The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-10-29
HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL.
Mrs. Wharton's House Of Mrth. 1.-The Woman Who
is "a Good Accompaniment.

Sts There Is, perhaps, no liSi. ~ - -
& which the popular imagination mas
slammed with n more peculiar character
!, than the evening Of the 3lst Of OCTOBER,
1 know, as All lallow's Eve, or liallow-
cen. II is clearly n relic Of pagan times
i for there is nothing in the church opserV,
ance of the ensuing day OF All Salhts
to have originated such extraordinary no.
lions MS are connected with this celebrated
festival. or such remarkable practices as
those by which it is distinguished
The Leading idea respecting liaiio"e ci'
/ is that II is the time of all others "hen
supernatural influences prevail 1t If
tho night set apart for universal walk
Ing abroad Of spirits, both of The visible
and invisible world for one OF the special
characteristics attributed to this mystic
evening, says II. Pomeroy Brewster IN
his Saints and Festivals of the Chris
tian Year Is the faculty conferred on
the immateral principle in humanity 10
y detach itself from It's corporal tenement
and wander abroad In the realm of space.
a good sized volume would hardly SUI
fee to record tho snpersttions which
even yet, to some degree, hover around
this evening, and the variety of games
which have become inseparably connected
with It. Burns's "I1allowe' en- gives
somc OF them, and is well worth the read
ing.
Society Arraigned.
New York society has been ar1aigned
in three of the newest books of fiction,
Mrs. Edith Vharton's House Of Mirth.
Mr.. David Graham Phillips's "The Reign
of Gilt" and In "Our Best Society" from
the pen of an anonymous writer. who is
/, rariously imagined to be Mr. John Cor
bin and Miss Jeanette Glider.
8 OF the three books In which the follies
t..fI N1ysC
5Wharton's is the one to be most seriously
& considered. 1t has been said OF 1T very
truly that
3.It vii be acclaimed largely because OF
its moral side. its vivid, pitiless portrayal
OF the folly which pervades newly
builded, imperfecty founded social struc-
4 ture; It Will have q great vogue because
the sins and shortcomings Of New Yorks
& fashionable life are set forth In 1t by one
\ who can speak of them with q sophisti-,
A Gated utterance from frst-hand knowl-
edge This may not have been. probably
was not, the result Mrs. Wharton was
I chiefly working for when she wrote the
book; but 1t is bound to be, for time,
the most conspicuous most loudly pro-.
claimed result Of her labors.'
A Good Accompaniment.
A magazine story, recently read,
brought out the value of woman as a
human accompaniment in the marital re-
!atonship.
A case in point was cited In which a
husband. esteemed as brilliant witty and
highly intellectual, was piticd. because
mis- wife was considered to be SO greatly
his inferior, and because there seemed
10 be so little real consniality and COM
relationship between them, though there
was no lack of affection on the feminine
side, at least.
During their sojourn at n summer sea-
side resort, the husband met a young
girl who was as fond as he of eprigrams
and spicy sparrings in conversational IN
tcrcourse Her quick apprehension and
nimbeness of rctort caught and held
his fancy captive. His wife went away
for visit to her parents and accus-
toned to doing whatever his inclination
4 prompted, the man gave himself up to
the pleasure of an intellectual Irritation
with his newly found friend.
At first he found his pastime delight
full. Then It began to weary him and
,hcn-sad to rclate--there came n day
when a corruscation rippled from the lips
Of his charmcr and simply confused and
hewildered him. He tried to arouse him
self without avail She looked at him
moment, then turned scornfully asidc
saving in a newer attache: We'll, he Is
STUPID after all; ] suspected 1t before
(. u am certain Of l. now
u Sorely'"woiindcd and Inundated in spirit,
The man nevertheless came through his
critics estimate TO Il clearer conception
Of himself as an individual. He realized
that, without the sympathy and helpful
Influence of his wife, he was much in
the same condition, as the violinist who