Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-04-06
Fourth Month Ounce.


The curious custom of joking OF
the first day of April, sending th'
ignorant or the unwarv on tiuitles.
crrandS, for the sake OF making then
feel foolish, and having Il laugh o,
them, prevails very widely in tn.
world. And whether we call tn.
victim II "Fourth Month Ounce" ai
"April Fool" an "April Fish," Gas
i'll France), or an "April Gowk" (as
in Scotland), the object to deceive
HIM and laugh ut him, is everywher,
the same.
The custom has been traced back
for ages; all through Europe, as ial
back AS the records go. The "Feasl
of Fools" is mentioned as celebrated
by the ancien; Romans. In Asia,
the uindoos have a festival, end
ing on the 3lst OF March, called the
"Iluli Festival" in which they play
the same so t Of first of April pranks
translated into Hindoo-laughing
at the victim, and making him il
"Huli tool" 1t goes back even to
Persia, where 1t is supposed to have
Il 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
divlded,t that | see no way but for us to
accept the custom as We tiEd it,
wherever we may happen to be, and
be careful not to abuse it.
Some jokes are peculiar to par,icu
lar places. In England, where it is
called All Fools Day, one favorite
joke is to send the greenhorn to a
book seller to buy the Life and Ad-
ventures Of Ewes Granlmothcr," or
to II cobLIer to buy u few cents worth
of "strap oil, l,-strap oil being, in
the language of the shoemaker
brotherhood, a personal application
of the leather. The victim usually
gets good whipping with a strap.
There is an old superstition in
England that prayers to the Virgin
at eight O'Clock on All Fools Day
would be of wonderful efficacy, and
i, 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 a per-
son to another long way off, with
Il note which says, "Hunt the gowk
another mile The recipient of the
note gives him new missivc to still
another, containing the same wor.l,:
and 50 the sport goes on, till the vic
tim remembers the day of tie 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
"Apnl fish," because he is easily
caught. In one part of France, there
is Il custom of eating certain kind
of peas which grow there called I,ois
chiches. The joke there is to send
the peasants To Il certain convent to
ask for those peas, telling them tha,
the fathers are Obliged to give some
to every one that comes on that day
The joke is as much on the monks
rs on the peasants, tor there is often
a perfect rush of applicants all day
A more disagreeable Gus ON pre-
walls i'll Lisbon on the first day OF
April, when the great object is to
pour water on passers-by, or, failing
i'll that, to throw powder in then
faces. II both can be done, the iok.
er is happy.
need not tell you the American
styles of joking; mailing Il piece OF
silver To tie side walk; tying Il
string to a purs >, and jerking it
away from greedy fingers; leaving
tempting looking packages, filled
with sand, on door-steps; frying
doughnuts with ali interlining Of
wool; putting salt in the sng;.r bowl,
etc. You know too many already.
But this custom, with others, com
mon in coarser and rougher times, is
fast dying out. Even now it is lei,
almost entirely to playful children
and the uncducated classes. This
statement, quoted from an English
almanac of Il hundred years ago,will
l am sure, meet with the approval OF
"grown ups" of the nineteenth cen.
tury:
But 'tis thing to be disputed.
Which is the greatest fool reputed,
The one that innocently went.
Or he that himdes gnedly sent