Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-10-30
some
"spooning,' and "POpping"-super-
stition-Favorite Months for Marry
try-a Court Clerks Experience
With COMPLICATION Personals.
Correspondence of the Dispatch)

|
origin among the lower classes princlpai
ly. of any nation to which they may be.
long This was so with halloween
which became a time Of bewitchment VIII
tho scotch peasantry many years ago.
Halloween. Al-Saints' Day, and MI
Souls Dav follow in close successor. All
HalIows' Eve is doubtless Pagan relic
All-Saints' Day is observed in honor oil
all the angels and Saints in Heaven. In
the Catholic Church "All-SOuls is a sor
Of Memorial and Decoration-Day com
bincd. 4 requiem-mass IS said for the
souls Of the departed, and flowers are
strewn on the graves of friends. In Ger
many the custom is also followed by the
| Protestants.
Halloween" partakes largely Of ghost
" fancies 1t is day always invested
with an atmosphere of things aerial, UNI
certain, and unnatural
| In the observance Of each of these days,
there is an unrealized pathos-the thought
| of death, the memory of the dead, and
the fear of disaster. dread, and apprehen-
sion Of death. This last gives rise to the
| superstition and mysticism of "Hallow-
| Gen." as we know. and yet keep it.
| Because we have not outgrown all OF
its weird tendencies. Scoff and sneer at
superstition as we may, there is yet
latent "streak" of 1t in most people II
develops at critical periods and in unto
ward ways. 1t begins with the fear of
death. and it ends with the fear or hope
and who shall say how evenly they are
balanced?-Of the beyond.
Many the fearless person. gifted large
ly with common-sense. who will vainly
struggle in disgust at the unexpected
goose creeping Of the flesh when a Sign"
MI
Believe in it? Oh. no, certainly not!
But they would have thanked magma
ton, or memory. to have kept the knowl-
edge Of it well in the background of igno-
rance.
And after all why not 'let sleeping
dogs lie"? If one does not know a thing,
or date, or number to be unlucky, why
should one be reminded Of it to SILVER
in dread or work with magic spells
against it?
But we are growing in grace-and wis
dom. They amount 10 the same thing.
Even I'm our most holy faith there is
much that formerly gave rise. with the
unthinking and ill-informed, to a subtle
mystery that merged the supernatural
into something not far removed from
superstition. Certainly it ii blessed
thing that there is a growing. healthful
rebound from what is visionary and
phantasmagoriaS to an appeal OF reason.
In this enlightened age we are fast con-
signing ghostly things to the regions OF
shadows, where they belong.
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS
The practical conclusions that come
with age or greater intelligence send most
of our foolish superstitions TO the winds.
As | have already said, the pathetic part
is that they are born of fear and such
fear is induced through dread Of loss or
what death may do.
Would IL not be well If we were edu-
Gated out OF this dread of death?
There are ghosts, plenty of them, but
we should be taught TO call them by
another name. There is death in all the
wide universe; why not think it an in
evitable change of nature, as painless
and as wisely ordained as birth? In
the observance Of Halloween" we are
making the pioneer steps Of progress; it
has already resolved itself into the more
natural association of fun and jollity.
People have judiciously decided that SUI
ficient unto itself Is the evil OF each
coming day, and even the fortuneteler
is nearly unknown
"All Hallows' Eve" is a time of sport
hiarty, and the open ridicule of things
fcolishly untrue.
But for all that the lads and lasses
who have reached the lOve-making age
are looking forward TO. gay time come
Halloween" on Monday night next.
The game Of spooning-no pun intend
eds always solemnly practiced; perhaps
as religiously believed in. We are here
abouts a thousand or so years behind the
times, and glory in it. We believe in
spooning as the old game was played by
our ancestors. and brought over by them
from England. This, as the merest babe
of Cupid knows is lead melted over the
hot Goals and dropped by the spoonful
in a pan OF cold water. As the molten
metal hardens it takes the form of a
future lovers occupation. If It forms a
pulpit. he will be a parson; il a plow, |
he will be a farmer; and there are |
Heaven knows, untitled acres in plenty |
waiting for his horny hand.
II the lead lengthens out with a fat !
tened end he will carry a gun and march |
away as a bold sojer boy" | am bound |
to say in warning that the contrary bits |
OF lead usually shape themselves in drops |
like buttons. This caused a pretty girl |
to excaim despairingly last year: MY |
goodness / do hope we are not all going 4
to marry tailors" This October she /
married an apple-buyer, and, of course, |
that was what IL meant.
After spooning, We believe in popping
no other pun intended. This is a custom |
as popular here as in the old country, |
where it originated. Everybody knows |
what it means-of either kind Popping |
calls for young man and his best |
girl" a red-hot shovel, and a couple OF
chestnuts. Barring the shovel and the
chestnuts. the game OF popping does not
always wait for Halloween" However,
this rs aside, and is only mentioned as
am original Joke. This method Of popping
ihe chcstnuts on the hot shovel is a true
sugury Of how the love affair will termi-
nate II they pop side by sldc-as is
usual with the other kiud-it is the hap
piest of omens. II the pair Of chestnuts
burn up into a blue flame together it
foretels q happy married future.
WORKS ALL RIGHT
This would seem to Indicate ;he fire OF
wrath or the consuming fire Of jealousy,
or even an indirect ailusion 20 that mis-
guided young person known as Helen
Blazes. but II does not. The spell works
an right. because | -- - - -!
There is also a fashion incidental to
this period of boiling wheat all day and
then serving il 20 the company with a
fhAAllr tAllas ~ iAN'f'i rNtH Ai4N iAllS VIII |
be married before the next Halloween"
Another form of social superstition
runs:
Turn your boots toward the street,
ruIn your carriers on your feet.
Pat your stockings on your head
You'll dream Of him you'H surely we'd"
The dream must not only come. but
he shoes VIII In the morning point In
he lovers direction and the ether para
,hernalia VIII be- found properly adjusted
II after this the wedding bells do not
ling Il is useless o tIy any Of The oracles