The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1890-04-04

This is the Old standard joke or the village
1t has been played ever since silver dollars
We're coined, aud probably will be for many
years to come, for where is the boy, not
strictly on guard, who could refrain from
picking up d ,iolars And it is wonderf,.
how long hot silver dollar will hold it, heat
A more innocent form of the same joke is ID
drill hole througl. the dollar AMI mil it
firmly doyHn; then silver over the heal Of the
nail with some OF the many cheap plating
fluids, Tic finder nine times out of tcti will
grasp nj the treasure ana hc-"ieft" The
laugh j, just good, and no fingers are
burnt. "
The 't,;-iclt,, hat has been played so often
that extra s'ratagem is required It'll very
seldom anyhow thai II man will pause long
enough to kick Il hat OF the sidewalk. but to
q boy n derelics hnt is u temptation indeed
1t sometimes pruvesa Il cruel joke The boy,
full of vigorous life and animal spirits, swing.
Ing gayly along, corI:cs 70 innocent locking
old beaver and, pausing for n good draw
back, he launches forty-pound kick at the
target-aias! there is u big and ragged stone
i'll 1t. For an instanle feels Us ii every bone
in his foot were splintered. The pain is aw-
full. The jokers in ambush laugh, but tho
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 "W "Washingtouian movement was
sweeping the United States an ngenious dealer
invented what he called Temperance wine
glass; Standing on the sdebonrd it looked
exactly like handsome glass well filel with
ruby wne but When the guest turned it uIl
at his lips there was no tlow and the loud
laugh announced him nn April fool" Tn.
glass woS iouh|1 the wing, hni,,p l,ntr rpan,, thy,
inner and outer portions. This hint set others
to work and very ingenious limitations were
produced by which the victim could be lnatle
to believe that cake and wine, fruits mud bis
cult were before him, but it was all a Barme-
cidal least-the tempting viands were deli
cately painted porcelain or queenswara. DoM
bons with cotton iii them raised Ill limo
cent hugh; but practical jokers preferred
those filled with red pepper. Indian tur-
nipsH used to be the greut standby in the
west, and Il big bite Of ona would make the
victim feel as il his tongue were being puilel
out by the roots; but the plant isnow SO rare
that many people never saw one. A truly
diabolcal contrvunce was small pudding
of which the principal Ingredient was mus
tard.
In France the fun chiefly consists in send
ing people on absurd errauds, or sending
them messages which begin properly enough
but end in All atrocious 'sell." Practical
jokes are there practically unknown. The
French call the victim poisson d'Avril'-
that is, a fish of April or silly fish The
Scotch call him q gowk, which means both
cuckoo and siInpleton, and has been Arnpr-
canized into gawk. III Germany he is called
a "schaafokopf" CT sheep's head, while i'll all
eastern Europe much more tlerisivn names
are applied, some Of them well as the
jokes, being very coarse and even grossly OBJ
scene.
Now, as the custom has been common to
oil Christian countries for over 900 years.
scholars formerly agreed that it began III 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 ut