"
To give the card an official appearance, there was a seal placed at one
corner of it, marked by an inverted sixpence. There were but few persons
receiving the cards who saw through the trick, and hence it was highly
successful. As soon as the first streaks of gray were seen in the east,
cabs began to rattle about Tower Hill, and continued to do so all that
Sunday morning, vainly endeavoring to discover the "White Gate," the
joke being that there was no such gate.
In the United States the greater part of the attention which is paid to
April Fools' Day comes from children. In cities, especially, it is made
much of by the "street Arabs," who watch every opportunity to play some
trick upon every countryman whom they chance to see. Although we may
laugh at jokes which are played upon All-Fools' Day, yet the greater
part of them are unjust and improper, and it would be much better were
they left undone.
While speaking of April fools we are reminded of the Wise Fools of
Gotham, and are constrained to tell our young readers about them in this
connection. Gotham is a village in Nottinghamshire, in England. At one
time, when King John and his retinue were marching towards the village,
the people learned that he intended to pass through Gotham meadow. Now
the ground over which a king passed became forever after a public
highway, and should they suffer the king to pass through their meadow
the villagers saw that they would lose it.
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