Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-03-25

the hands Of the sheriff, who was in . quandary
as to what his duty required Of him in tbs
case.
In the .'vicar Of wakefield' DR.. Goldsmith
says that ''The rustics showed their wit ON the
first Of April
NOTED PRACTICE IN FRANCE.
April fooling is noted practice in France,
and there are traces of its prevalence there at
an earlier period than in England. For in
stance. it is related that Francis. Duke of Lor-
raine, and his wife, being in captivity in Nantes
effected their escape on April /. Disgusting
themselves as peasants, he with . hod on his
shoulder and she with basket, thev stole
through the gates of the city in the early morn
ing hours, but a woman recognized them and
hurried to the guards to give the alarm. The
sentry only laughed at her and accused her of
April fooling. Later the mistake was discovered,
but it was then too late, as the fugitives were
well on their way.
Toreen, swede of the eighteenth century,
shows that April was known as All Fools day
in his land by writing that I'VE set sail April i,
but the wind made April fools Of us and We
were obliged to return
The people of Lisbon, Portugal have . car
nival Of nonsense similar to the American cele-
bration of All Fools day, but they hold it for
two days-the Sunday and Monday before Lent
Some who have given the matter study as
cribe to April fooiing biblical origin. They
assert that the custom of sending one on q boot
less errand on the first day Of April is travesty
of the sending hither and thither Of the Savior
from Annss to Caiaphas and from PLATE to
Herod. because during the middle ages this
scene in Christ's life is made the subject Of a
play at Easter, which occurs near tine LIST of
April.
There is a tradition among the Hebrews that
the custom of making fools on the LIST of April
arose from the fact that Noah sent out the dove
on the first day of the month corresponding to
hefOr6 had ahofad To
perpetuate the memory of the great deliyerance
of Noah and his family it was customary on
this anniversary to punish persons who had
forgotten the remarkable circumstance con-
nected with the date by sending them on some
bootless errand similar to that on which the
patriarch sent the luckless bird from the win
dows OF the ark.
Away back in the thirteenth century, It is
claimed, the wise fools of Gotham manifested
themselves on the LIST Of April, and proof is
exhibited today in the form Of a bush. known
as 'cuckoo bush." situated on an eminence
about a mile south of Gotham, in Nottingham
shire, England. The legend is that when King
John was about to pass through Gotham
meadow the villagers heard of it, and feared
that the royal cavalcade would trample down
their gardens and make public road Of
their meadow. So they sought to prevent
the passage. When messenger from the king
was sent on ahead he discovered the whole vii
lage trying to drown cells. rolling cheese down
hill, fencing in bush on which a cuckoo
percned, dragging carts to the top of hill to
protect the valley woods from the suns rays,
and. in short, doing other idiotlc things that
convinced the kings officer that they were
village Of fools and consequently unworthy Of
his maiestys not1ce-hence 1.-THE wise fools Of
Gotham"
skeptical poet, however, writes Of the cir
cumstance
Tell me no more of Gotham fools,
Or OF their ee4s IN little pooIs,
Which they. were told. were drowning;
Nor O. their carts drawn up high
While King johns men We're standing by
10 keep wood from browning.
Nor Of their cheese showed down the hill,
Ner of the cuckoo sitting still,
While IL they hedged around;
Such tales of them have long been told
By pratinc boobies. young and old,
In drunken circles crowned.
The fools are those VINO thither go.
To see the cuckoo BUSH trow,
The woods. the barn and pools;
For sacb are seen both here and there.
And passed by wit out a sheer.
By all but a-ralt fools.