The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-11-07

| Amang the rocks and streams
| To sport that night.
| Amang the bonnie winding banks.
| Where Doom rims whipping clear,
Where Bruce ancc ruld the martial ranks
An shook his Carrick spear,
Some merry. friendly, country folks
Together did convene,
To burn their nits an pu, their stocks,
An baud rheir Halloween
Flu blythe that night.
| The lasses ieat. an cleanly neat,
Mair Draw than when they re fine:
| Their faces blythe fu' sweetly kythe,
Hearts leal. an warm. an kim;
The lads trig, wi wooer-babs
Wec kuotted on their garten.
Some unco blate, an some wi cabs
Gar laSscS hearts gang startn
Whyles fast at hight.
The auid :suidGifes mc"l-hoordet nits
Are round an round divided.
An mony lads an lasses' tates
Are there that night decided:
Some Eias!lc, eouthe. side by side,
An burn thcgitier trinity:
Some start ava wi sauey pride,
And jump ont -owre the chimlie
Flu high that night.
WI merry sangs an friendly cracks
wat they didna weary:
An unco tales. an funne lokes.
Their sports were cheap an CHEEKY:
Till butter'd sons wi fragrant lunt,
Set 4 their cabs a-Steerin:
Syne. wi a social glass o strunt,
they parted aft careern
Flu blythe that night.
Thus the merry lads and lassies of
bonny Scotland celebrated the mystical
festal, and many of their tricks were
practiced last Saturday night all over the
land by the youths and girls of England
and America. Many a tender heart found
an equally tender life companion during
the games played on IIallow Fen, and
many gray haired grandpa and grand
ma of Elkton can tell how they used to
name the brown checked chestnuts as
they roasted on the hearth in the old
farm house, eager to see which burst
open first SO they would know who their
lovers was to be. The lIallow f en- sports
ferrous and unrefined than they used to
be in the days of Rober: Burns. but,
thankfully, they have but the shadow of
superstitution the old Scotch folk loved
so dearly and UNIV isely, fer our material
old America don't go much on myths and
shadows, brave and manly blood and
sinew in its creed; the blood and sinew
that lifts a gate oil its hinges and carry it
half a mile from its owners residence
and that eventually helps the mischievous
boy to climb up the ladder of manhood
in a glorious, triumphant way. AS long
as the mid-century legends of England
and Scotland are preserved, the festal of
Hallow Zen will be perpetuated through
out the world, and Elkton boys will carry
Off gates, and Elkton girls sit up before
the mirror until midnight to see their
future lovers face peep over their should
ers. Among the many old Scotch and
English customs that were followed by
our Elkton boys and girls last Saturday,
were, first, the burning of the nuts,
which is a favorite charm. Give the
name of lad and lass to each particular
nut, as they are laid in the fire; and ac-
cording as they burn quietly together
or start from beside one another, the
course and issue of the courtship will be.
Another popular way to test the mystic
charm is to take candle and 90 alone
to looking glass; eat an apple before it;
and some traditions say, you should comb
your hair all the time; the face of your
conjugal companion, to be, will be seen
in the glass as if peeping over your
shoulder. Another more ancient method
is to steal out, unperceived, and SOW a
handful of hemp seed, narrowing it with
anything You can conveniently draw
after you. Repeat, now and then, 'lIemI-
seed, SOW thee, hemp seed, | SOW thee,
and him; Cor herr that is to be my true
love come after me and pull thee" Look
over your left shoulder, and you will see
in the attitude of pulling hemp. Another
very amusing fashion is to take three
dishes; pnt clean water in one, foul water
in another, and leave the third empty.
Blind fold a person, and lead him to the
hearth where the dishes are ranged; he
Cor she) dips the left hand; if by chance
in the clean water, the future wife will
come to the bar of matrimony maid if
in the foul a widow; if in the empty, it
foretells with equal certainty, no mar
riage at ALL 1t is repeated three times,
and every time the arrangement of the
dishes is altered. And so store of
pleasant methods for celebrating the
event Of IIallow Fen could be enumer-
ated, but we warrant us that the boys
and girls of Elkton know enough now to
keep their hearts merry for one evening.