The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1877-03-30
Fourth Month Ounce.

Inc curious custom pi JOKING on lnc llTst
! of April, sending the ignorant or the un-
wary on frutlcs. errands, for the sake of
making them feel foolish and having a
laugh at them, prevails very widely in the
world. And whether you call the victim
a "Fourth month Ounce" an "April fool"
an April fish" las in France), or an "April
gowk" las in Scotlaud), the object, to de-
ceiye him and laugh at him, is everywhere
the same.
The custom has been traced back for ages;
all through europe, as far back as the rec
ords co. The "Feast of Fools" is mentioned
as celebrated by the ancient Romans. In
Asia the uindoos have a festival, ending
on the 3lst of March, called the "Huli fes-
tival, ;" in which they play the same sort OF
first of April pranks, s,-translated into Hin
doo,-laughing at the victim, and making
him "Huli fool" 1t goes back even to
Persia, where it is supposed to have be-
ginning, in very ancient times, in the cele
bration of spring, when their New Year he
gins.
How it came to be what we everywhere
find it, the wise men cannot agree. The
many authorities are so divided, that see
no way but for us to accept the custom as
we find it, wherever we may happen to be,
and be careful not to abuse it,
Some jokes are peculiar to particular pla-
ces. In England, where it is called All
Fools Day, one favorie joke is to send the
greenhorn to a bookseller to buy the Life
aud Adventures of EYES Grandmother" or
to a cobbler to buy few cents worth of
strap oil,"-strap oil being, in the Ian
guage of the oe-makng brotherhood, a
p, rsonal application of the leather The
victim usually gets good whipping with a
strap.
There was AN old superstitution in En-
gland that prayers to the Virgin at eight
o clock on All Fools Day would be of won
derful efficacy, and it is seriously mentioned
by grave writers of old days.
In Scotland the first of April fun is called
"hunting the gowk," and consists most Of
ten of sending person to another long
way off, with IA note which says, Hunt the
gOwk another mile" The recipient of the
note gives him new missive to still an
other, containing the same words; and so
the sport goes on, till the victim remem-
bers the day of the month, and sits down to
rest and think about it.
In France, where the custom is very an
cient, the jokes are much the same; but
the victim is called an "April fish," be-
cause he is easily caught. In one part of
France there is custom Of eating certain
kind of peas which grow there. called pois
chiches. The joke there is to send the
peasant to a certain convent to ask for those
peas, telling them that the fathers are obliged
to give some to every one who comes on
that day. The joke is as much on the
monks as on the peasants, for there is often
a perfect rush of applicants all day.
a more disagreeable custom prevails in
Lisbon on the first of April, when the great
object is to pour water on passers-by, or fail
ing in that, to throw powder in their faces.
If both can be done, the joker is happy.
need not tell you the American style of
joking mailing piece of silver to the side
walk; tying string to'a purse, and jerking
it away from greedy fingers; leaving tempt
ing-looking packages, filed with sand, on
door'steps; frying doughnuts with an inIer-
lining of wool; putting salt in the sugar
bowl etc. You know too many already.
But this custom, with others, common in
coarser and rougher times, is fast dying
out Even now it is left almost entirely to
playful children and the uneducated classes
This sentiment, quoted from an English al
manac of Il hundred years ago, will, Pm
sure, meet the approval of "grown.ups" OF
the nineteenth century:
But lis thing to be disputed,
Which is the greatest fool reputed
The one that innocently went,
or he that him designedly sent.
II. 1M H., ST. Nicholas for AprH.