person sending it, and informs the carrier with a very grave face that
he is unable to grant his friend the favor asked, but if he will take a
second note to Mr. So-and-so, he will get what was wanted. The obliging,
yet unsuspecting carrier receives the note, and trudges off to the
person designated, only to be treated by him in the same manner; and so
he goes from one to another, until some one, taking pity on him, gives
him a gentle hint of the trick that has been practiced upon him. A
successful affair of this kind will furnish great amusement to an
entire neighborhood for a week at a time, during which time the person
who has been victimized can hardly show his face. The Scotch employ the
term "gowk" to express a fool in general, but more especially an April
fool; and among them the practice which we have described is called
"hunting the gowk."

Sometimes the First of April has been employed by persons wishing to
perpetrate an extensive joke upon society. Among those which have come
to our knowledge the most remarkable one occurred in the city of London
in 1860. Towards the close of March a large number of persons received
through the post-office a card upon which the following was printed:

"TOWER OF LONDON.

ADMIT THE BEARER AND FRIEND

to view the

ANNUAL CEREMONY OF WASHING THE WHITE LIONS,

on

SUNDAY, APRIL 1ST, 1860.

_Admitted only at the White Gate._

* * * * *

It is particularly requested that no gratuities be
given to the wardens or their assistants."

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