The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1914-04-16
APRIL FOOL ORIGIN
ATED in FRANCE

The most plausible conjecture IS 10
the origin Of April Fools day is that
which ascribes the beginning Of the
custom in France. This nation took
the lead over all Christendom in COM
encing the new year January instead
of March rs. Before the change was
made the merrymakingp eliminated on
the octave Of the feast, April ], when
visits were paid and gifts bestowed.
With the adoption Of the reformed cal
endar in 1864, New Years day @as
carried back to January ]. and only
pretended gifts and mock ceremonial
visits were made on April !, with the
view of making fools of those who had
forgotten the change of date. The
custom once started was kept up after
its origin had been forgotten. Its con-
tinuance was helped on by the fact
that il appeals to an integral part of
the human nature which has asserted
itself at all times and in all countries.
In character, though not in point Of
time. All Fools day corresponds with
the Roman Ssturnalia. when Caius and
Manlius and the rest Of the us's bent
their classic wits to the task ''of fooling
the other, end with the medieval
Feast of Fools, when the pre-Renais-
sance intellect attended In all sorts of
absurdities. But the nearest and most
startling analogy. not only in kind, but
almost in the actual date, was and is
the Feast of Hull, in Hindoostan. The
last day of this feast is March 81 when
the chief diversion is to send people on
errands and expeditions that are to end
in disappointment for the sendee and
merriment for the sender and his
friends. "They carry the joke so far,
says Colonel Pearce in his "Asiatic
Researches, "as to send letters max
ing appointments in the names of per-
sons it is known must be absent from
their houses at the time fixed upon, and
the laugh is always in proportion to
the trouble given. "
Ii is not impossible that the English
borrowed their April fooling from the
French. For in spite of all antiquarian
guesses, the custom does not seem to
have had any existence in Great Brit
ain until about the beginning Of the
18th century.
What are known as Sleeveless" er-
4
vorite on this day in England. Endless
is the JOY If a rustic can be found so
simple as to apply at the village book
store for "History of Ewes Grand
mother" at the grOcer's for a pint of
pigeons milk. at the cobbler's for
strap oil. The latter was a prime ia
vorite. The cobbler, il he were up to
the game, would promptly give the
Innocent customer the strap with no oil
to moisten it. II is curious to find that
all these jests we're practiced over a
century and half ago. So early as
1928 we find them thus recorded in
Poor Robins Almanac.
No sooner doth st, All-fool's morn ap-
proach,
But wages, ere Phebus mount his gilded |
coach,
In sholes assemble to employ their
sense,
In sending fools to get intelligence;
One seeks hens teeth, in:farthest part |
of tn town;
Another pigeons milk; third a gown |
From strolling cobbler's stall, left
u there by chance;
mus ledu tne gluuy trlDe a merry |
dance.
And to reward them for their harm
less toll,
The cobbler 'noints their limbs with
the stirrup oil.
Thus by contriver's inadvertent Jest,
One fool expos'd makes pastime for
the rest.
Not yet has the habit disappeared of |
leaving valuable looking package in
a public place, nor the trick. devised
by refinement of strategy to meet
refinement of perspicacity. of making
The package heavy and hard. Still does
the small boy take delight in calling
to the passing dude to look to his coat
tails, when he may find them with a
piece of paper pinned thereon, or may
not, in either case being saluted as an
Dril fool