It is always a question whether these games should or should not be
played. Therefore I offer them with this preface as also a few words
of advice. Be good natured and do not take offence over other people’s
amusement at your expense.
Never play a practical joke.
Example, Mr. M—— died last night.
Mr. M—— was an intimate friend of a party present, and as the word
pronounced dyed is capable of two different meanings, one of the guests
interpreted it in its saddest sense, and immediately fainted. Wholesome
fun promotes laughter and good-fellowship; indulge in it all you will,
and so help your little world to be the merrier.
On a pure white tidy write in distinct letters upside down, the words,
“April Fool,” and get some boy to lean back against them. When he walks
about the room afterwards, his black jacket is decorated.
If you have an old cane-bottom chair, cut the seat out, but not too
close to the frame. Fit this nicely in and offer the seat to any of the
larger boys or girls. Instantly this individual finds himself slipping
down, but is more frightened than hurt.
Upholster a long low box to represent a divan. The top should consist
of neatly tacked down stiff brown paper, and over this throw a long
thin rug. Suggest to two or three of your liveliest friends that they
sit together on this divan. In a few moments the room will resound with
shrieks of laughter, for they will be seated on the floor.
Give a florist’s box temptingly covered with tissue paper and tied up
with gold cord to one of the guests. He will unfasten the cord, take
off the paper, and lift the cover only to find _nothing_ within.
Should your mother or sister be expecting a new spring bonnet, beguile
the milliner into letting you have one of her nicest hat boxes, into
which you should put your three years’ old Derby, and then watch the
result.
A questionable joke would be to send a party invitation to your old
friend, inviting him to an equally old friend’s house, and wait around
to see him enter.
Tell John or Mary there is an oat for them at Mr. Blank’s. They
thinking you have said “a note” immediately go to get it, and fully
comprehend your meaning when they are handed a tiny package of tissue
paper which serves as a covering to one oat and the words “April Fool.”
Arrange portières so they may be drawn on either side of a long mirror,
as window curtains are drawn from the centre of a window. Before this
make an effective group of a number of boys and girls. The rear ones
should stand, the ones immediately in front should be seated on the
floor. Above them should be written on a mirror these words, “April
Fools.” When every one is in place, a boy standing on the left and
right of the mirror should draw the portières.
A part of the refreshments for such an evening should be cakes frosted
with salt and others stuffed with cotton, oranges filled with sawdust,
tiny blocks of wood and small balls of cotton, covered with chocolate,
so simulating chocolate caramels and creams. Have also motto papers
deftly covering little pebbles, and iced coffee, which will be found to
be the most acid of iced vinegar. But do not let your refreshments end
with such a menu, or good nature even with the jolliest would cease to
be a virtue; when a little fun is gotten, serve a delicious supper.