The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-04-24
Barlow Philosopher RejOices
Over Advent of Spring.
ANCIENT ORIGIN OF APRIL
Cleveland 10 Roundly Scored for HE
Recent Laudatlon Of Beeoher.
MIRO. Arp "Aprr-Fooled" With
a Deceased Snake.
April has come agaln--a blessed

April has come agaln--a blessed
month for % is the FIRST that follows .
the long al dreary winter How ln
.epiring Is tho earliest breath OF
pring, when nature. like a blushlng |
maid, is putting on her pantalets and |
preparing to bang her silken hair. |
what harmonious feelings spring up In |
our bosom and gush forth to all man.
kind. The chambers Of the soul arc
filed with music that Is not heard and |
poetry that is not expressed. The |
sweet south wind Is breathing upon |
the violet banks Nearly 5000 years |
ago Solomon felt It's genial influence
when he wrotes The winter has pass
ed-the rain is over and gone-the |
flowers appear 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 imagine
that the turtle that Solomon heard
was this ugly, crawling hardshell thing
that lives in muddy water and lays
its eggs in the sand. That is properly |
a tortoise The turtle of Egypt and
England is the same as our dove. I'll
mas a plaintive, affectionate note and
is devoted to its mate. In the scrip.
ture it is a sacred bird and an emblem
Of the holy ghost. l 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 ION earth unseen, or
Ponly found to warm the turtles nest
But Solomon couldn't write such
poetry on spring as l used to know d
think that mine would suit the boys
better.
Hark! l hear bluebird sing,
And that's a sign Of coming spring;
The bull-frog bellers in the bitches
He's throwed away his winter britches
The lizard is summing hifself on a rail
/ The lamb is shaking his newborn tail
Nghe darkey is blowing his stubborn
mule
And gaily hollers, Gee you fool"
And all the dirty little sinners
Are digging bait and catching MINERS
And so fourth and so fifth, and SC
on. Solomon didn't write that, but it's
a fact nevertheless.
yrybok Oh TvuO fbOt,
kind years ago it was the second
month in the year, but julius Caesar
got proud and vain and stuck in anoth,
er month and called it July, and his
adopted son, Augustus, thought he was
as good as julius, and so he stuck one
in and called it August, and that gave
us twelve months, or 800 days, which
hacked five days of making a full year.
3 0 they had to give one more day to
each of several months. April didn't
have but twenty-nine days and they
made it thirty. Later on old Nero the
tyrant and fiddler, came along and
said he was just as great a man as any
h II the Caesars, and so he changed the
name of April to Neronius and it re.
natned that way for thirty years, I'm.
"a he died and then it was put back
to April again.
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 ur
and the little leaves to come forth
from the buds on the trees. The old
Anglo-Saxons called 1t Ooster, or Eas
ter month. The Dutch called it gras,
naonth. The foolish custom of April
f0Qling people still prevails in many
Countries among the young people
It's origin is unknown. Some say i
is a relic of an old heather festival
Some say that in the middle ages they
aeg d a play taken from the life o
Christ, where he was sent from Annai
TOY Caraphas and from Plate to Herod
md. so an April fool is one who is sen
all about on an errand, as, for in
stance, for some pigeon milk, or for
book giving the history of Adam
grandfather, or to stop a horsemal
and tell him his saddle girth is on
REkled, meaning unlocked, so b
cts down to buckle it and they thel
Fun off and shout April fool The Hin
docs practice the same thing, but thel
All Fools day is the 21st Of March.
My folks killed a snake in the flow
er pit today, and before knew 1t GU
mischievous school girl had coiled