Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1886-05-01
4 HE ORIGIN CT "CHESTHiJT."
How the Term Came TO he Applied to
stale Joke or OIt-Told story.

How the Term Came TO he Applied to
stale Joke or Ou-ToId story.
One Of the peculiar tidal waves OF
popularity having brought the term
chestnut. as applied to everything
joCular and anted:luyian, into promin-
encc, its origin is bs;ng discussed. The
truth is. the phrase is rs old rs Joe Mil
Ter himself although public attention
has only been directed TO it within a
very brief time. Like most of the pop
ular catchwords in which our cOlloquial
language aboundS, chestnut is be-
lieved to have first seen the light in the
theater. Such. however. is not the
. case, although the place of its nativity
was next door to the temple of Thespis
The present Specification of the word
originated some thirty years ago in a
negro minstrel company. according 10
the best of authOritics-that of an eve
witness and nearer. II seems in this
particular minstrel show that there
were number of funny fellows. some
Of whom have. since that burnt-cork
era. attained considerable theatrical dis
tinction. But at that time, when they
wandered about the country, there pre-
vailed a craze for carrying horse chest
nuts in the pocket as a talisman against
rheumatism. This horse chestnut craze
WAS not unlike the hot water and mind
cure crazes of the present day. and even
now belief in its supcrstitious agency
is said to exist among the ignorant and
credulous. These Ministries adopted
the prevailing whim-though rheuma-
t:sm was not epidemic in their ranks
but just for the fun of it. One
rheumatic individual. by some one
of those mysterious accidents
which make the reputation of
quacks. was actually cured of his trou-
BILE while transporting on his person
this shining brown nut. He was SIM
ple-hearted fellow, not overstocked with |
brains, and the company made him the |
butt of all It's practical Jokes. When |
his cure was established his faith in |
the horse chestnut transcribed that of !
the good Bostonian in mental |
science and he recounted the aston
ishing tale 10 everybody who could be
induced to listen to him. Indeed, but
tonholes stood no kind of chance near
him. His amiable brother MINISTRIES
fooled him to the top of his bent Each
one took him aside to make the most
particular inquiries respecting the chest
nut-its shape and its size; in which
pocket he carried it, and all with the
intense gravity and interest which could
be condensed into minstrel counte-
nance. He repeated his experience
over and over again. never dreaming he
was being numerically guyed. When
ever newcomer appeared on the scene,
he was hidden TO ask him to relate his
story. and when bore had
TO be dispatched he wss entertained
With his horse chestnut cure, which had
become n screaming joke throughout
he company.
From this incident arose the exclama-
ion. when story was twice told, "Oh,
hat a horse chestnut And IN time
his was abreviated: for it passed
Trough a series of Darwmian evolu-
ions, by which the horse" was elimi-
,ated, and the chestnut" alone sur
lived, perhaps because it was the fittest.
Naturally enough, the expression grad
lated from the minstrel show to the
heaters, and there it has rcposed in '
'innocuous dcSuetudc' unit now, when '
suddenly reappears, to minglc with S
he picturesque phraseology of the day,
o warn credulous people to keep their t
airs open. and never TO repeat them r
elves. --Bosion HeralI. T