"Karl," she said quite seriously, "will you promise me one thing?"
"Yes, my dear."
"Never surprise us again; surprises always end in disappointments."
"Well, Betty I promise," papa Karl said hurriedly, and he kept his word.
So years after, when papa Karl's purse was a good deal fuller, and a
piano did make its appearance, it was welcomed solemnly, as something
long and rapturously expected.
APRIL FOOLS AND OTHER FOOLS.
[Illustration]
The custom of playing a joke upon one's neighbor upon the First of April
is of very ancient origin, dating so far back in the past that we are
unable to tell just when or with what nation it had its birth.
There was a time, very many years ago, when the year began on the
twenty-fifth of March. Then, as now, New Years' was a great feast of the
Church; and as the First of April was what was termed the _octave_--that
is, the eighth day after the commencement of the feast--it has been
thought that the feast which terminated upon that day closed in
April-fooling. In support of this theory we find that the Catholic
Church, at one time in its early history, observed an annual feast
called "The Feast of the Ass." The day upon which this feast was held
answers to our sixth of January, which now is called "Twelfth-Day." The
day was devoted to merry-making, masquerading, jesting, and to fun in
general.
Among the Hindoos there is a feast which is still observed, called the
"Huli," which, continuing several days, terminates on the thirty-first
of March.
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