El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-28
For the Better Half
Written for the HERALD.

charms, spells and pranks that are
played by the lads and lassies of the
nineteenth century, half in pure frolic
and half in wonder, were solemn and
pOrtentous rites to the lads and lassies
of Scotland and Ireland of the bygone
centuries. AL the charms devoted to
the evening have but one purpose, the
foretelling of love affairs and weddings.
The pranks of the boys in exchanging
gates and blinds and signs, bObbing
for apples and the tic-tac on the win
dow are only frolics secondary to the
charms by which men and maids may
know their true loves.
When the young folks go out next
Tuesday night to pull the kail-Or cab
Burns calls it, they try one of the old
est of ali the spells. According to the
length and size and symmetry of the
root, so will the lover or sweetheart
be-tall, If the root be long; short, If
it be short; crooked, II it be so, and
slim or stout as it ia the one or the
other. If it have much earth clinging
to the roots, the life partner will be
rich; if it have little, 30 will the part
ner be poor. In our land the rite ia
changed to meet the different copdi-
tions and the young folks pull up the
first salk they come to-the stalks
must be pulled 10 the dark and then
carried in to the freight to be exam
ined.
The ceremony of the three dishes
ia almost as reliable in it's prophecy.
Three shallow dishes should be set
along the hearth, one containing clear
water, one with ashes and one empty.
The one who tries is blindfolded, led
about the room. the dishes are chang
ed about so.that luck may have COM
plete sway and then he dips his finger
into dish. If he dips his fingers in
the water, he is to marry maid; and
if in the ashes, he is to marry q widow;
and If in the empty dish, he will abide
q bachelor his whole life long. The
same ceremony for a girl means that
she will be the first wife, marry
widower or be spinster.
Chestnuts or hazelnuts in the fire
will in part, inform the curious as to
his fate in love. If q maid place two
chestnuts or two hazelnuts in the fire,
naming them for herself and a man,
placing them eide by side and sitting
in silence to watch them burn, as they
burn she will read her future history.
If they stay quietly side by side. and
burn to the end go, she will have
long, quiet, happy married life. Ac-
cording as the one she has named
for herself, or has named for q youth
crackles, fumes, splutters or fies away,
SO will he or she prove touchy, hot
tempered, clustering or tickle. An
other simple trial is 10 place two can
dies in the window, name them for her.
self and for the man she likes best and
watch them burn. If they burn even
ly together, so will the married life
be; if one splutters and burns uneasily,
so will that one prove; if one goes out
sooner than the other it means that
either by death or fickleness she will
lose him.
By pairing an apple so that the par
ing shall be one long piece. swinging
this thrice around the head and letting
it drop behind him. one will find in the
initial 1t makes, the first letter of the
Christian or surname of his hearts de-
light. However, the peeling of the ep-
pie requires some skill and it must be
swung gently or it will break before
the charm is tried. Apples are famous
love OWNERS. By their seeds one may
try another spell. The apple should
be named by some one else and then
this said, the count being for each