The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1894-04-06

ueulc lteu I'd lOlly is II knotIN ptOOlem
that has ever baftled tn, most learned
authorities, tn erefore [ may we'll waive
any attempt az elucldation. In fact
We are none of rs bit wiser to-day
than was the sagacious author of the
following lines in Poor Robins Alma
mack for 1860:
The first of April some do say
Is set apart for All Fools Day,
Bit why the people call it so
Nor | nor they themselves do know.
Every one, | presume, in our own
time would confess, oa being pressed,
to more or less vivid re ninscancas of
sundry su gary d,ughnnts. or luscious
chocolates tha Were insnu ltin : y pro-
h.rred by in inn lte frien Is, and which
was found, alts. o oponin5 t. contain
base deception IN tn, shape Of cotton
Or pepper. Also We might tell tales
about paltry bu1 tempting coins thlt
declined to be pluck I'd from the side
walk, or battered silk hts co olcealing
welghty bricks, an 50 o. through the
painful list.
Oar English ancestors of the eigh-
teenth century were, no d)ubt, famil-
iar with all these deadly jokes, and
many besides that We wo. not Of, as [
shall endeavor to show yol. 1t would
appear, however, that they were won't
to lay their plans IN a much more seri-
Gus and labored manner than ourselves.
For example, Swift in his "Journal
to Stella,' under date of March 81,
1873, hints darkly about "a lie for the
morrow Ll'er on the information
leaks out that, abetted by Dr.. Arbuth-
not and Lady Masham, the cynic dean
had contrived to circulate report
broadcast that one noble, hanged for
some crime Il few days previously, had
come to life gam and was at pres Mt
enjoying the hospitality Of h Black
Swami in aolborn.
The inference is that mine host of
the mn would shortly have had his
hands full, only for some reason, not
explained, the plot missed fire. This
also happened to be the earliest record
ell instance Of April fo)!in5 in Eng
land.
Favorite tricks among servants and
the like were to s-nd yokeI to the
bookseller with commission to pur-
chase, say, "Tha History of EYES
Grandmother to the chemists for a
small measure Of pigeons milk, or to
the cobbler for some strap oil. In IL
case like the last the lucLlass massen-
ger Was pretty sure to ge' a hearty dose
of the article on his shoulders by way
of enlls shtment.
The prime object then now as was to
pass of some gross aosurdity as a sim
pc fact, with Il merry circle at hand to
witness the victims plight. The jokes
were usually played before breakfast
when folks were scarcely on the alert.
1t was an old saying that what COM
pound is to simple addition, so is
Scotch to English April fooling. At
all events the excursions Of the .'canny
Scot in this domain were apt to be the
result of profound forethought and
care. AS an illustration, wa5 No. l,
we shall say, having fell designs on
simple Donald Thomson, sends him
with a weighty letter ostensibly Of the
last Importance, to wag NO. =, several
miles distan; the missive containing,
perhaps, pregnant couplet like this:
| This is the first day of April,
| Hunt the g,wk another mile.
Wa5 No. 2 grasps the idea without
difficulty, and gravely tells poor DON
aid tn It unfortunately he is unable to
impart the desired information, but
will give him a note to friend of his
two or three miles tuther on, who will
probably know all about it: and so the
wi 5ht continues his hopeless quest, un-
til some kind soul takes pity on his
tagging energies and renls him home,
Il saddar but wiser man.
Ibelieve it is Addison in the Sp sctu-
tor, who remarks that ''a neighbor of
mine, a haberla sher by trade, and Il
very conceited fellow, makes boast that
for these ten Years succ 'ssively he has
not ma lie less than one hundred fools y
Gold smith, too in "rhe Vicar Of Wake
field referring to the rustics, observes:
"Thev show their wit on the first of
April"
The subjoined lines are tax N from
and old magazine of 1872:
When April m ,rn her Folly's thro lie ,lts,
When Dobb call, y L and laughs becaus She
hat
While Nell meets Tom ana says his tail IS
| loose,
rha llpyhs in turn and calls poor Tom a
| goose;
Let us, my Musn, tlro' +, Us harvest range,
And glclm some moral into VISIONS gIanS :
! AS recently as 1850 some gay spirits
III London perpe rated a successful bit
of foolery on the wholesale plan, which
attracted considerable notoriety at the
time. Towards the later part Of March
hos's of prominent people received
through the mails the following card,
with an inverted sixpence stamped on