River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1886-04-08
AnrII POOLING.

The custom of April-fooling is a very
old one, it having been practiced by
the IIindoos During their festival OF
Hull, which ends on the first day OF
April. the people send each other OIL
fools errands, and play all manner o.
tricks, just as is done in many other
4 lands. The Scotch country people
! take special delight in sending of
some simple fellow with a sealed letter,
cOntaing only the words; This is
/ the first of April, hunt the gOwk
another mile" The first receiver tells
/ the bearer that the message is foT
some other acquaintance. who does the
same, and so on with the next, and the
poor fellow is sent from one person to
another, often tramping for many
miles before any one is gOod-natured
enough to explain the joke. This is
called ''hunting the gowk, a word
which, strictly speaking, means a
cuckoo. but it is used, at this season, to
4 signify fool Dean Swift. the famous
Irish writer. says in his journal, under
the date of March 81, 1913, that he and
/ two friends. lady and a gentleman,
{
/ lie for tomorrow, and it is great
/ PITY that they could not have found
some more sensible manner of passing
/ their time.
/ The 'lie" agreed on was, that a man
named Noble, who had just been
! hanged, had come to life again, and
/ the story probably caused great excite
ment One of the divisions of n Lon
4 don hospital (some three hundred
4 years agO), was known as "Abram' 5
I Ward. " Its inmates, infirm, simple, old
men, were allowed to 90 out and visit
/ their friends every first of April; the
sight of one of these poor abrams,
as they were called, always excited
compassion in Il G behOlders, and many
1 penny was dropped into his hands as
4 he hobb'ed through the streets. One
! April Fools day, some idle vagabonds
disguised themselves as Abrams. and
went about begging from morning till
night, thus reaping a rich harvest.
This impostdre was repeated year after
year, until law was passed to prevent
/ it. and from this circumstance it was
4 that the word Sham-Abram came to be
used for impostor. In France. it is
said. n nobleman and his wife once
owed their escape from prison to the
fondness of the people for April-fool-
I ing.
/ Francis, Duke of Lorraine, aud his
wife, who were imprisoned at Nantes,
planned flight, and disguised them
selves as laborers; the drKe carrying a
/ hod on his shoulder, and the duchess a
4 basket of rubbish on her back. Early
one morning Git CHANGED TO be the first
/ of April). they left the prison and
reached the street safely. but suddenly
woman passing them recognized
i their faces, and ran to the sentry of
/ the prison gate, saying that two pris-
oners were escaping. The man called
| to the other guards, who, however,
! thought that trick was being played
on them, and cried out April fool! or
/ rather Aprii- fSb (p0iSSOH d ApriD, as
/ the French have it. A bv-stander re-
/ peated the words laughingly, and they
/ we're caught up by the crowd and
passed from mouth to mouth until the
street rang with merriment, while the
/ fugitives slipped away unnOticed and
I Joined their friends, who conveyed
/ them to a place of safety. a little
later in the day, the governor was told
Of the trick that had been PLAYED on
fine sentry, and fearing that all was
not right. sent at once to the prison,
only to find that the birds had indeed
/ flown