The sun., 1919-04-02
CIRCUS APRIL FOOL
JOKE Is NARROWING
Motherhood's Tenderest Feel.
ings Lacerated by Attend
ants Inhuman Jest.
ZEBRA IS HIS VICTIM
Mistakes Mahout in 18th Ave-
nuo Striped Suit for One
Of It's Young.

possible interest 10 newspaper readers In
all that can be thrown together 40 a
result Of an inquiry made last night
into certain soinss on In Madison Square
Garden yesterday. Almost nothing was
TO b learned from the ticket takers at
the main entrance. To q man they as
serted that they had heard Of nothing
unusual and that there was little to
report except that two performances Of
the circus had taken place
One was heard to remark that In
these days Of the printing press and the
typewriter Il seemed as II the circus
might do well to abandon Its old line
conservatism and establish publicity
department so that items Of possible
general appeal might be conveyed to
the populace through the medium of the
public printa But the speaker added
that to the best OF his knowledge this
innovation had not even been considered
The Youth From Darisn.
However, by piecing together this and
that bit Of clandestins information ono
was able to surmiss that the circus
people. or at lea.: part Of them. had
INDUCED In the playing OF harmless
tricks upon unguarded individuals. 1t
seems that this custom has prevailed In
the now amaiEamated assemblies Of
amazing apparitions for several years,
30 that in some quarters the day imne-
diateIy following March 81 and proceed
ing the second day of April has come to
b known AZ April First
BY considerable exten sion of the in
vestigators expense account II was
learned that q youth Of Darien. Conn.
named Elmer Dawson, went to work for
the menagerie League Of Nations yes
terday morning and received an i'm
mediate assignment from John Patter-
| son. boss of the led stock department.
Mr.. Patterson. who 10 q great tokester.
gave Elmer Dawson q tooth brush and
q can of turpentine and told him to de-
vote the forenoon to scrubbing Alcasar,
one Of the menagerie's $50 Samoan
xebras. Mr.. Patterson explained to
Elmer that he must be careful not to
erase any of the black stripes, as lamp
black Is very high these days. while
yellow ochrs In easily ard cheaply SYN
thesixed by the constr ction Of great
watts and the boiling In them OF the
Eleventh and Final or Seven Star edi-
tons of the Evening BIank.
Elmer. wishing to make a hit with
the boss right at the Jumpoff. scrubbed
and scrubbed Alcasar for more thah
three hours without defacing a single
black stripe, but a. tho reader has al
ready perceived, he Is no fool. He was
we'll aware Just what day Of the month
and year II was and therefore. a. the
saying is. was putting one over on Mr..
Patterson, who thought all the time he
was fooling the Connecticut lad.
At noontime there occurred to Elmer
Dawson the reprehensible idea that II
would be good fun to play a trick on
| one OF the League of Nations zebras
This conception took the form of an at
tempt to foist upon female zebra.
which had as yet had no opportunity
for elf-determination. one OF the in
fants OF the menagerie and to cause
her to believe II was her own. The
circus has many baby zebras. ranging
in age from IN weeks to "a years, but
at the moment unfortunately all OF them
were being used by the collection OF
younger sons OF the Congo nobility and
heiresses in their own right. misnamed
the freaks, as parcheosi boards-this
being the freaks recreation hour.
Chooses Roy Rhinoceros.
The only other animals of the younger
| set that might possibly meet Elmer
d
giraffe and boy rhinoceros The
giraffe. although born last Wednesday,
is already tall enough to snip the top
| mast leaves of a Lombardy poplar, its
| favorite Wand. So in Elmer's opinion
| there was no chance of persuading even
the least maternal zebra that 1t was her
offspring. Therefore there WAS left to
| him only tho alternative, the rhinoceros
| Alternately applying a toothbrush
| dipped In yellow paint and q second
| toothbrush dipped n black paint Elmer
| speedily transformed the gamboling
young rhino into tho perfect likeness OF
zebra until he came to the incisor
| tooth protruding upward from the bridge
OF the rhino's nose and which is referred
to by the uniformed as its horn.
This was, indeed. perplexing. Here
he had given up most OF his luncheon
hour 10 stripping rhinoceros until its
limbs and torso would pass anywhere for
| those of a zebra, only to be reminded
! that he had forgotten the horn. But the
chronicle Is vain II the reader has not
already detected that Elmer Dawson Is
| resourceful.
Elmer Dawson. It is now time to dis
close. was employed during the war as "A
camouneur. on one occasion he camou-
fieured a tank ship so skilfully that while
It was about In the latitude OF the Ba-
hamas porpoise, mistak ng It for a
wave. leaped right at the vessels side,
and a port being open at the time the
porpoiso was informed in the vessel The
sailors who up to that moment had been
starving. the ship being a derel.ct, were
no refreshed after a hearty meal OF por-
poise blubber that they were able to
steer the craft into port and claim sal
wage which made each and every one