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CHAPTER XXIII
October
HALLOWE'EN FROLICS
N
O holiday in all the year is so merry, informal, and so marked by fun unconstrained in its celebration as Hallowe'en, the eve of All Saints. This is the night when supernatural influences are in the ascendency, when fairies dance, ghosts are abroad, and witches are in power.
It is the night when charms, spells, and incantations are invoked to read the veiled future, by the young folk, who—perhaps deprecating all credulity—gradually come under the influence of the "creeps" as the ghostly hours advance and the contagious spirit of mystery takes possession as their fortunes are dimly shadowed forth in some occult manner.
Hallowe'en ghosts, however, have the reputation of being cheerfulfy minded spooks—"blythesome and bonny," as they say of them in Scotland, the home of Hallowe'en—and so the spirit of fun reigns supreme.
In getting up a Hallowe'en party, make everything as secret as possible, binding each guest to silence concerning the invitation.
Since to tell of a real happening is more convincing and helpful in suggestion than to suppose a case, let me describe a frolic to which I was bidden many years ago;
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