The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-31
WORK FOR POLICE
SMALL BOYS ARE PREPARING TO
CELEBRATEAHALLO
TONIGHT
HOW THE DAY ORIGINATED
From Religious Festival 1t Has BE-
come Day OF Innocent Amuse-
ments-Many Extra Of
ficers ON Duty.

tonight will lbe Halloween, time to
winch young people have been looking,
forward with great 7impatience The glad
'llne mas come at last, and tonight they
coILy out plans they have spent weeks
~ terminating The amIsements of the
evening will be of various kinds. In
many garrets in the CITY candles will
De burning, while around will be gathered
| sioupS OF sh1yering, nervous young pao-
| pie' passing the time in recounting sail
ene ghost stories that they have been
| aple TO collect in the last six weeks In
the dark alleys and corners the small boy
! WIN sKulk and dodge the watchful police
! man whose duty it is to keep him from
! changing signs, taking gates off their
hinges and performing the hundred other
tricks tha1 ale done on Halloween In
| sun other places maidens who have be-
! colne impatient in waiting and watch
| ing Tor their futures" will assemble and
| py means of spells and incantations that
are centuries old try to discern the lucky
man. IN Whatever way the young folks
may attempt to pass the evening, it is
sure % he happy one, as HalIou cen
| always is.
Origin of the Day.
All Hallows day is the first day of
!SoVember and Halloween CONES inc
evening before. The day takes its origin
| from the conversion in the seventh cen
| tury of the Pantheon at Rome into a.
/ Chrlstlan place of worship and its dedi-
catloh TO the virgin and the martyrs.
| II was celebrated on May l, but later the
| day was changed to Nov l. and under
the designation feast of all saints, set
! apart as general commemoration in
! their honor
But at the present day in this coun
! try the bows <rir,
| good time and never think of the
seriousness of the time in other coun-
| tries. Girls or boys when asked several
Gays before Halloween where they ARE
gong on that night reply: "Oh, we will
| DC on the street with the rest of the
people having good time" This they
usually Go, which can always be seen
on the next day
On that day it is the custom in Catholic
countries to visit the cemeteries for de-
Vot1on and lay flowers on the various
graves OF departed relatives. While All
SAINTS day is a religious day, Halloween
has nothing churchly about it and il
seems to be a relic of Pagan times. for
II is still considered a time when spirits
are around and supernatural influence
seems to prevail. In olden times it was
oeheVed to be a night set apart for
spirits of the invisible earth to be around
and 1t was even believed that the human
spirit could separate itself from the BODY
and be around anywhere.
Halloween is closely assembled with
Walburgis night of the Germans.
which is said to be the night at which
the witches assemble at the H5rtz noun
tains and hold night revels. The close
connection of Halloween with All Saints
day seems to have originated in Eng
land, when the festival was changed
from the 1st day of May to the LIST day
of November. The Germans usually cele-
brate this day by having large parties
gather at different places and indui N
such games as will keep the spirits dy.
Evening OF Fun.
Now Halloween has tak9nr a different
standing among the people and; is given
up to joking and playing tricks on friend
ana fee alike. Parties are given at which
the evening is given up to tricks ana
other things One favorite at Halloween
parties is the ducking for apples in a tub
OF water and trying to catch an apple at
the end of string. Ghost parties are
given often on this evening, and this is
said to be very appropriate amusement
en- this evening when spirits are said To
be lurking around everywhere.
In England it has long been the Gus
tom 1or the people to assemble at vari-
Gus places decided upon before the even
ing comes Various games are provided
LOT the eVnng, and the fun is kept uD
until early in the morning or until it is
thought that the spirits have become tired
of their work
In Scotland this evening is one of a
mere serious nature than in other coun-
tries and is always treated as though it
was the Sabbath. The Scotch people
think that this is day when
everything should be looked at seriously
and all fun should be laid aside Here
the ceremonies partal1e of superstitious
character, and among ruStics the form
Oh charm is taken to see who should
be his or her partner for life, and which
ever way it comes the people are sure
TO make out in the end. Many young
people in this country have become ac
qualnted with their life partners at these
meetings, and it is always thought that
this custom will long continue
This is the only country in the world
where it is considered right to set aside
the evening for time of joy and sport.
Here is has been the custom for years
70 play all kinds of tricks and pranks on
Halloween But the general tendency of
the time is for the tricks to become more
rough, and at last in many places the
authorities will not countenance any
tricks. Such is the position that the au-
thorities of ST. Paul take this year.
Mayor Smith said yesterday:
Mayor Smiths Stand.
Halloween night is too often made the
occasion among boys for doing a good
deal of mischief. There is no real inten-
ton of course, except among the really
bad boys, to do any particular harm. But
their FRANKS often result in great loss of
property and put the people and the po-
lice to great deal of trouble
Now, 1 don't want to see any unnec-
essarily harsh measures taken against
the boys; but so many citizens have
spoken to me about it that 1 feel that
something should be done. So I would
to keep their boys indoors tomorrow even
ing, so far as possible, after dark
The police have instructions to take
destruction of property, and parents who
let their boys out tomorrow evening after
dark may have the disagreeable expert
ence Of looking for them in the lookup
and in the police court in the morning."
The police are going to carry out the
| instructions of the mayor and have made
| every arrangement. that they consider
necessary to protect the property of the
| people from the depredations of prank
| playing boys. Seventy-five extra police
| men will be on duty, and in addition to
| these the day detail will remain on duty
| until late in the night, and the night re-
| lief will go on duty at $50. Every boy
| that is found playing tricks or meddling
! with other people'Sl property will be ar
rested. The munieiIFl court Will not con-
! slider that because,ia prank was played
on Halloween the offender is in any way
| excused from the rpenalty of the law.
| All the authoritiesiare working to gain