Woodville Republican., 1903-04-25
APRIL INSPIRES ARP.
Remembers q Bit of Rhyme BE
Learned When a Boy.
some Interesting Facts About the
First Month Of SprinE-A Little
April Fool INTERPRETATIONS
for Beecher Memorial.

April has come again-a blessed
moRth, for il is the first that follows
the long and dreary winter. How in
spring is the earliest breath of spring,
when nature, like blushing maid. is
putting on her pantalets and prepar-
ing TO bang her silken hair, what har.
me7lious feelings spring up in our boz
som and gush forth to all mankind.
The chambers Of the soul are filled
with music that is not heard and po-
etry that is not expressed. The sweet
south wind is breathing upon the violet
banks, Nearly 5000 years ago Solo,
mon felt its genial influence when he
wrote; "The winter has passed-the
rain is over and goEe--the flowers APP
pear upon the earth--the time for the
singing of birds has come and the
voice of the turtle is heard in the
land" Now, boys, you must not Inn
agine that the turtle that Solomon
heard was this ugly, crawling hard
she'll thing that lives in muddy water
and lays its eggs in the sand. That Is
probably a tortoise. The turtle of
Egypt and England is the same as our
dove. IL has plaintiye, aifectionate
note and is devoted to its mate In
the Scripture it is sacred bird and an
emblem of the Holy Ghost. / would
not shoot them for sport and yet l
read recently where some hunters in
south Georgia killed 400 in one day.
The English poets always say turtle
when they mean dove. Goldsmith,
speaking of love, says it is "on earth
unseen, or only found to warm the tur-
| lies nest"
But Solomon couldn't write such po-
etfy on spring as used to know. !
think that mine would suit the boys
better:
"Hark! hear the blueblrd sing.
And that's sign OF coming spring;
The bull frog bellers In the dltches-
He's throwed away his winter britches.
The lizard Is summing himself on a rail.
The lamb is shaking his newborn tail.
The darky is plowing his stubborn mule
And gayly hollers: Gee. you fool!
And all the dirty little sinners
Are digging bait and catching minneSs."
And so fourth and so fifth and Sc
on. Solomon didn't write that, but it's
a fact nevertheless.
But what about April? Two thou
sand 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 hi
adopted son, Augustus, thought h'
was as good as julius, and so he stucl
one in and called it August, and thai
gave us 12 months, or $50 days, which
lacked five days of making full year
So they had TO give one more day t.
each of several months. April didnf
have but go days and they made j
80. Later on old Nero, the tyrant ant
fiddler, came along and said he wa
just as great a man as any of the Cae
sars, and so he changed fhe name o
April to Neronius, and 1t remained fha
way for 30 years, until he died, AM
then it was put back to April again.
April was named from the LAtii
word aperire, which means to open
for then the earth begins to open an
the grass and the flowers to spring u
and the little leaves to come fort
from the buds on the trees. The oil
Anglo-Saxons called it 0ester or Eas
ter month. The Dutch called IL gras
month. The foolish custom Of Apr