The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-10-30
A NIGHT OF MYSTERY.
FAMOUS OLD ALL-HALLoW E'ES.
ncme Curious Unwritten Facts Concerning
This Period Of Strange. Romantic In.
terest-A Lovers Season.
DOWNRIGHT ls92.l

UhAtioboLA Wv iNet otebAANHNNV " $50
whence il derives its name.
Many centuries ago the Roman Church,
finding it impossible from the great and
constantly increasing multitude of the
saints 20 set apart a separate day for each
one, decreea that November lst should
thencetorward be kept as "A day IN honor OF
ali the SAINTS. and should be now rs All
Hallowmas or All Saints Day, and that the
night OF October Slst, immediately pre-
ceding IL, should be kept Us u vigil, and be
known as All Hallow Eve-occasions stu
observed in the Catholic. Episcopal ana
Lutheran churches. Hallow Eve has always
been invested with strangely mystic cnar-
Acter. IL is q general superstition tnat
devils. witches and fairies then nave un-
usual power: that all spirits can then roam
through space and that the spirits OF all
living people can then read their W future
or be made to reveal % Others what late
may have 10 store for them. As none OF the
Hgllow Zen customs have any religious
significance antiquaries regard them as or
heather origin.
HallOw Evo has always been and is stu
regarded as the time when romantic young
men and maidens may solve the moment
Gus question who Is To marry whom" Inc
chief end and aim of all the dlvlnations OF
HallOw I've are TO obtain some information
regarding ones future wife or husband ana
10 secure a glimpse. II possible. OF that tor
tunate or Unfortunate individual. tor this
purpose every age aud every country have
had their own charms and spells which
have furnished an inexhaustible theme TO
folk-poets and lovers OF folklore. Robert
Burns has graphically described those OF
Scotland in his poem of "HallOw Fer"
giving "a vivid account Of more than "a dozen
quaint charms and spells. In u very old
book of English folklore called I'VE True
- Is - " $3.50 - 4 AL fhn -
lowing IF a maybe would know ye name
of ye man she ia to marrye. let her, on All
Haiiow Even steal out 10 ii lime kiln
and throw in q clue of blue yarn
still holding ye other end. Presently We
end IN We kiln will be sharply pulled. Then
ye maybe must say Who no ds" Whereupon
we voice OF her future husband will pro-
nounce her name-bOth We Christian and ye
Surname " The only o stacle TO the sue
cessiul performance of this spell is the diff
fculty of finding an old-time kiln, but as
lime kilns will he IN great demand among
our young women when the important tact
stated above becomes generally known and
rs IA demand for any article in this country
is met by an abundant supply. the number
of lime kilns will doubtless soon be largely
augmented to the great delight of anxious
matching-making mammals and their duti-
full o spring.
Water. nuts and apples bear a prominent
part in the Hallow Eve divinations. A
quaint old book of charms published in Ed
inburg in 1890. entitled Ode Father
Tyme's Bundle of FaeRots Newly Bound
Up" declares that an infallible way to get u
view OF your future husband or wife is to
retire on Hallow Eve with u glass OF water,
In which "A silver Of wood has been placed,
standing by your Oedside. In the night YOU
will dream of falling from a bridge III a
river and of being rescued by your future
wife or husband. whom you will see as dis
tinctly as though viewed with waking
eyes. This charm is thus alluded to by the
English poet, Gay:
Last Hailow Eve | longed my love to see,
And tried a spell 10 call her up to me.
With wood aui wa er sanding by nv side
l dreamed q dream and saw my W sweet
BRIDE
In connection with this spell / I'M re-
minded Of @ curious circumstance which
came under my immediate observation.
While visiting my brother in Newton,
Mass. some years ago my sister-in-law COM
planned at the breakfast table on the morn
ing after Hallow Eve that she had spent q
most wretched night. On my inQuiring tue
cause she stated that she had bad a
strangely vivid and most singular dream
from which she had awakened with a feel
ing OF the most distressing exhaustion.
She dreamt that she was walking along the
bank OF a river when q gentleman, whose
face she saw as plainly and distinctly as she
had ever seen anything and whose features
were indelibly imprinted upon her memory.
fell rom a bridge erected across the stream.
Without q moments hesitation she plunged
into the water. aud. after a desperate strug-
gle. succeeded in bringing him safely
ashore, w%hereupon she aWoke feeling as
much exhausted as If she had actually
passed through such a thrilling experience.
In less than three months from that time
my brother sickened and died. His young
widow continued to reside in the same place
with her two children -Four years later
i again paid her a visit, and while a guest at
her house | learned that a bachelor friend
of mine would be in the neighboring city OF
Boston on a certain date, aud l telegraphed
him to visit me at Newton. ] met him at
the railway station and drove him TO my
sister-in-law's residence.
IL was a beautiful summer evening, and
looking from the carriage as we approached
the house We saw her watering some flowers
on the lawn. At sight of her my friend
seemed 30 much agltated that | anxlously
inquired the reason of his discOmposure,
and asked 1t he had ever seen the lady be-
fore. He had barely time To answer Yes,
once, and 1 will tell you all about 1t when |
have an opportunity" before We had
sliehted and were in her presence. To my
smazement she seemed quite as much dis
composed as my friend had been.
He subsequently, told me that on the very
Hallow 1--we when my sister-in-law had
dreamed the dream above mentioned. he
had tried the spell of the glass of water and
the silver of wood recommended by my
''Old Father Times Bundle of Faggots"
which | had loaned him, aud that he had
dreamt of falling of a bridge into q river,
and OF being rescued by the lady in whose
house we then were. and who he saw in his
vision as distinctly as when he beheld her
that night On the lawn. | also learned
from my s~ister-in-law that my friend was the
very man whom she had dreamt of resculng
on that same Hallow i've.
The story OF this most curious coincidence,
which is literally true exactly as stated, is
made complete by the fact that tins pair or
dIeamers were made man and wife before
another Hallow Eve.
In We Mysteries OF Ye Witohcraft. - the
oldest folklore book in my collection.
there is a charm ''by which a maybe NAV
know IL ye man sue loves be true" The
maid Is directed 20 pluck At midnight on
All Hallow Eve two monthly roses with
long stems. naming one for herself and the
other for her 10 err. She must then go d.
rectly to her bedroom without speaking TO
any one. and kneeliDg beside her bed must
Irvine the stems of the two roses together
and then repeat the following lines. mean l
while gazing intently upon the rose named
for her love.
Irvine, Irvine and intertwine,
Let my love be who'll mine. /
II his hear be kind and true,
Deeper grow his rose s hue"
III her swain be faithful the color OF the
rose representing him will grow darker. An
other OF the Oldest Hallow-Eve spells il