The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-04-27
FROM FRANCE.
ga Tribute to Beautiful Sprins"
original April Fool.
General Gordon and his Metal-Hhat
the French Believe
Especial Correspondence Of tie HERALD ]
PARIS, April 8, 1884.

| April, says Victor Hug, is the
month "dear to poets, is the break o
day OF summer, fresh as all dawps. gay
as infancy; it cries occasionally like
a new born which it is. Nature dur.
ing April has some charming glim.
merings which come from the hes.
vens. the clouds, the trees. the flow
ers, the fields and pass into the heart
of man. Love is the April of hu-
msuity." Button assures Us, that
it is in this month the birds COM
mence to sing.
There is no word in the French
language so unsettled ia its pronun
citation as April; there are no less
than three different ways, and a !
equally orthodox, despite the law and
the prophets of the Academy. This
may be a coincidence of it's origin.
Romulus, desiring to honor his father
and mother, is believed to have named
March (mars) and April Venus, the
Gree ks designating this lacy Aphro~
dite, from sea foam. out of which the
goddess of beauty was made. Romu-
lus gave to April. the second month
OF the year. thirty days. Numa. per-
hsps to crafty within OF Eserlas,
reduced the number to tWenty-nine,
ill Caesar re- established the original
total. Though the Romans deoic ted
April to Venus, and symbolizs their
gallantry by a man dancing to the
sound of an instrument, April
means, following Varron, to open;
it is the epoch of the year. when the
earth, long time closed by the cold
OF winter, commenced to open to the
mild Influences which frucIified it.
1t ia the month when farmers and
gardeners are most sctive;the proverb
says, hs that does not SOW 10 April
will not reap in Autumn. Ancient
astronomers concluded the sun en-
tered the zodiac sign OF the Bull In
April, and the Bull typi6ed labor
am culture.
The toy and sugar baker shops are
full OF FISH," these BIllingsgates are
a temporary halt for children who
are good, before becoming recipients
of Easter gifts. The fish embody q
surprise called poisson dao,il, that is
to say, April Fool. This is an illusion
to the simple and credulous people
who went to fish on the frat of April.
the period when even the most ex-
pert disciple OF Issak Walton could
not even count upon a bite. There
are others who claim, that as the
sun during April quits the sign OF the
the zodiac Of the Fishes, forefsthers
presented neurological souvenirs OF
an epoch whose departure they were
only too glad to forget. The probable
origin of this Day OF Dupes may be
traced to 1864, when Charles TX,
then residing at Roussillon, decreed,
that the new year was hencetorth to
commence on the first Of January in
stead SIS Of then, on the fret OF April
New years gifts and compliments
being thns anse-dased. people
adopted as a pleasantly, the mock
presentation of both, on the old new
years day, viz: the first ef April.
Only young people are now VICTIM
iz3d; they are seat on an erran0 to
purchase, cord to tie the wine; to buy
bottle-f full Of the later; some stir
rup oil; pike without bones. or Dor
row a stick without an end. The
elector Of Cologne, brother OF the
elector Of Baoria. arrived at Valen.
cieunes en- toe fret OF April. and an
bounced he would preach in the
Cathedral; q crowded congregation
was the result. The elector assembled
the pulpit, msdea sign of the ososs.
exclaimed, april FOOL" burs! Of t
laughing, and decamped. His in
sanity atoned for the scandal. l
think it was in 1916 that a London
evening journal OF the S1st of March
announced, the "Aas Show would
be inaugurated next morning at the
Agricultural Hall. Islington. A
crowd duly arrived only to find. they
themselves were the exhibits.
In shooting two pashas pour en-
courager tes autres, General Gordon
will show his metal to similar Sound
rels. But it is felt here, that his
walking stick programme must be
Immediately fortified by the dispatch
of q few English regiments. And
even all that will only be patce work,
till England has the courage to pro-
claim she will take Egypt under her
direct control. and prove she is equal
to the task OF governing her success
fally. That will be the best way to
reply to the incessant jibes Of the
French, who seem to forget, they de-
clined to act with England. They
rather preferred to risk all on Arab
and lost-hence. why the heather
rage. Tremendous efforts are being
made by M. deLesseps and nis friends
to secure the necessary adhesion OF
two-thirds of the shareholders, to ratl-
fy the nomination of Englishmen on
the Council Board, and the appoint>
ment of some English pilots and IN
spectors about the suez Canal Il
will be a bitter pill to swallow, but it
not taken, the opposition canal will
kaf,nuo fhct