The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-04-14
Bill Apps Letter.

Ior 1t IS the first that follows the long
ana dreary winter. How Inspiring is the
earnest break Of spring, When nature.
IKE a Dlushlng maid, is putting on her
pantalets and preparing TO bang her
s1lken hair. what harmonious feelings
spring up IN our bosom and gush forth
to ali mankind. The chambers Of the
soul are filled with music that is not
heard and poetry that is not expressed.
The sweet south wind is breathing upon
the violet banks. Nearly 9 900 years ago
solomon felt its genial influence when
ne wrote The winter has passed-the
rain IS over and gOne-the flowers appear
uIon the earth-the time for the singing
OF birds has come and the voice Of the
turtle is heard in the land" Now, bows.
you must not imagine that the turtle
that Solomon heard was this ugly, crawl
ing hardshen thing that lives in muddy
water and lays its eggs in tho sand. That
is a properly a tortoise. The turtle of
Egypt and England is the same as our
dove. it has a plaintiye, affectionate note
and is devoted to it's mate. In the
Scripture it is a sacred bird and an en-
blem Of the Holy Ghost. | would not
shoot them for sport and yet l read
recently whore some hunters il south
Georgia killed 400 N one day. The Eng
lish poets always say turtle when they
mean dove. Goldsmith, speaking of love,
says it is Ion earth unseen, or only
found to warm the turtles nest"
But Solomon couldn't write such poetry
on spring as l used to know. 1 think
that mine would suit the boys better.
Hank, l hear a bluebird sing,
And that's a sign of coming spring;
Tho IlJ11 Frou hoJIa-c in tho 1itahcc-
He's throwed away his winter britches.
The lizard is summing himself on a rail
The lamb is shaking his newborn tail.
The darby is blowing his stubborn mule
And gaily hollers, Gee, you fool"
And all the ditry little sinners
are digging bait and catching miners.
And so fourth and so fifth and so on.
Solomon dident write that, but it's a fact
nevertheless.
But what about April? TWO thousand
years ago it was the second month IN
the year, but julius Caesar got proud
and vain and stuck another month in
and called it July, and his adopted son,
Augustus, thought he was as good as
julius, and SO be stuck enc in and called
it August, and that gave US twelve
months, or $50 days, which lacked five
days of making a full year. So they had
to give one more day to each of the sew
eral months. April didn't have but
twenty-nine days and they made it thir-
ty. Later on old Nero, the tyrant and
fiddler, came along and said he was just
as great q man as any OF the Caesars,
and so he changed .ne name of April
to Norenius, and it remained that way
for thirty years, until he died, and then
: NO.. ,,,+ la.ly 70 kn-i n rain
April was named from the Latin word
aperire, which means to open, for then
the earth begins to open and the grass
and the flowers to spring up and the lit
tie leaves to come forth from the buds
on the trees. The old Anglo-Saxons call
ed it Ooster or Easter month. The Dutch
called it grass month. The foolish Gus
tom of April fooling people still prevails
in many countries among the young peo-
pie. Its origin is unknown. Some say
it is a relic of an old heather festival.
Some say that in the middle ages they
acted a play taken from the life or
Christ, where he was sent from Annas
to Caiaplias and from PLATE to Herod,
and so an April fool is one who is sent
all about on an GRAND, as, for instance,
for some pigeon milk, or for a book Civ
ing the history of Adams grandfather, OF
to stop a horSeman and tell him his sad
ole girth is on-buckled. meaning I'M
buckled, 50 he gets down to buckle it
and they run off and shout April fool
The Hindoos practice the same thing
but their All Fools day is the 31st OF
March.
My folks killed a snake in the flower
Pit today and before | knew it our mis-
chicvous school girl had coiled it on the
: Frcrt o,,C a,,I ovnrr-hnd-r who - ~ =
cried out, Heres a snake while tbs
children watched from the window. The
snake was dead, but the fools were alive
My wife was spending the day in the
country and knowing her horror O.
snakes they telephoned her, Snake ii
the flower pit and grandpa is afraid tt
go out and kill him. He says you tolC
him TO stay in the house. What must w
do?" She answered promptly, kill him
Let your grandpa go out and XIII hln am
look for his mate" She always insists
that every snake has a mate. Maybe !
: has, but they don't so about together
Even the mother leaves her young a
soon as they are Matched or born an
they have to shift for themselves. SOM
snakes are ~oviparOus and lay eggs an
some are yiViparous and are born in th"l
mother and come forth from her mouth
1 But all SNAKES are HOrflu creatures an
2 the curse that is upon them is a stron;
proof of tn Scripture: And l Will pu
. enmity bctween thee and the woman
I chat is, my wife, and between thy see
I and her seed. It shall bruise thy hea'
1 and thou shalt bruise his heel"
L When my wife came home they Shove
her the snake Gt was q striped CARTE
srakc), and told her we couldn't find it
mate, but | am going to put this on
back in a day or two and kill him a3al
for a mate-but I'll bet she won't go i
tina pit any more this summer.
o But there arc worse things than snakes
t want to know who started this lat
move to idOIizc and Ovate the memory c
Henry Ward Bcccher in New York. J
= has been forty-fOur years since he ser
old John Brown 10 take the arsenal q
Harper's Ferry and raise an 1nSurrectlo
among our negroes. What did they Va
so long for? How came old Grover CleVt
land into IT? What did old Bcecher q
TO command his admiration? He got OIL