The refreshments should be as deceiving as possible. One hostess at an April first dinner went so far as to serve the entire course backwards, beginning with ice cream and ending with soup. Or a very suitable menu may be served in strange and unusual guise: potato salad arranged as cream puffs; English walnut shells as receptacles for olives; sandwiches as slices of cake with nut filling; ice cream as croquettes, cone-shaped and plentifully sprinkled with toasted cake-crumbs; cake as sandwiches, with ice cream between and tied with ribbon; coffee served in bouillon cups; bonbons served in exact size artificial fruit. Among the bona-fide dainties may be "April fool" bonbons--"chocolate creams" stuffed with cotton, button-moulds covered with chocolate, and round, yellow pill-boxes filled with flour, iced to represent small cakes.
After the refreshments the hostess may say that she has a picture to show which she has just received and which has given her much pleasure. A curtain is hung before it, which, when withdrawn with grave ceremony, reveals a mirror reflecting the expectant faces of the guests, while on its surface, written with soap, are the words "April Fool!"
Questions to be answered by giving in each case the name of a well-known author:
1. A name that means such fiery things, you can't describe their pains and stings. (Burns.)
2. What a rough man said to his son, when he wished him to eat properly. (Chaucer.)
3. Pilgrims and flatterers have knelt low to kiss him. (Pope.)
4. Makes and mends for first-class customers. (Taylor.)
5. Represents the dwellings of civilized men. (Holmes.)
7. A chain of hills covering a dark treasure. (Coleridge.)
8. A brighter and smarter than the other. (Whittier.)
9. A worker in precious metals. (Goldsmith.)
11. A disagreeable fellow to have on one's foot. (Bunyan.)
12. Meat, what are you doing in the oven? (Browning.)
1. When we leave here we go to seek our what? (Author of "Elsie Venner.")
2. What dies only with life? (Author of "Phroso.")
3. What does a maid's heart crave? (Author of "Handy Andy.")
4. What does an angry person often raise? (Author of "The Christian.")
5. What should all literary people do? (Author of "Put Yourself in His Place.")