The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-03-20
Yourth Month Ounce.

The curious custom of joking on the
first of April, sending the ignorant or
unwary on fruitless errands, for the sake
of making them feel foolish and having
u laugh at them, prevails very widely in
the world. And whether you call the
victim "Fourth month Ounce" an
April fool" an april fish" las in
Francs), or an "April gowk' las in Sept
land), the object. to deceive him and
laugh at him is everywhere the same.
The custom has been traced back for
ages; all through Europe, as far back as
tie records go. The Feast of Fools" is
mentioned as celebrated by the ancient
Romans. In Asia the Hindoos have q
stival, ending on the 3lst Of March,
called the "Huli festival" in which they
play the came sort of first OF April
prsnks,-translate into Hlndoo,-laugh-
ing at the victim. and making him a
"Huli TOOL" 1t goes back even TO Per-
STA, where it i, supposed to have be-
ginning, 10 very al cient times, in the
celebration of spring, when their Now
Year begins.
How it came to be what we every
where find it, the wise men cannotagree.
The many authorities are 30 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
PAGES. In England, where it is called
All Fools Day, one favoritc joke is to
send the greenhorn to bookseller to
buy the Life and Adventures, of Ewes
few cents worth of STRAP oil,"-strap
oil being in the language of the shoe.
making brotherhood, a personal appllca.
ton of the leather The victim usually
gets good whipping with strap.
There was an old superstition IN Eng
land 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 writers OF old days.
In Scotland the first of April fun is
called "hunting the gowk,' and consists
most often OF sending person to another
long way of, with note which says,
Hunt the gowk another mile" The re-
cipient of the note gives him new mis-
sivs to still another, containing the same
words and 20 the sport goes on, till the
victim remembers the day of the month,
and sit. down 20 rest and think about it.
In France where the cus;om is very
ancient, the okes 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 eat
ing q certain kind of peas which grow
tacre, called pors chiches. The joke there
Is to send the peasants to a certain con-
vent to ask for those peas, telling them
tina! the fathers are obliged to give
some to every ope who comes on that
day. The joke is as much on the monks
AS on the peasants, for there is Away.
perfect rush OF applicants all day.
A more disagreesble custom prevails
ia Lisbon on the first of April, when the
great object is t. pour water on psssers.
ny. or, failing in that, to throw powder
in their faces. If both can be dope, the
joker is happy.
1 need not tell you the American
styles of joking: mailing piece OF silver
- the sidewalk; tying string to
purse, and Jerking II away from greedy
fingers; leaving tempting looking pack.
ages, filed with sand, on door steps; fry.
ing doughnuts with an interlining of
wool; putting salt in the r-bowl, etc
You know too many already.
But this custom, with others, common
in cosrser and rougher times, is fast
dying out. Even now it is left almost
entirely to playful children and the IN
educated classes, This sentiment, quoted
from an English almanac of hundred
years ago, will, Pm sure, meet the sp-
prevail of "grown-ups'' of the nineteenth
century:
"But I Is a thing to be disputed,
Which Is the greatest fool reputed,
The one that innocently went,
Or he that him designedly sent"
II. W. NJ, 81. NicAola, for april.