Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-17
not for the fall" in Willis Saturday After
noon," soon won place and honor

not for the fall" in Willis Saturday After
noon" ] soon won place and honor
HALLowE'xS PLEASURES.
OF all brief periods of Irish pleasure, Hal
lowe'en yields the sweetest, because the most
harmless and innocent, delights. II is the
night Of unbounded mirth, witching charm
and sinless dream. It is then that the tender
est Of all Of superstition's eerie broods, the
kindly Irish fries, mingle with human moods
and wish, and weave their friendly spells
through all the warp and wool of thought,
emotion, dream and desire. And his is an in
sensate heart that will not grow younger and
tenderer under the influence of these mirthful
revels. Where will one begin and end in
telling them as he sees and feels them?
Over every door to house, room, or barn, an
apple pairing was hanging, and some maiden's
eager eye was watching for him who first passed
beneath, for that one the fairies had charmed
as her beloved. Groups of lads on all-fours
ducked their heads in buckets of water and
brought out small coin with their teeth. Lasses
were busy emitting out alphabets with which
the fairies were to spell, in water basins, Sc
cretly-cherished names. Stolen herrings-
which must be salt, must be broiled without
turning, eaten with hot tongs, and dreamed on,
without drink'-nOw made their appearance.
Then the .'bannock- baking" and its wild merri-
ment Whoever turned the hammock on the
huge griddle that hung from the crane was to
wed her whose nimble fingers kneaded its
oaten meal, SALT soda, and water together.
"NUT-BURNINa" AND ''sNAP-APPLE'
were going on merrily at the hob. The hazel
nut ashes in dainty packets beneath the pillows
yield charmed dreams; the burning ''snap-
apples" tell whether loving pairs will sputter
or mellowiy age during welded life. Then
aided dreams; the ''charm-pies" with their
buttons for old bachelors, thimbles for old
maids, and rings for the lucky ones who should
wed; the .'candle-and-sweets," suspended and
whlrling between grinning faces where teeth
snapped for bites. and luckless frowsy hair
was singed; and an hundred other innocent
delights leading to the more serious affairs of
''postman' s-knock" and '.forfeits, where genu-
inc old-fashioned kissing was there for the
fghtingi and the struggle for your rights"
with bouncing Irish lass from the noun
tains insured her hatred if you did not over
come her, and sore body or broken bones if
You did!--and then, amid deafening clatter and
chatter, the supper in the great room piled
upon tables like fat stalls in plethoric mar
ket, various smoking, awful; but with the jol-
Hest, hungriest crew you ever broke bread with
IN all your life. And oh, for room in which to
tell the tales here told. to give the songs here
sung, to reproduce with all the delicious flori-
ture the quips and jokes here perpetrated
while oceans OF tea flowed gurglingly. and the
poteen, clear as rOck-water and as guileless Of
excise, went on its winding" way.
THE NATIONAL scHooLMAsTER.
One soul was here with natty attire, and
smart kippen (switch) as token of authority,
who to degree was the life of the joyous rus
tic board. Hated and dreaded. he yet had wit
and spirit that overrode the undercurrent of
ill-humor his Spying" presence created. and
Kept by sheer force of superior canniness the
occasionally restless hearts about him. This
was the national ool-teacher. the hated
government drill-borer;" an Irish-English--
Sn0 ta1
cunning; that being who for better or worse
has supplanted him of blessed memory, the
Irish Observation-Disclosures" In the language
or a hoarse but cOnvivial cartman, he Twas the
life OF the avenin, whn not its deathn' His
loving eye was upon all his neighbors and
only wished all well. Stories. tests. and songs
had gone around, and had done my best with
the rest Finally, as if to settle his claim to
superiority forever at one effort. on asking for
pipe and none being at his service, he rose to
his feet and, with twinkle of triumph at me,
lines to the host:
John Rutherford Walker,
I'm not much of a talker,
"a Voice: "The aisiest in three kingdomsr')
But mind these true words that say:
When Ger your days labor,
Have pipe for your neighbor,
II only u pipe of poor clay
For your sowl he ever will pray!
nave We tutTc. lie une bu0OOWn.' DeameQ
from his face he resumed his seat amid
much applause, and all eyes conveyed to me a
consciousness of his mortal challenge. Sorely
pressed for temporary expedient to reach be-
meath the fifth rib Of the pedagogue. told
them tale OF Scottish valor, for the truth of
which tradition, if not history, will vouch.
A HALLOWEEN DANCE
hullabuloo without now arrested our atten-
ton. The byes" had planned great surprise.
Sallying forth when the tales and songs were at
their height, they had descended upon another
Halloween party few miles distant. and by
main force had captured and brought a fiddler
bodily away, the whole crowd of defeated
friendly rivals following after in prideful ac-
clamation. And here they came with wild
whoop and hurroo, carrying their prize on
their shoulders into the great-room, where the
procession was received with ringing cheers
1t was old Billy Drain, the blind fiddler, all
the way from Belfast hero now above all
pedagOgues and strangers; hatless. coatless
breathless from the odd melee but with
pursed and smiling mouth and positive radi-
ance shining from his white locks and beamng
from his blinking appraised and sightless old
eyes. Was there dance this Hallowe'en night
at that farmhouse on the an lent Kilmacrenan
road? Ask the rafters OF oak that shivered
century's splinters and mould upon the vault
ing heads and heels Of this big-hearted Irish
peasantry. And ask the stars that looked
softly down until their shining eyes went out
in the brighter dawn which lifted flaming cones
upon the peaks of fair Glsnd1wsn.
EDGAR l.. WAKEMAN