St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-05-23
APRIL INSPIRES ARP.
Remembers a Bit Of Rhyme He
Learned When q Boy.
Some Interesting Facts About the
First Month of sprinE-A Little
April Fool INTERPRETATIONS
for Beechcr Memorial.

April has come again-a blessed
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 blushing maid, is
putting on her pantalets and prepar.
ing to bang her silken hair, what har.
monious feelings spring up in our DO.
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 theyiolet
banks. Nearly 5000 years ago Solo
mon felt its genial influence when he
wrote: ''The winter has passed-the
rain is over and gone-the flowers ap-
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 i'm
agine that the turtle that Solomon
heard was this ugly, crawling hard
shell thing that lives in muddy water
and lays its eggs in the sand. That is
probably tortoise. The turtle OF
Egypt and England is the same as our
dove. 1t has plaintive, affectionate
note and is devoted to its mate. In
the Scripture it 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 con earth
unseen, Or only found to warm the tur-
ties nest"
But Solomon couldn't write such po-
etry on spring as used to know. I
think that mine would suit the boys
better:
''Hark! hear the 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 himself on a rail,
The lamb is shaking his newborn tail.
The darby is blowing his stubborn mule
And gayIy hollers: Gee, ydd fool!
And all the dirty little sinners .-
Are digging bait and catching miners"
dA0 81 AOuILn dAu 81 A4tA dAO 50
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 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 10 months, or 800 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 20 days and they made it
80. Later on old Nero, the tyrant and
fiddler, came along and said he was
just as great man as any Of the Gaze
sars, and so he changed the name of
April to Neronius, and it remained that
way for 80 years, until be 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 Oester or Eas-
ter month. The Dutch called it grass
month. The foolish custom Of April