The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-10-22
ON FATEFUL HALLOWEEN
IDEAS OF CELEBRATING THE
THIRTY-FIRsT OF OCTOBER.
Tests Include the Magic Mirror,
Truthful andes and Matching
H, arts, Which Foretel the Future.

be derived from a well-arranged Halloween
party and at little expense.
A description of a house party to be given
on the 31st, at which ten people are invited.
may prove suggestive for those who intend
celebrating this event.
Invitations will be sent out a week be-
forehand and will be cut from watercolor
paper in the shape of chestnuts as large as
an ordinary orange, colored to represent the
ripe nut on one side, on the other the fol-
Lowing, written in red ink: Assemble in
common clothes at s o'clock, on the even
ing of Oct. 81, 1899. at The Cakes, James
street, to make merry until the hour of L."
These will be placed in white envelopes
and addressed to each guest.
The guests are asked to wear common
clothes. as some of the rollicking games are
likely to soil laces and silks.
Ghoulish and grotesque lighted jack O.
lanterns will be used throughout the rooms
for illumination. AT the hall door a Hal
loween ghost Will welcome the guests. 1t
will be made by placing a lighted jack O
lantern on a dressmaker's fitting form,
which will be wrapped in sheets. Across the
breast on a placard will be:
Enter not here who have not faith, for
All wishes wisht this night i good faith
VIII be granted without fear or favor.
Throughout the rooms red and white corn
in husks will be used for decoration, and
cornstalks will fill the corners and deco
rate doorways. On small stands about the
rooms hollowed-out pumpkins will hold poll
ished apples, russell pears and grapes.
Popped corn, cracked hickory nuts, boiled
chestnuts. crullers and pitchers of sweet
cider will invite the guests to help them
selves during the evening, for on this night
all formality is dispensed with.
In the kitchen will stand tubs Of water
III which apples having the names of diff
ferent localities scratched on with pins will
float, the guests will try to lift one out with
their teeth. Whatever name appears on the
one secured indicates the place where the
future life partner lives. AS many times as
it takes to catch the apple indicates the
years before the destined pair will meet.
THE CANDLE TEST.
After this test lighted candles will be set
in a row on the floor and each guest in
turn jumps over. Each candle snuffed out
represents a year before Cupid will chain
the jumper. II none go out, then the
jumper will be married before the next Hal
loween.
In a room having but one candle light
they will hold a mirror in the hand SO it
reflects in a tub Of water. If one sees a
ship it means a journey abroad; a church
betokens a marriage; a train a journey by
land, a wreath honors, etc.
On chestnuts the names Of three persons
will be scratched, two men and a woman,
or two women and a man. These will be
placed on griddles before the open CRATE.
The one that sputters and moves away
should be forgotten as that person is faith
less and tickle. The one remaining is the
faithful.
Each guest suspends a ring by a thread
in a goblet partly filled with Vater and
calls off the alphabet. The ring will strike
the glass when the letter is mentioned of
the person who is destined for the marriage
contract.
Apple parings in one strip are swung
three times about the head while this rhyme
is repeated:
Apple 1 pare and swing to know
Who l soon Will marry;
From my hand L now thee throw,
Mystic letter carry.
1t will form the initial OF the future hus-
band or wife. 1t may not form the letter of
the one whom the individual thinks they
will marry but of the one destiny has
picked out.
Then tiny candles placed in square blocks
of wood will be passed, each guest putting
a private mark on each block TO identify it.
At precisely the same time each guest ig-
mites the wick and then the candles are set
in a row on a table to burn. In the mean
time other tests will be tried, the candles
being watched off and on, for those which
burn the longest signify rich marriages, the
quickest burned a luckless marriage; burned
one-sided, uneven match; a candle with
drippings clinging means burdens brought
through marriage; an even burning, an
even, happy married life.
Candy hearts with sentimental notices
will be broken in two and then mixed. Each
guest takes a handful and tries to find the
mates in the hands Of some other guest.
The way some Of the sentences read while
matching is ludicrous. The one securing
the correct matches first gets a prize of a
prettily-bound book.
Luck chestnuts will be passed, each guest
taking a handful Those who find in their
handful a nut with the figures 1900 marked
with ink will be married before the year.
The one having the largest number of nuts
will receive a clover leaf stick pin as a prize.
Some time between 10 and IL o'clock each
guest must take a handful of hemp seed
from a dish provided by the hostess and
steal out unperceived and turning up the
ground WIFI n SUCK OF duytnluS nanny Will
sow the seed, repeating: "Hempseed, I sow
thee; hempseed, / sow thee and may my
true love come after and plow thee" When
through, just as they enter the house they
look backward and IL the imagination is
vivid will see the true love in the act of
blowing.
Apple seeds naned aud stuck on each eye
lid will tell which is the one who will stick
by the longest.
TRYING THEIR LUCK.
The day of the 30th, in the back yard,
the hostess will place cabbages with stalks
in the ground. At 0 o'clock the couples
will go land in hand and blindfolded to
this patch, where each pulls a cabbage,
and. pulling of the bandages. returns to the
house to inspect the prizes. The height and
character of the future partner is judged
from the length and shape of the stalk.
According to the quantity OF earth remain
ing on the stalk shall be judged the for
tune which the future partner brings and
the taste Of the heart indicates a sweet or
bitter temper.
At 1850 O'Clock the women guests arm
themselves with balls Of Irvine, each of a
different color, and proceed with lighted
candles to the garnet. where, holding one
and thew throw the SxVira from fha -;u-