Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-10-30
HALLOWEEN TOMORROW.
THE SOCIAL CELEBRATION OF THE
DAY WILL NOT BE AS ELABO-
RATE AS USUAL.
FEW ENTERTAINMENTS

-
an Affair at the Carroll CIub-Some-
thing About the SuperstitiOns Com
corning the Day-The Origin of
| Certain Quaint Customs Which
| Will be Observed.
/ Tomorrow night will be Halloween.
On account of fan.ng in the last week
OF the political campaign, it will not
be SO generally observed as in former
years. There have, nevertheless, been
numbr of very pleasing entertainments
Planned. One of the most elaborate
VIII be the party at the Carroll club.
The invitations term it the Calico
party, and the ladies are to wear calico
| ties OF their own design, and to deliver
to the reception committee small lapel
BOWS, sealed in envelopes, made of the
same material as the ties they wear.
| The gentlemen receiving the lapel
| BOWS Will take as their partners in the
grand march the ladies wearing the
! corresponding ties. The affair will
commence at S:15 o'clock, and continue
until midnight. A very attractive pro-
gramme for the evening has been ar
ranged. Taffy will be prominent fea-
ture OF the refreshments.
The Cotillion club will dance at the
Arion, under the direction of Prof.
George Delbrugge.
The Splnsters will give an old fash
Toned Halloween party at farm house
| on the Bethany pike The young la
dies and their gentlemen friends will
leave the city at five o'clock in the af-
ternoon in large wagons. The affair
will be novel and is certain to prove
enjoyable.
There probably cluster about Hal
IoWeen more popular superstitions
| than attach to any other day in the
year, and it is not only the young folks
who indulge in the tests which are con-
ventional on October 31st Many
| child of larger growth takes advantage
OF the opportunity to learn something
about his or her future life partner,
through communion with the spirits
| who do things on Halloween. Mis-
} chievous Young America has also set
aside this night for indulging his ten
dency to get as close to violation OF
the statutes as he possibly can without
really making himself amenable to the
law 1t would be wise for citizens, des-
pite police precautions, to keep shut
tiers closed and to carefully secure
y t.
Halloween is said to have original
ed before the Christian era, in the days
of the ancient Celts, and their priests.
the Druids. 1t was their harvest fes-
| tlval, and they WOrShipped around i'm
mense bonfres The church did not
abolish the festival but gave it a diff
ferent meaning. All Hallow Eve is the
eve of All Saints Day, very import
in
! church. Halloween appeared to re-
main as the night of the year for wild
and superstitious rites, and many of
| the ancient customs are still observed.
| There was a belief that the fairy folk
held their anniversary on the last day
! OF October, and the customs observed
were therefore most of divination.
A few fortune-telling games and
practices are all that remain of the old
superstitions in the modern observance
of the day. There will be the usual
number of love tests Every girl-es-
pecially if she be yet in her teens-wil
want to know what her future husband
is like, and possibly who he is. There
are several ways of determining it on
| Halloween.
| One method is to peel an apple with
| three times around the head and toss it
over the left shoulder. The initial
which the peeling forms on the floor
will be the initial of the man she is to
wed.
Another test is to secure a new wrap,
| dip the left sleeve into a stream of rum
ming water, and hang it before fire
| to dry. At midnight an apparition, in
| thp form Of hpT. fllt11ro husband will
! appear, and turn the other side of the
| sleeve toward the fire.
Still another test is to run around
block with a mouth full of salt water
| The man she meets is her future hus-
band, but the trick don't so if he is col
ored, or is married.
Another custom is to scratch the
names of favorite young men upon
chestnuts, which are placed on a hot
stove. The first chestnut that pops
will be her husband.
An old custom is to walk backwards
down the cellar stairs at midnight, with
a mirror before her in the left hand. 1t
| is said that the face of the "ownie
| ownest' appears in the mirror at the
| bottom of the steps.
| There is one which cannot be gener-
| ally experimental with, because one of
the necessary properties is grave
J yard. The maiden places an old dish
! cloth in a cemetery, and the first man
| she meets thereafter is her affinity
And here is another which is said to
| be an infallible test. Arrange three
dishes upon the hearth, placing clear
water in one, muddy in another, and
! leaving me third empty. The candi
| date is hlindfOlded and led To the
dishes, dipping his left hand into one
of them. If it be the clear water dish,
his future wife will come to him
maid; if in the muddy, widow; and
| if in the empty dish, there will be no
wedding at all.
IN