rhyme
the honor of being the first poetic cffu-
sion ever produced on American soil:
The first poetic effusion ever produced
on American soil, originated in a circum-
stance which was handsomely explained
by one of the full bloods of the Jibawa,
or as we call them Chippewas. All
those who have witnessed the performan-
ces of the Indians of the Far West, re-
Gently in our city, must recollcct the era
die and the mode in which the Indians
bring up their children. Soon after our
forcfathers landed at Plymouth, some OF
the young people went out into field
where Indian women were picking straw
berries, and observed several cradles
hung upon the boughs of trees, with the
infants fastened upon them--a novel and
curious sight to any European. A gen
tie breeze sprung up, which waved the
cradles to and fro. A young man, one
of the party, peeled off a piece of birch
bark, and upon the spot wrote the fol-
lowing, which has been repeated thou
sands of times by thousands of 1meri-
can matrons, very faw of whom ever
knew or cared for it's origin.
Lullaby baby upon the tree top,
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
4
And down come lullaby baby and all.
The above facts were taken some years
ago from the archives of the ancient his
torical society in Boston.
Dreadful accident at Naples.--A
dreadful explosion and fire occurred at
Naples, on the 9th instant, which threat
encd extensive destruction. The cellars
of the Darsons, or closed ports, extend
from the waters edge to considerable
under the principal buildings of the city,
including the magnificent palaces of the
princes of Salerno and Capua, and the
Kings palace. In these cellars were
warehoused 277l 900 cantara of coal,
and on the morning of the I'd an explo-
sion of fire damp took place underneath
the palaces of the Princes of Salerno and
Capua, which threw down large portions
of the walls, and it was with great Difficult
ty that the inhabitants escaped. Itwas
ascertained that the coal had ignited,
there was every reason to fear that the
Kings palace and the church of st. Fran
/ II n Il n n 4