DEVOTED TO AGKICUTiTITRE ATTD ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. XIL 



BOSTON, APRIL, 1860. 



NO. 4. 



NOURSE, EATON' & TOLMAN, Proprietors. -..__„„„-,„„, „^_r»Tj FRED'K HOLBROOK, ) Associate 



Office.... 3-1 Merchants' Row. SIMON BROWN. EDITOR. HENRY F. FRENCHi 1 Editors. 



A TAIiK ABOUT APRIL. 



"Again rejoicing nature sees 

 Her robe assume its vernal Imes, 

 Her leafy locks wave in the breeze, 

 All freshly steeped in morning dews." 



PHIL, the fickle month 

 has been the source 

 of a great many 

 poetical images, 

 _ and a great deal of 



/' ^, S ^k moralizing. Life 



^^ -"* itself is said to be 



an "April day," but 

 to our mind April 

 seems like nothing so much 

 as a sweet, capricious young 

 damsel. You see, both be- 

 gin their empire by making 

 fools of us, and carry it on 

 by alternate smiles and 

 tears. At first, those tears 

 bring a cloud to our o^vn 

 brows, but soon finding how 

 shallow their source is, \ve 

 harden our hearts, and laugh 

 alike at smiles and tears, 

 well knowing that the young thing will settle 

 down into a sober matron at last. 



How the first day of April came to be called 

 i"All Fools Day," is not definitely known, although 

 two or three solutions are off"ered, but sufficient 

 for us is it, that from time immemorial it has 

 been as religiously observed as any other great day 

 in the Calendar. On April Fool day, a man never 

 knows when he is safe. Did you ever attempt to 

 light a candle, and after ten or fifteen minutes un- 

 wearied exertions, find you had been blowing a 

 parsnip ? Is there a plate of particularly nice look- 

 ing pancakes on the breakfast table ? Don't be 

 deluded into taking one, for like many other at- 

 tractive shams, they are only stuS'ed with cotton. 

 Does some fair lady, with a winning smile and 



courtesy, present you with a tempting slice of 

 plum cake ? "Stay thy rash hand," for you will 

 find it seasoned with pepper, and sweetened with 

 mustard. Shade of Pandora, Avhat a conglomera- 

 tion ! You fare so poorly at home, that you think 

 you will take a walk to the Post-Offico by way of 

 variety. You have been expecting an important 

 business letter these three weeks — a letter which 

 is to settle all your anxiety about a certain per- 

 plexing affair. Sure enough, there it is, an official 

 looking document, precisely such as "fancy paint- 

 ed" it. You do not care, however, to have the by- 

 standers see any unusual agitation on your coun- 

 tenance, so you step a little one side, and open 

 your letter. It reads thus : — "Eh ! you April 

 Fool !" Amid a general laugh, in which you join, 

 because it is the most dignified course left for 

 you, you leave the office considerably crest-fallen. 

 Having become a "sadder and a wiser man," you 

 do not stoop to pick up the letter lying on the 

 door-step, directed to yourself in a large, bold 

 hand, but walk on, congratulating yourself that 

 you are not caught this time. A little boy runs 

 after you, calling out, "Mr., here's your letter." 

 "Well, keep it," you ejaculate grufl[ly — another 

 laugh from the office, and you discover that this 

 was the ^'tme bug," and the other the humbug." 

 In short, that the whole thing was that hoax which 

 is commonly called an "April Fool." Who has 

 not been through just such a series of disasters, 

 every year since he can remember, and alas ! our 

 children promise to be no wiser than ourselves. 

 Man was made upright, but he has sought out 

 many inventions. 



Spring having fairly arrived now, the farming 

 world begins its work in earnest. "\^Tiat a relief 

 to both man and beast, to get out into the fresh 

 air again. Everybody enjoys returning spring, 

 notwithstanding its east winds, and mud, and 

 storms, yet no one can look at it just as the far- 

 mer does. Now he returns to the pursuits which 

 interest him most. Wnth -what exquisite pleasure 



