Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-12-26
MYTHS OF HALLOWEEN.
ORIGIN OF SOME OF THE LEGENDS
THAT ATTACH TO OCT. 81.

A Period Dear to Romantic Young Men
and Maidens-Old Formulas Used to De-
Who Would b. the Bride or the Groom.
From its first organization Halloween
has been invested with a peculiarly mys-
tic character 1t is an almost universal
superstition that supernatural influences
then have unusual power; that devils,
witches and fairies are abroad; that all
spirits are free to roam through space,
and that the spiritual elements in all
living humanity can be detached from
corporal restraint and made to read it's
own future or to reveal to others what
fate may have in store for them As
there is nothing in the church celebra
ton of the ensuing day of All Saints to
justify these singular ideas and customs
associated with Halloween, and as none
of them are of a religious character we
may justly regard them as relics of pagan
times.
READING THE FUTURE.
In all ages and countries Hallow cen
has been deemed, as it still is, the occa-
sion par excellence for divining the an
swer to that momentous question which
absorbs so large share of the thoughts
of romantic young men and maidens,
who is to marry whom"' The means
employed to gain this much desired in
formation are as quaint and curious as
they are numerous and varied. For this
purpose every time and every country
almost every district of every country
has had its own charms and spells pecu-
liar to itself. and they have furnished an
almost inexhaustible theme to folk poets
and compilers of folklore.
Those of Scotland have been most
graphically described by that greatest of
all poets of the people, Robert Burns
In his poem of Halloween" he has
given us a most vivid account of more
than half a score of Halloween charms
and spells peculiar to the Scottish peas
antry.
In very old book of folk lore called
aye True Arte to Reade Ye Future is
found the following:
II q maid would know ye name of We man she is
to marry let her on AllHaoweeu steal out to q
lime kiln and throw therein clue of blue yarn,
still holding to We other end Presently We end in
ye kiln will be sharply pulled Then ye maid
must say who holds:'' Whereupon we voice of
her future husband viii pronounce his name
both We Christian and ye surname
The only obstacle to the successful per-
Torrance of this spell is the difficulty of
finding an old lime kiln, but as lime
kilns will be in great demand among our
women when the important statement
made in the above paragraph becomes
generally known, and as a demand fer
any article in this country is speedily
met by an abundant supply the number
of lime kilns will DOUBTLESS soon be
largely augmented, to the great delight
of anxious, matchmaking mammas and
their dutiful offspring.
We MYSTERIES.
Water, nuts and apples bear promi-
nent part in the spells and charms of
Halloween. A quaint old book of charms
published in Edinburgh in 1870, entitled
''Old Father Times Bundle of Faggots
Newly Eound Up" declares that an in
fallible means of getting view of your
future husband or wife is to go to bed
Halloween with glass of water, in
which a small silver of wood has been
placed, standing on table by your bed
side. In the night you will dream of
falling from bridge into the river, and
of being rescued by your future wife or
husband, whom you will see as distinct
ly as though viewed with waking eyes.
This charm is thus alluded to by the |
English poet Gay:
Last Halloween longed my love to see,
And tried spell to call her up to me.
With wood and water standing by my side
", dreamed a dream and saw my own sweet
d5rde.
brid. folklore book, called "Ye Mys-
In a fothe Wytchcraft," there is given
cries of theby which a maid may know if
charm .sbv loves be true" To perform
e man she loyi is directed to pluck at
his, the maid ID Halloween two month
Midnight on All e stems, naming one for
roses with long steer for her lover. She
erself and the other ftly to her sleeping
lust then go directing to any one, and
bonn without speaking must Irvine the
neeling beside her bed mi together and
ems of the two roses to lines mean
zen repeat the following lin the rose
lille gazing intently upon t.
AIMED for her lover:
Twine Irvine, and intertwine;
Let my love be wholly mine
II his heart be kind and true
Deeper grow his roses hue OF
II her swain be faithful, the color of 7
re rose representing him will grow ii
lfkef and more intense. Of all the "a
any Halloween spells and charms asso- :,
ated with nuts, one of the oldest is that
hich prevails in some of England's
'rthern counties, and which is to the
-ect that if young man OR woman
III so at midnight Halloween to a wal tuI
It tree and walk around it three times. | 1l.
ylng out each time: LET him Tor herr me
ut Is to be my true love bring me some A"e
alnuts," the future wife or husband u,
ii be seen in the tree gathering its WI
lit. The poet Gay thus refers in his +
'astorals" to this custom: La
It Halloween sought a walnut tree
hopes my true loves face that might see; n
nc times called, three times walked apace IN
n IN the tree saw my true loves face ID
Chicago Times.
Gas and Electric Light c III,
he influence of gas and electric LIGHT Lu