St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-01

OF Mohammed or of Buddha, it is
asserted that the ridiculous errands
upon which innocent Ais and
Mousas are dispatched at Benares
and Hyderabad would tax the in
vention of Munchausen or Bill Nye.
In the opinion of those diligent phi
losophers who are always investigating
the superfiuous problems of life and
history, the Anglo-Saxon did not begin
TO enjoy All Fools day until the begin
ning OF the last century. Certainly, il
II was known before that time in Eng
land, 1t was one.of the few good things
tnat escaped the jovial, yet dignified,
Pepys. During the entire ten years
covered by the Diary he does not
once refer to any especial pranks upon
the lst of April. Yet, from playing the
fiageolet upon the roof of his neigh
boris house at midnight to eating
oranges in the pit at the theater with
pretty Nell Gwynne, or any other
am1able young lady he could find. no
occasion for merriment was ever neg
lected by the fun-Ioving Samuel.
Various drolleries We're INDUCED in
by the ancients shortly after the be-
ginning of the year. Now, the first
time school boy asks how September
can possibly mean the seventh month
he is reminded that the year used to
begin with March. The French were
among the earliest people to grant
January the honor of leading the
months, and it has been contended that
they transferred all the other pecu-
liarities of the martial season save the
privilege of cozening their friends. Like
many other explanations, this is emf
nently hypothetical. Why, again do the
French call an April fool "un poisson
d Avril'--an April fish? Because, it is
asserted, such fools are like mackerel
and easily caught. AT any rate, the
custom has been observed much longer
among the Jeans than among the
Johns.
In very grim sort of humor it was
that the great hero of modern France
imposed his imperial misfortunes upon
Maria Louisa by the stately marriage
of April 1, 1910. The day has not al
ways been so kind to conquerors. Tam
erlane the mighty, after subjugating
three-quarters of the world, was jo-
cosely taken from it on this date, in
Itoo. rLNtH lllS professional Jester mas
had reason to regret the irony of date.
A funny book was "Archibald's .Jests.'
A funnier man was Archibald the
Jester, court fool to Charles v, and
who fooled his master of prospective
quirks and jollities by deserving him
for service celestial or Internal on All
Fools day, 1872.
The greatest joke ever played upon
the American people was perpetrated
this day in 1889, when, under the guise of
the palladium of their liberties, they
first received the American congress.
What noble, heroic fraud was there!
To ask for wisdom, and receive John
Morrissey. justice, and secure Tom
Reed! to seek prudence, and find Ig-
natius Donnelly!
Carlyle, Talleyrand, Sydney Smith
& Co., who control that hospitable
asylum which is always willing to care
for any apothegnls lost, strayed or
stolen, are responsible for the assertion
that London has four million people,
mostly FOOLS Thus assured that they
are in the swim and quite English,
you know" the. gentlemen mentioned
below will be pleased to learn that the
1st of April has discovered them.
HnInm Is Coming.