For a longer time than any one can remember, the 1st of April has been
known as April-fools' Day, but why, no one seems to know. In old times,
April-fooling was quite a serious thing; and people were made so
uncomfortable by senseless jokes that they went out of fashion. It is a
very poor kind of enjoyment that consists in giving pain to others, and
telling untruths besides; and sport of this kind is always carried too
far.
But on one occasion, in France, the well-known practices of April-fools'
Day were the means of saving the lives of a noble couple. The Duke and
Duchess of Lorraine, who were prisoners at Nantes, made their escape
merely because it was the 1st of April, when every one was trying to
send his neighbor on some ridiculous errand.
The story reads that the Duke and his wife disguised themselves as
peasants, the gentleman carrying a hod on his noble shoulder as
naturally as possible, while the elegant court lady had a basket of
rubbish bound fast to her back. At a very early hour in the morning of
April-fools' Day they passed through the city gates. But early as it
was, a woman who knew them by sight happened to meet them, and she
hurried off to the guard to give notice that the Duke and Duchess were
escaping in disguise.
The soldier, however, remembered the day of the month, and he was not to
be taken in so easily. "April-fool!" was the only answer he made to the
excited woman, and then all the guard shouted "April-fool!" and the
messenger was laughed at for her pains. Finally the story came, as a
good joke, to the Governor's ears, and he thought it just as well to
inquire into the matter. By this time the Duke and Duchess were quite
out of reach, and a great many men had made fools of themselves in their
anxiety not to let any one else do it for them.
The April-fool is not confined to any one land or any one language. In
Scotland he is called the "April-gowk," and in France the "Poisson
d'Avril" (April-fish). Sweden has her April-fools, for a great Swedish
traveller named Toreen writes, "We set sail on the 1st of April, and the
wind made April-fools of us." In fact, each and every country seems to
have had its idea of giving one day at least to the business of being
foolish, or making other people so. In Spain people play the fool in
various ways on the Sunday and Monday preceding the holy season of Lent.
Before very long, however, all April-fooling in civilized countries will
probably be a thing of the past. As the world grows older, and people
learn wisdom and common-sense, they discover so many better and more
reasonable ways of enjoying themselves that such ridiculous practices
are given up by common consent.
A very old legend of an instance in which folly served a good purpose is
that of the "wise fools of Gotham," though it will hardly do to place
too much confidence in its truth. Gotham was a village in England that
fell under the displeasure of King John, who sent messengers to inquire
into their conduct in preventing him from passing that way.
Being afraid of punishment, the people concluded to act like fools, to
excuse themselves; and the King's messengers found them employed in all
sorts of ridiculous ways. Some were trying to drown an eel in a pond,
some were dragging their carts and wagons to the top of a barn to shade
a wood from the sun, some were rolling cheeses down a hill to find their
way to market, and some were hedging in a cuckoo that had perched upon a
bush, as though he couldn't fly off at the top.
The report taken back to the King was that none but fools lived in
Gotham, and fools were of course unworthy of a king's notice. But they
thought themselves wise, and so came to be called "the wise fools of
Gotham."
[Illustration: "Spring, the sweet Spring, is the King of the
Year."--_Nash_.]
[Illustration]