The San Francisco call., 1909-04-04

4 OBl)D4 can tell yOu much less
IN plain yourself, why you play jokes All
Fools day; your for stopping the
clock, tying the doorbe, sending the farm
crs boy 10 the farthest neghbor's to borrow a
left handed monkey wrench sending patient
less young doctor out hurry call" in the mid
die ef the night street and number terminating
III cemetery lot, and all the other inane things
done last Thursday in the name of April Fool.
We go back to many absurd sources and borrow
the feasts of pagan deites for of twen-
teth century customs, but have at least the
grace of speaking acquaintance with reasons
for doing When we say april Fooll" however,
we know for, origin of prank.
An old, old custom it is, that has obtained time
out of mind, but who was the first fool? Tell me
If you
8 An it were but grewsome trick to cheat the
gibbet o All Fools eve, says Gwan, the headsman.
But it were more grewsone for me an you
cheat it not, knave,' sighs the victim
+ en- | might cheat 1t Tor such pretty gentle
man as you,. did | but know wha the fool might
be With the result, you will recall that Gwan
himself offered by the victim as a substitute
to propitiate the genius Of this same April Fool
So the story by Archibald fool and priv
ileged jester of Charles V. who having consistently
lived the life of fool, as consistently died on April
fools day, 1872
31st of March and extends to the Sd of April and
celebrated in way The especial feature
being to send the unwary off fools er-
rand which ends nowhere
The Scotch have an especial love for the celebra-
tion of this day, which they call hunting the gaw,
using the word gawk, which is properly cuckoo,
to designate fool of any sort. What compound
IS to simple addition says the canny Scot, so is
the Scotch to your English and American way of
April fooing And scarcely is there an able bodied
lad in Scotland who has not soon or late done his
share of hunting
AS with the Hndus the hunt usually begins with
note that IS to be carried by good natured,
simple minded youth to a man who lives several
miles away; the note bearing merely the name of
man who lives a few miles further on, to whom
the unsuspecting fellow is sent. After having been
dispatched to third or fourth the poor "gawk
begins to wonder it, after ALL this errand for which
he is being profusely thanked all the way along
may not be hoax. 1t is to this rural custom Mary
Queen of Scots, audes upon being sent from castle
to castle when Elizabeth's prisoner.
April fooling, poissons dAvril is also very old
custom in France, traced back through very early
times to the limbo of obivion king and peasant alike
making poissons of whomsoever they might The
court of Francis the First annually turned into
a rout that day and the baldest practical Jokes
taken goodnaturcdly by even the king himself
Under cover of jest cardinal, priest and king were
told of their faults the oppression of the poor and
the iniquity of their lives. If the dignitary ad-
dressed showed signs of dispeasure it was passed
off joke.
1t is matter of history that Francis duke of Lor-
raIne, owed his life and the liberty of his political
followers to the custom of April fooling While
both duke and duchess were in prison they dis
gused themselves as peasants and essayed to es-
cape. Having passed the prison guard in safety a
woman passing by turned and recognized the royal
tugtives as they emerged from the gate. "Tis the
duke of Lorraine escapingl' she called out to the
sudiu, out the guard not 10 be outdone by a
woman SO early i'll the morning, shouted back
poissons d'Avril" And all the duke had to do as
they passed down the line, these two old peasants
was to give his and title amid an uproar Of
April foolt
Henry, the young king of Navarro, once having
changed places with gardener as joke on this av
tailed to meet the old peasant the appointed place
to restore his garments and state Il can never go
back to the court he complained but the gardener
who had not dared show himself outside the house
during the day in his kingly clothes. could not be
induce, induced to play king any longer Whereupon the
kingdom OF Navarro went begging until Henry could
be made to see his duty
picturesque but wholly improbable explanation
of celebrating the day by sending some one on