The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1919-10-30
Halloween or Halloweven.

Halloween is the vigil of HallOw
mas or All Saints Day." says the En-
cyclO,aedia. The authority furth Their
says that the most essential part Of
the ritual seems to consist in the
lighting by each household of a
bonfire ut night. And it i; limited that
the custom comes down from uUr pa
gan ancestors. who lighted sacred fires
to keep away the evil spirits. Also.
the fairies were of old thOnht to lie
in exceptional good humor on the eve
Of winter. as on May LIST.
But for all that. saint festival. fairy
Cancellation or devil Publication. Hal
lOwe'en is generally celebrated in
Plain Dealing with high jerks by the
young. dreadful fOrbodingS by the TIM
id old people and general absenc" by
the officers of the law. The devil
seems to be in the young people OF
Halloween. old folks are distruStful
of what the unthoughtful may do. and
the constituted authorities seem to
half-heartedly concede one night to the
demons or darkness in order to llav:
public Indignation and law-abtdin.
sentiment on their side for the bal
ance of the year.
The citizen who finds his autOnlO-
bile on the roof of the tallest build
ing in town when he fares forth OH
the morning of November LIST generally
accumulateS as consequence of the
coincidence prejudice against ply
steal jests or practical jokes that lasts
him well into the following spring.
But there is Il still more dreadful side
avrSS1n NJ .a
| knows little or nothing about; or
rather. it says nothing about It,.
CburchyardS yawn and graves give up
their dead on tomorrow night: for
then is Halloween. In haunted hous-
! es ghosts are more than usually care
less as to who sees them fitting about !:
! and the long since murdered corpse
that fails to walk about with its head
under its arm OH Halloween is just
naturally staying in the grave because
it is lazy or afraid to take IL chance
with the town marshal.
Witches. too, are entirely unrestrain-
ed OH the night Of the last day of this
month. They hold all kinds Of revelS,
ride in all kinds of vehicles from Ford
automobiles to huge birch brOOmS"
and they are supposed to go through
the air ut withdrawing OH level
with the ground being too tame on
such festive occasion.
The reader need not take the word
Of the writer for these things. The
habits of witches are well known Of
old. And to quote from the - Witches
FrOlic" tan occurrence Of not more
than three hundred years ago. tn z
reader may learn what one curious
person saw who wandered into Il GER
tain hauted house.
| And there were goSSips sitting there.
Ry one. by two. by three:
Two were an old ill-favOr'd pair:
But the third was young. and passin.
fair.
With laughing eyes. and with coal-blacE
hair:
\ dainty queen WAS she.
Rob would have given his ears to sip
But IL single salute from her cherry lip.
AS they sat in that old and haunted room
In each ones hand was Il huge birch broom
On each ones head was Il stecple-CrOwn't
hat.
On~ each ones knee was Il coal-black cat
Each had kirte Of Lincoln grccn-
1t WAS. | trOw. Il fcarSOmc scene.
|
And oh &, such awful music! neer
| Fell sounds uncanny on mortal ear,
There were the tones of dying man.
yroans
. Mix'd with the rafting Of dead men,
bones
. Had you heard the shricks, and the squcals
and the squraks.
You'd not have forgotten the sound TO
| weeks
That great big dog begins to quail.
I, Between his hind legs he drops his tail.
Crouch'd on the ground. the terrified houn'
Gives vent to Il very odd sort OF u sound
1t is not Il bark. loud and free.
As an honest old watch-dO='s bari
should be:
1t is not yelp. it is not Il growl,
But IL something between whine an
howl.
There now! Never was drawn sucl
Il picture of witches ut their worst
They danced that night in the old ruiz
to the music Of dead mems grOan.
! They flew away on brOOlnS to the Gel
lars of the richest citizen and ate an
drank Of the best: hut the devil 60
them all in the end-and that wa
three hundred years ago.
f Young people in Plain Dealing ma
D well beware Of what they do to-morro'
= night, the 31St. 1t is an awful tim
J. to be away from home and it Is il goo
). night to keep ones fingers crossed.