Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-28
Population Thoroughly
the Humor.
GUYING NOVELTIES
A PROPOSAL THE MOST CRUEL OF
FORMS.
Pictorial Post Cards Afford Another
Convenient Medium for
the Fun.
| Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star
PARIS, March IA, 1903.
April fool surprises promise to be greater
this year than ever before In Paris. The
Parisians. who never made much of st.
Valentines day. always expended certain
amount Of energy In April fooling, while
for some time, past now there has been a
tendency to run the feasts together The
result is an astonishing number OF surprise
valentines Of a satiric nature sent out the
last day Of March.
An April fool is called in France an
April fish" CPoisson d'AvriD. because he
| Is hooked or caught. Among the less pre-
tentious classes victims get stale fish
wrapped in cotton, packed in boxes and
sent by express, collect" At the other
extreme confectioners do a special trade,
almost as great as that of Christmas, In
beautiful and lifelike sugar mackerel. shad
| and Goldfish, sent to ladies as kind of
non committal valentine.
In the Norman villages they send new
| corners and young people seeking for John
Collins" only his name is Monsieur Petit
JEAN"
He is at the post Office mailing regis
tered letter. Hurry and you will catch
him there"
There the postmaster answers, Inquire
at the Blue Dog Hotel. He just went that
way"
Madame, who acts as hotel clerk, knows
the joke and sends the victim to the rail-
way cafe. There the walters talk 1t over
and direct him to the pork butchers or the
blacksmith shop, whence he will be di-
rected to the government tobacco bureau,
the grocer'S and the little shoemaker shop
at the corner. always seeking for the non
existent Monsieur Petit-Jean."
Just as they send boys out to buy STRAP
oir' in American towns, so these French
10 find f1,a ssn;1D
coteret," until it dawns on them that Oil
is not extracted from dry blocks of fire.
wood.
All over France the stationers sell col
ored pasteboard fish with hooks in their
mouths to be attached to promena(lers'
| coat tails, and printed signs like II am
incapable" I am betrayed" Lost or
Drunk" and "Kick me" enliven the dull
streets or the most secluded villages.
In Paris this year a new type of April
fool surprise, depending on the extraordi-
nary popularity of the pictorial post card.
| Is being sold to all classes. It is pictorial
post card like any other, except that it
Is composed of two cards pasted together
tight throughout, leaving only little slit
| in the middle or in one corner for a pocket
Around this little pocket the pictorial de-
sign is drawn. On one card it is a letter
box; on another it is a purse sealed and
| tied with tape, and the slit for the holding
OF the surprise message is just between its
metal clasps. In third it is a sealed reg
isteieu ietter, Win the message sticking
out one end; or it is vest or trousers
pocket.
Printed beneath one reads, "Seek and
find. The finding is easy, for the folded
slip of paper on which you have written
your message sticks half way out of the
slit, which nevertheless holds it securely
enough as 1T passes through the mails.
The victim on receiving the post card has
only to pull it out.
The stahoners have a wloIe stock of
old-time catches besides They will sell
you PAPER mache gold coins to fool your
janitor." burlesque rent receipts and a long
line of such documents. They have hand
written letters, carefully prepared, for
spiteful girls to send to their girl friends.
like this:
A Great Disappointment.
Mademoiselle, excuse my holiness and
do not blame me for too great haste if /
now venture to make known nv Thought
To