Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-26
BY WEARE NOTEBOOK.

-oDAY saw a little green caterpillar.
That means that tle picnic season is
open, for it a species Of caterpillar
that is indigenous only to potato salad.
Soon the countryside will be seething
with tired excursionists intent upon devouring
their groceries al fresco. According to the
Holiday Throng estimator, these earnest people
who crouch upon the ground while eating are
called pleasure seekers" as distinguished from
the pleasure finders who sit chairs and
eat their meals at the table They are exer-
cising one of these certain tbut not as certain
rs they used to be) unalienable rights men
tionea in the Declaration of Independence
namely, the pursuit of happiness.
OF all forms of happiness the perfect picnic
Is the most elusive. Like the Delaware peach
crop, it is affected by many elements which are
beyond mortal control. Temperature, topog-
raphy and transportation must be just right;
the tastes and tempers of the entire party must
be in accord, and some one must remember to
bring the ginger ale opener.
There are misanthropes who assert that the
only good picnic IS postponed picnic. That
statement is merely generalization, like one
of these epigTams beginning, "All women may
be divided Unto two classes" which are so
popular with people who enjoy putting on the
dognatism. OF course, as every one knows,
you can't divide all women into two classes
They keep changing their seats And by the
same token there must be occasional picnics at
which . reasonably jolly time is had by ALL
Though have never participated in any of
Them have often heard them spoken of, and
i believe in them just as I believe in royal
hushes and holes-in-one and men who break
the bank at Monte Carlo. They bound to
happen every so often-at least until Congress
yeepals the Law of averages.
The word picnic" Is derived from the French
words "pique" (meaning "quarreling bickering')
H,,fsN
cording to the early French historians. the first
piquenique was an accident Most of the later
ones were perpetrated with malice afore-
thought
TT occurred at Avignon. ON the estate Of
Gaspard, Ie Duo de Veau d'Eau-Deau, IN
the year 1329-just 600 years ago, mes enfants.
Think of 1t: 600 years Of picnics and science
has not even devised q practical method OF
getting olives out Of bottle without amounting
the elbows.
It was a sunny afteS DON In May. Gaspard
and his brother, Gasjet were dining in the
kitchen of the chateau smoky low-ceilinged
room with an open fireplace at one end and
floor covered with straw and dogs. The meal
was modest and medieval. for Gaspard was q
simple man with simple tastes. leg Of mutt
ton, a four-foot loaf Of bread and large
hagon Of wine were the menu
AS the two brothers ate, the smoke in the
had ignited the straw on the floor and the
flames were spreading rapidly.
IN fait tres chaud aujourd'hui" said Gasjet
(Old French idiom meaning 1.-The house is on
hreo
Gaspard stopped eating lou est lie parapluie
de mon oncle?" care you sure about that?'C
"Oui." ("Yes.")
."Se desire acheter des cartes postales."
(tThen let's get out OF here"'H @ 10 - "t'"h
.'t1~a III htr4 osYa r'1.
CEIzING the mutton and the bread, Gaspard
dashed out of the burning building, while
his brother followed with the fiagon of wine.
The chateau was soon reduced to heap of
blackened emberS. Gaspard and his brother,
feeling that nothing could be done about it, sat
down on the ground and resumed their inter-
rupted meal st.
The townspeople stared at them curiously,
and not without envy. How pleasant 1t must
be- they thought, to dine beneath the open sky,
away from the smoke of fireplaces and the odor
of greasy pots! How carefree Gaspard and
Gasjet seemed as they reclned on the cool
green grass and flung their crusts to the mag
pies! That, obviously, was the life.
And Immediately thereafter an epidemic Of
fires broke out. Whenever any one wanted to
have picnic he set fire to his house. 1t was
the only excuse he could think Of Soon almost
half of the dwellings in town had been con-
Sumed by flames.
It was several years before the good people
of Avignon realized that arson need not be the
inevitable prelude to an out-of-doors meal. BY
this time the picnicking habit had fastened it
self firmly as 9 whole. and it had many devotees
beyond the boundaries of France.
At the end Of the fifteenth century, through
out the entire Continent, people were to be seen
eating in the most unlikely places and attitudes.
Even in those days insects were the bane Of the
picnicker's existence. In Germany, for In
stance flies kept falling into the beer and cater
pillars into the sauerkraut. The Emperor Fred