Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-31

mysterious little bundles which were secret
ly edged into the pleasant mothers hands,
or dropped with great effort at nonchalance
in some odd corner: making it easy enough
to see that whatever might be the bounty OF
the night, each one had been mindful of the
farmers small purse and the assemblage' S
concrete mighty needs-all much after the
manner of our American countryside ''do-
nation party" Within, everything the
home possessed shOne as brightly
as the faces of all who came. The housewife
seemed swelling and bursting with CHEEKY
furry and heat over pots and kettles at the
great fireplace of the room; and sundry
savory odors promised much for later
hour. The kitchen had been given over to
the youngsters, who were already deep in
the Halloween charms and games; and be-
coming one of them, and like the old man
who 'icared not for the fall" in Willis
Saturday Afternoon, soon won place
and honor.
Harmless and Innocent Sports.
Of all brief periods of Irish pleasure,
Halloween yields the sweetest, because the
most harmless and innocent, delights 1t is
the night of unbouuded mirth, witching
charm and sinless dream. 1t is then that
the tendereSt of all superstition's eerie
witk human moods and wish, and weave
their friendly spells through all the warp
and woof of thought, emotion, dream and
desire. And his is an insensate heart that
will not grow younger and tenderer under
the influence of these mlrthful 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 eve 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 cutting
out alphabets with which the fairies were
to spell, in water basins, secretly 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 nimbie fingers kneaded
its oaten meal, salt, soda and water together.
"Nut-burning" and ''snap-apple" were
going on merrilv at the hob. The hazel
nut ashes in dainty packets beneath the
pillows were to yield charmed dreams; the
burning ''snap-apples" told whether loving
pairs would sputter or mellowly age during
welded life
Plenty of Pleasure for All.
Then there was the s'dumb-cake making for
fairv-aided dreams; the ~sharm-pies, with
their buttons for old bachelors, thimhles for
old maids, and rings for the lucky ones who
should wed; the "candle-and-sweets," sus-
pended and whirling between grinning faces
where teeth snapped for bites, and luckless
frowsv hair was singed; and an hundred
other innocent delights, leading to
the more serious affairs of ''post-
man 's-knock' and ''forfeits,'' where
genuine old-fashioned kissing was there
for the fighting; and the struggle for your
'rights" with bouncing Irish lass from
the mountains insured her hatred if you did
not overcome her, and a sore body and
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 a plethoric market, various, smok-
ing, awful; but with the jolliest, 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 their delicious flori-
ture the quips and jokes here perpetrated;
while oceans of tea flowed gurglingly, and
the poteen, as clear as rock water and as
guileless of excise, went on its winding"
way.
Shortly after, wild hullabuloo arrested
our attention. 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 a fiddler and carried him bodi-
lv away; the whole crowd of defeated friend
ly rivals following after in prideful accIa-
nation. 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, hero now above all hosts, country
side guests or strangers; hatless, coatless,
breathiess from the odd melee, but with
puTsed and smiling mouth and positive radi-
ance shining from his white locks and BEAM
ing from his blinking, uFraised and sight
less old eyes
Was there dance this Halloween night
at that farmhouse on the ancient Kilma-
crenan road? Ask the rafters of oak that
century's splinters and mold
upon the vaulting heads and heels of this
bg-hearted Irish peasantry. And ask the
stars that looked softly down until their
shining ewes went out in the brighter All
Hallows' dawn which lifted flaming cones
upon the peaks of fair Glendowan.
EDGAR L. WAKEMAN.