The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-04-16
BILL ARP'S LETTER
Barlow Philosopher Rejoices
Over Advent Of Spring.
ANCIENT ORIGIN OF APRIL
Cleveland Is RoundIy Scored for His
Recent Laudation of Beecher.
Mrs. Arp "ApriI-FooIed" With
a Deceased Snake.

April has COm0 dSdlu--a DlcSSou
month, for it is the first that follows
the long and dreary winter. How in.
spring Is the earliest breath OF
spring, when nature, like a blushing
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 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 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
it's eggs in the sand. That is properly
tortoise The turtle of EGYPT and
England is the same as our dove. 1t
has plaintive, affectionate note and
| Is devoted to it's mate In the scrip
ture 1t is sacred bird and an emblem
| OF the holy ghost. I would not shoot
them for sport, and yet 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
only found to warm the turtles nest"
But Solomon couldn't write such
poetry On spring as l used to know. I
| think that mine would suit the boys
| better.
Hark! I hear bluebird sing,
And that's 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
The 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 so
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 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 $50 days, which
lacked five days of making full year.
| So they had to give one more day to
each of several months. April didn't
have but Twenty-Five 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
Of the Caesars, and so he changed the
name of April to Neronius, and it re-
manned that way for thirty years, I'M
til 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 up
and the little leaves to come forth
from the buds on the trees The old
Anglo-Saxons called it Ooster, or Eas.
ter month. The Dutch called it grass
month. The foolish custom of April
fooling people still prevails in many
countries among the young people
It's origin is unknown. Some say it
is a relic of an old heather festival.
Some say that in the middle ages they
acted play taken from the life of
Christ, where he was sent from Annas
to Caraphas and from Plate to Herod,
and SO an April fool is one who is sent
all about on, an errand, as, for in
stance, for some pigeon milk, or for
book giving the history of Adams
grandfather, or to stop horseman
and tell him his saddle girth is on
buckled, meaning nluckled, so he
S0lS uOWu w UuChlC IL anu Iu0y CQ0H
run off and shout April fool. The Hin
docs practice the same thing, but their
All Fools day is the 21st of March.
My folks killed snake in the flow.
er pit today, and before knew it our
mischievous school girl had coiled IL
on the front steps and everybody who
came cried out, Here's a SNAKE"
while the children watched from the
window. The snake was dead, but the
fools were alive. My wife was spend
ing the day in the country and know
ing her horror of snakes they tele-
phoned her, Snake in the flower pit
and grandpa is afraid to go out and
kill him. He says you told him to
stay in the house. What must we do?"
She answered promptly, "Kill him!
Let your grandpa go out and kill him
and look for his mate" She always In
sists that every snake has a mate.
Maybe it has, but they don't go about
together. Even the mother leaves her