Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-04-04
Fourth Month Ounce.

st. Nicholas.
Fourth Month Ounce.
The curious custom of joking on the
first of April, sending the ignorant or
the unwary on fruitless errands, for
the sake of making them feel foolish
and having laugh at them, prevails
very widely in the world. And whether
you call the victim a" Fourth month
Ounce" an "April fool" an g April
fish" las in France) or an " April
gowk" (as in Scotland) the object, to
deceive him and laugh at him, is every
where the same 4s
The custom has been traced back
for ages; all through Europe, as far as
the records co. The Feast of Fools
is mentioned as celebrated by the an
cient Romans. In Asia, the Hindoos
have festival, ending on the 91st Of
March, called the s'Huli festival" in
which they play the same sort of first
of April pranks-translated into Hin
doo-and making him q "Huli fool"
It goes back even to Persia, where it is
supposed to have beginning, in very
ancient times, in the celebration of
spring, when their New Year begins.
How it came to be what we every
where find it, the wise men cannot
agree. The many authorities are so
divided, that I 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
places. In England where it is called
ALI Fools Day, one favorite joke is to
send the greenhorn to bookseller to
buy the t'Life and Adventures of Ewes
Grandmother" or to cobbler to buy a
few cents worth of 'strap OIL" strap
Oil being, In the language of the shoe
making brotherhood, personal appli-
cation of the leather. The victim
usually gets good whipping with a
strap. t"ls
There was an old superstition in
England that prayers to the Virgin at
eight o'clock on All Fools Day would
be of wonderful efficacy, and it is
seriously mentioned by grave writer's
of old days.
n Scotland the first of April fun is
called hunting the goRk, and consists
most often of sending q person to
another long way off, with note
which says, 'sHunt the gowk another
mile" The recipient of this note gives
him a new missive to still another,
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
ancient, the jokes are much the same;
but the victim is called an "April fish, ;"
because he is easily caught. In one
part Of France there is custom of
eating a certain kind of peas which
grow there, called pois chaehes. The
joke there is to send the peasants to q
certain convent to ask for those peas,
telling them that the fathers are oblig-
ed 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 ap-
plicants 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, failing in that, to throw
powder in their faces. If both can be
done, the joker is happy. oE
I need not tel you the American
styles of joking; mailing a piece of
silver to the sidewalk; tying string to
purse, and jerking it away from
greedy fingers; leaving tempting-look-
ing packages, filled with sand, on door
steps; frying doughnuts with an inter-
lining of wool; putting salt in the
sugar-bowl, etc. You know too many
already. z.
But this custom, with others, COM
mon in coarser and rougher times, is
fast dying out. Even now it is almost
entirely left to playful children aed the
uneducated classes. This sentiment,
quoted from an English almanac of a
hundred years ago, will, I'm sure, meet
the approval Of grown-ups" of the
nineteenth century:
s'But t is thing to be disputed,
Which is the greatest fool reputed,
The one that innocently went
Or he that him designedly sent"
st. Nicholas,