Rock Island Argus., 1914-10-14
The Daily Story
Halloween Party-By Esther Vandeyeer
Copyrighted. by Associated Literary Burea.

! loWeen.
Whats Ualloween"
"Oh, papa, how ignorant you are
! Halloween is the evening when young
| folk bob for apples blindfolded, strike
at suspended bags full of nuts or can
/ dy and throw peelings over their shoul-
ders."
What do they throw the peelipgs
over their shoulders forY
why, the skins in falling will take
| the shape of letter. That letter is
the initial of the person the one throw
ing it will marry. If a girl looks into
a mirror she'll see the face of her fu-
| ture husband"
Halloween is for girls, presume"
mot at all. It's for boys the same as
for girls.''
"wel, what about your party?"
Mamma says that If you consent
we will give it at the Cedars."
The Cedars is our country camp. We
had returned to the city after Labor
day, a month before, and now it was
proposed to go back for Helen's party
She looked at me wistfully. I remem-
bered what such things were to me
when I was a youngster and melted
before that look. Indeed, always melt
before that look. l gave my consent
This is what happened at the Hal
loween party. 1t came under my OBJ
servation; but, not having woman's
perceptiye faculties, 1 saw nothing in
it. The story was told me by my wife,
and 1 tell it here as she told it to me.
The young persons assembled for
Halloween at the Cedars were between
sixteen and twenty-five years Of age,
though those above twenty We're men.
Some of them being too old TO bob for
apples or knock down bags when blind
folded, it occurred to my wife 20 in
vite a sort of bluestocking clairvoyant
or something of the kind, who was to
tell weird stories suitable to the oc-
casion. She was a Miss Somers, thir
ty-five years old and altogether an odd
person.
On Halloween after dinner the young
folk assembled in the large apartment
used for living room, at one end of
which was an enormous fireplace. The
night was cool enough for blaze, and
logs in plenty had been provided. The
room was sealed, the rafters above be- /
ing left bare. On the walls were the |
of Nimrod-had slain, while several
skins from the same source covered !
the pine floor.
Miss Somers seated herself in the |
center of the group before the fire,
which gave the only light in the room.
and began her stories. They all pur-
ported to have come under her own
observation and We're intended to show
that for every boy and every girl there
was somewhere in the world a mate.
1t did not seem TO matter to her or
to the youngsters, especially the girls,
that this was impossible unless the
pair were born at the same moment.
There We're several other big gaps
which We're not filed, but this did not
seem to trouble any of the listeners !
Miss Somers had an eye on her lis
teners and observed on her right
young man, Joel Harker. in whom
love for the marvellous, judging from
his features, was strongly developed
On her extreme left, partly in shadow,
sat a girl. Marjorie Winthrop, one of
those feminine creatures made espe-
cially to love and be loved. Harker
was twenty-one years old; Marjorie
Winthrop was not quite eighteen.
To close observer it was. evident
that Miss Somers was casting or try
ing to cast a spell over these two. This
was noticeable since, while telling her
yarns, she would first look at Joel,
whose eyes-as indeed the eyes of all
were fixed intently upon her, and then
turn to Marjorie. 1t seemed that she
was attempting by will power to draw
these two together. At times, willed
by her. Joel would look from her to
Marjorie; then after an interval Mario
rie would look at Joel and always with
of the expression indicating
that she regarded him as her own es-
pecial property.
The young people listened to Miss
Somers stories and chatted till 9
o'clock, when they separated in order
that each might go off alone in search
of a Halloween experience. The camp
was situated on the margin of lake.
by hills. the latter being
part wood and part open. The young
fellows, TO whom the Halloween part
Of the affair appeared ridiculous, went
into a room where there was a billiard
table to play and to smoke. Joel Har-
ker disappeared, and it was not known
where he had gone. AS for the girls,
some of them went to their rooms.
some out in the boats, while others
scattered themselves on the shore.
Where Miss Somers went was not no
iced.
This rowing about by night was IA
cilitated by full moon, which gave
ample light.
From time immemorial there has
been evidence of power possessed by
some persons TO will others to do GER
-ain things. Most OF these cases of
mental domination have been either
lisproved or not proved. Nevertheless
among the great amount of chaff there
nave been n few grains of wheat. Ger
ain IL Is that Miss Somers was no.
where near Joel Harker or Marjorie 4
on that Halloween eve after
90 L., ,f