The Ely miner., 1931-03-20

do most Of our "bewaring" That's
the first Of April and unless we're very
alert some one is sure TO make an
April Fool Of Us.
The practical joker is with US al
ways, but April is the day when he
Is at his best. We may ignore the hat
lying on the sidewalk with the brick
concealed under it, or the pocketbook
(either nailed down or attached to a
hidden string which whisks it from
under our hands as we stoop down 10
pick 1t up) and then unsuspectingly
accept an explosive cigar which a
friend hands Us or bite into a tempt
ing chocolate cream and find il filled
with cayenne pepper. We may avoid
all Of these familiar pitfalls for the
unwary and then be taken in" by
fake telephone call. "Mr. Lyon wants
you TO call him." they tell Us. Cor
tt may be Mr.. Wolf or Miss Ella
Phant) But when we call the num-
Der and ask for that person, a dis
gusted voice at the other end of the
wire tells US "This is the Zoo" Or
It may be "Mr. Fish" whose telephone
number turns out to be the aquarium
or mfr. Snow" at the weather bureau
or ''Mr. Coffin" at some undertaking
establishment.
Some Of the foolery, however, is on
the decline. Large candy factories re-
port that they no longer make April
Fools candy. Not that one cannot buy
10
the obscure shops still supply them.
The larger dealers, however, say that
not only are calls growing fewer for
such trick bonbons, but that they
themselves run into the foreign SUBJ
stance law. Today, as every one
The pure food law has sounded the
death-knen of the china baby doll
dipped in bitter-sweet chocolate.
Where did this April Foolishness
originate, anyway? The answer to that
question is necessarily difficult one,
for this custom, like so many others,
goes back so far and has developed
in so many different forms In so many
different countries that il is impossible
10 ascribe it to any one period or any
one nation. There is evidence that the
custom was prevalent in Asia in an
cient times, tracing back to the cele-
brstion with festal rites of the period
Of the vernal equinox in Persia. 1t
was the day when the Persian New
Year began and was very close TO the
old English New Years day Of March
25. The sun was then entering into
the sign Of frisky Aries and on that
day ''the season Of rural sports and
vernal delights" began.
In India the Hull festival on March
81 for centuries has been a general
holiday and time for jest One of the
favorite diversions consisted of send
ing people on long errands Of fictitious
import. Colonel Pearce, a British
army officer and writer of a century
ago, says: High and low join in it.
The late Suraja Dowlah, l am told.
was very fond Of making Hull fools,
though he was a Mussulman of the
highest rank. They carry the joke so
far as to send letters making appoint
ments in the name of persons who
must be absent from their house at
the time fixed upon; and the laugh is
always in proportion to the trouble
given"
From the Orient the custom came
into western Europe many centuries
ago. The ancir-ot Romans took delight
in many sorts Of practical jokes in
connection with their Feast of the
Saturnalia and there are those who
declare that the first April Fool joke
was that one which Romulus and his
''early settlers" in Rome played upon
the Sabines by inviting them TO the
regular April First celebration in
honor of Neptune and then carrying
off by force the Sabine women.
For centuries the French have held
d Festival IF Fools on April l. in