Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1908-10-21
N eird Decorations
ForHallozOeen

NOW quay BIC WCAI 0A " Lie AuS-
toner who was waiting for a parcel.
When / was home back in Scotland,
we made great of it. / remember the
parties my mother gave for US and
how we bobbed for apples and tried
all kinds of charms to see if our
sweethearts would be true. But Amer
leans are mostly too much in hurry,
it seems to me, to enjoy these himple
festivals
An American who wants TO observe
Halloween though, will find plenty Of
odd conceits at the shops with which
to do it. If a woman wishes to give
dinner, for instance, the supply of
weird hair raising decorations offered
for the purpose is endless. There are
all sort of queer lanterns and the
thing is to have no other light in the
dining room than that supplied by the
of al sizes, from "the smallest pump
kin jack olantern made" an inch
and half across and costing five
cents, to the giant ones that cost 81
and look impressive in the center OF
la table some of them turn up their
you convivially, and others look as If
this silly world was really too much
for them to endure. The black cat lam
terms are effective. They are only
heads, but they have any amount OF
expression. Then there are devil head
q nj uiaRnd looking
witch head lanterns, goblin heads,
funny turnip face and potato-face lam
terms, and for the reveller who wants
to "hand lantern" to somebody,
there are lemonfaced lanterns. There
are skull head lanterns, quite blood
curdling to look upon; pig lanterns
and pickle-face lanterns and Trilby
foot lanterns, which certainly look
like feet, even if they are not precise
ly of the Trilby pattern.
A centerpiece lantern that party
of children would simply fall in love
with is the vegetable figure. 1t is OF
heroic size, rs inches high and the
Illuminated pumpkin head tops the
funniest green body imaginable. This
figure costs Sc but would last for gen.
erations of children. In a dining room
lighted with these lanterns and with
suspended sticks splitting forth
witch fire. in the dim darkness, a
dinner would certainly be success
These witch fire sticks are only 10
cents a box and the fire is the kind
which is said not to burn.
Novelties and figures and ravors of
all kinds were never so enticing as
they are this Halloween. There are
furry black cats of all sizes, and big
hated witches riding on geese. There
are snakes that wriggle like live ones
when you pick them up, and long
legged, google eyed crabs. There are
so many kinds of devils that, no mat
ter what your taste in devils may be,
it can surely be suited. For The dis
couraged person there is a walking
devil with a cart, express to hell.
For the medical student there are
nice little iointed skeletons.
Many of these novelties are boxes
which can be filled with candies. A
cunning miniature one is a pumpkin,
upon which stands black cat with a
surprised looking tail. Larger ones
are comic "sick vegetable figures"
pudgy policemen, fur owls, funny fruit
faces with shaking noses, and ridicu-
lous farmer figures with heads shak-
ing in invisible wires. There are
vegetable elephants which out-faker
the worst nature faker. Most impress
ive-seen in a darkened room-is
ghostly sheeted figure, seven inches
high.
The imitation fruits with which to
fool diners seem particularly well
made this year. Assorted fruits come
nicely packed in boxes, or apples,
pears, bananas and oranges, looking
good enough to eat, sell by the dozen
or singly. Then there are strawberries
and cherries, and all the small fruits,
in the cunning little boxes.
Among the small favors are wal
nuts, which open and show a wee
pickaninny; confetti bombs which
burst at touch; black and white
mice, feather buster .'ticklers'' and
cups and saucers in the likeness OF
grinning skulls. There are small red
metal devils and white babies, eff
fective for guarding the prize cake;
for which, by the way, there are SPLEEN
did gold rings and diamond rings for
the large price of five cents apiece.
There are kenests-innocent look
ing things-but put a light to one and
long snake wriggles out. There are
brooms enough to fit out all the
witches in Christendom. There are
love thermometers, scientific edit
ion of the daisy, which used to be
loves guide. There are matrimonial
prospects,, dirt cheap, sold by the
dozen. In fact the conceits are almost
endless, each calculated to create