The San Francisco call., 1899-10-29


UP visions Of ghosts and witches
and all kinds of Uncanny things. 1t
IS the one night in the year when
even the uninitiated, if they are
brave enough may converse with
spoOks and hobgoblins, and may also, If
they Try hard enough, send the inmate
rial part Of their being prancing through
space on all kinds Of errands. 1t is safe
TO surmise that the latter privilege is not
often taken advantage fof. 1t is hard
enough TO keep soul and body together
without hunting up excuses to separate
them. But the grand object OF all the
mystic rites peculiar TO Halloween is TO
find out who ones future spouse viii be
that being a very important question
with those who have never had one.
The most infallible of the many infalli
bic ways by which a girl may get
glimpse Of her future husband is TO re-
tire in silence. That alone is hard
enough, but that is not all. She must lie
there, speechless and in the dark, until
just before the stroke of y. when she
must rise and, standing before the mir
Tor, eat an apple while combing her hair
II she doesn't see her future" peeping
over her shoulder its because she is des-
tined TO be an Old maid, or she was too
scared 10 look.
another way that does not :equire so
much courage is TO write the alphabet
on twenty-slN little slips of paper one
letter on each slip, and then urn them
face down En q basin Of water This done,
20 10 bed backward and in silence ST.
lence seems 10 be the main requirement
IL all these enCeaVors TO coax ones af
fulJy 10 make himself, or herself, known.
Next morning some of the letters in the
basin Will be found face up and the name
thus revealed Will give the desired infor
nation.
A more comfortable custom is TO wet
Ts- Li ~ nd han hefn
the FIRE to dry. Then lie in bed and watch
Il until midn. ght, when the apparltion of
the future husband or wife VIII appear
and turn the sleeve.
i d girl has Two lovers and cannot de-
eide which one to choose, she may let
fate settle the matter in the following
manner. Eat an apple and then, naming
two OF the seeds, stick one on each cheek
and say:
Pippin, pippIn, I stick thee there,
That which Is true thou mayst declare.
The one that stays the longest is the
most faithful lover, and therefore the
There is a custom in Wales on Hal
loWeeu Of building a huge bonfire. and
when the aEe Is almost out each member
OF the party gathered about 1T throws in
q white stone, marked for future tdenu-
IcatiCu. III the morning search is made
in the embers and If one stone Is missing
Il in viii not live to repeat the perform
euce the next All Saints eve.
Many Of the customs mentioned by
Robert Burns are now obsolete, put one
stil. IL vogue is that Of pulling kali or
cabbage stalk. A young couple are blind
folded and then, taking each other by the
hand, they 90 into the garden and each
pulls d stalk at random and they return
TO the nresIde, where their prizes cause
great deal Of mcrrIm ent. AS the stalk is
long or short. straight or crooked, so
shall the future husband or wife be. The
quantity Of earth sticking to the root in
dicates the amount Of wealth and the
taste Of the pith the kind Of temper one
must expect. Finally the stalks are
placed over the door. and the christian
names OF the next two entering will be
the names Of the future husband and
wife.
A custom that is quite common in this
country also is 10 take three saucers and
Ill one with clean and another with dirty
water The third remains empty. The
party wishing to know his destiny is
blindfoldcd and led 10 the hearth, where
the saucers have been arranged. If he
dips his finger in the clean water he will
marry a maid. but II in the dirty water
widow viii lead him to the altar The
empty dish signifies that a life of single