The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-04-15
TEE SILVER DOLLAR SELL.

This Is the old standard joke Of the village
It has been played ever since silver dollars
We're coined, and probably viii be for many
years to come, for where is the boy, not
strictly on guard, who could refrain from
picking up a dellar2 And it is wonderful.
how long a hot silver dollar will hold its heat.
A more innocent form Of the same joke is to
drill a hole through the dollar and nail it
firmly down; then silver over the head Of the
nail with some Of the many cheap plating"
fluids. The finder nine times out Of ten viii
grasp at the treasure and be-"left." The
laugh is just good, and no fingers are
burnt.
The ''bricked hat" has been played s0pzten
that extra stratagern is required. 1t IS very
seldom anyhow thai a man will pause long
enough to kick hat Off the sidewalk but to
boy a derelict hat is a temptation indeed
1t sometimes proves a cruel joke. The boy,
full Of vigorous life and animal spirits, swing
ing gayly along, cemesto an innocent looking
old beaver and, pausing for q good draw
back, be launches a forty pound kick at til.
target-alas! there is big and ragged stone
In it. For an instant he feels as if every bone
in his foot were spiintered. The pain is aw-
full The jokers in ambush laugh, but the
victim cannot restrain his tears Nowadays,
however, the jokers often kick the empty hat
around as the victim is coming in sight, and
only slip the stone under it in time to catch
him.
When the CIV ashingtonian movement was
sweeping the United Statesan ingenious dealer
invented What he called Temperance wilma
glass" Standing on the sideboard it looked
exactly like handsome glass well filed with
ruby wine, but when the guest turned it up
ct his lips there was no flow and the loud
laugh ar-ounced him an April fool" The
glass was double, tee wine being between the
inner and outer portions This hint set others
80 work and very ingenious limitations were
produced by which the victim could be mads
10 believe that cake and wine, fruits and bis
ruit were before him; but it was ali a Barme-
cidai feast-the tempting viands were deli
Eately painted porcelain or queensware. Bon
bons with cotton in them raised an limo
cent laugh; but practical jokers preferred
those filed with red pepper. Indian tur-
nps" used TO be the great standby in the
west. and big bite Of one would make the
victim feel as if his tongue were being pulled
out by the roots; but the plant snow SO rare
that many people never saw one. A truly
diabclical con5rivance was a small pudding,
Of which the principal ingredient was mus
tard
In France the fun chiefly consists in send
ing people on absurd errands, or sending
them messages which begin properly enough
but end ia an atrocious sell" Practical
foxes sre there practically unknown. The
French call the victim a poisson d'Avriln-
that is, fish Of April or silly fish The
Scotch call him a gowk, which means both
cuckoo nnd simpleton, and has been Ameri-
canized into gawk. In Germany he IS called
a "schaafokopf," or sleeps head, while in all
eastern Europe much more derisivo names
are applied, some Of them, as well as the
jokes, being very coarse and even grossly OBJ
scene.
Now, as the custom has been common TO
al Christian countries for over 1,QD0 years,
scholars formerly agreed that IL began in the
miracle plays or mysteries Of the DARK ages.
1t was generally said to represent the send
ing about OF Christ from AnnaS TO CaiaphaS,
and from Plate TO Herod. BY and by, how
ever, traces Of the custom were discovered at