by Lina Beard
According to the state of the stalk, so will be the gatherer’s fate. If it is straight or crooked, large or small, so will the future husband be; if it has a pleasant taste, or the reverse, the character of the person will correspond, and the quantity of earth clinging to the roots denotes whether their riches will be little or great.
When there are no cabbages at hand, almost any other garden vegetable will answer; and if there be objections to going out-of-doors, vegetables of various kinds, such as turnips, beets, and parsnips, may be placed on a table, and the persons blindfolded can choose from them. No doubt the charm will work as well with the plants upon a table as when they are pulled from a kitchen-garden.
The Magic Mirror,
which is simply a hand-glass on ordinary occasions, and gains its mysterious power only on Halloween, divulges, under certain conditions, the delightful secret of how many bits of good-fortune will fall to one’s share during the ensuing year. The conditions are that the person wishing to know how bright her prospects are shall go to an open window or door from which the moon is visible, and, standing with her face in-doors, hold her mirror so that the moon will be reflected in it. The number of moons she sees there betokens the number of times something pleasant will happen to her before the advent of another Halloween.
Three Tin Cups
partially filled with water are balanced on the small ends of three funnels, which are placed in a row on the floor, about two feet apart. Over these cups, one after another, each member of the party must leap in turn. Whoever succeeds in leaping over all three cups without knocking any of them off will make an early marriage. The person who knocks over one will marry when not so young. The marriage of the one who tips over two cups will be deferred until late in life, and she who leaps none of them safely will not be married at all.
To guard against wet feet very little water should be put in the cups—only enough to make the players careful about tipping them over.
The Ring Cake
is always an object of interest at Halloween parties. The cake itself is made like the ordinary kind, but before it is baked a plain gold ring is hidden in the dough, not to be taken out until the cake is cut and it falls to the share of the fortunate person in whose slice it happens to be found. The ring is sometimes put in a flour-cake, which is simply flour packed into a cake-mould so firmly that when it is turned out it retains the shape of the mould and can be sliced off with a knife. Each member of the party cuts her or his own section of flour, and whoever secures the ring, it is confidently stated, will be the first of the group to marry.
Some Halloween games apparently have no particular meaning attached to them, but seem to be devised for the purpose of creating as much fun as possible.
Bobbing for Apples
is, perhaps, familiar to most of our readers, but we give a description of it here for the benefit of the few who may not know the game so well.
In a large tub full of fresh, cold water several apples are placed, and it is the object of the participators to take them out of the water with their teeth.
As the rosy-cheeked, tempting fruit bobs about within easy reach, it looks simple enough to secure a prize; but the apples are so round and slippery, so aggravatingly illusive, that, unless you thrust your head and neck beneath the cold water, regardless of consequences, and drive an apple to the bottom, the feat cannot be accomplished. The girls can seldom be induced to try their luck in this game, but usually content themselves with looking on, immensely enjoying the frantic endeavors of the boys to succeed at any cost.
The Apple and Candle Game
is another favorite sport for Halloween, and is played as follows: From the ceiling is suspended a stout cord, the lower end of which is securely tied to the centre of a stick about a foot and a half long. On one end of the stick is fastened an apple, on the other a lighted candle. The string is set in motion, swinging back and forth like a pendulum, and the contestants for the prize stand ready, each in turn, to make a grab for the apple, which must be caught in the teeth before it can be won. Frequently the candle is caught instead of the apple, which mishap sends the spectators off into shouts of merriment; but although funny, it is at the same time a little dangerous to catch a lighted candle in one’s teeth, and we would suggest that a bag made of cheese-cloth, or like thin material, be filled with, flour and tied to the stick in place of the candle. When the person essaying to snatch the fruit is struck in the face with the bag, and is covered with flour instead of the glory anticipated, as much mirth will result as can possibly arise when the old and dangerous practice of using a candle is clung to.
The Ghostly Fire
should not be lit unless all of the party have strong nerves, for the light it produces is rather unearthly, and may affect some members unpleasantly. We, at our Halloween parties, never omitted this rite, however, its very weirdness proving its strongest attraction. Salt and alcohol were put in a dish, with a few raisins, and set on fire. As soon as the flame leaped up we clasped hands and gayly danced around the table, upon which burned our mystic fire. The laughing eyes and lips looked in strange contrast to the pale faces of their owners, from which the greenish light had taken every vestige of color. The dance was not prolonged, for it was our duty, before the fire was spent, to snatch from the flames the raisins we had put in the dish. This can be done, if one is careful, without as much as scorching the fingers, and I never knew of anyone burning themselves while making the attempt.
Trying for a Raisin
is a very laughable performance. The raisin, which must be a good-sized one, is strung on and pushed exactly to the middle of a soft cotton string about one yard long. Two aspirants for the prize then take each an end of the string, which they put in their mouths and commence to chew, taking it up as fast as they can—the raisin falling to the share of the person who succeeds in reaching it first.
A Lighted Candle
is again used in a game which is exceedingly amusing. The candle is placed upon a table in full view of everyone; then one of the players is blindfolded, turned around several times, and set free to seek for the candle and blow out the light, if possible.
To see girls, with their hands clasped behind them, going crazily about the room, blowing at anything and everything, is very ludicrous. They seldom find the candle, and even when the table is reached it is difficult to blow in such a direction as to extinguish the flame.
The Fairy’s Gifts
are suggested as a new and original ending of a Halloween frolic.
The Fairy Godmother, in Mother Hubbard costume, carries a large basket under her cloak or shawl. She enters the room and announces that she has a certain number of gifts which she proposes to distribute among the company. After cautioning all that the contents must be kept secret, she passes to each person a folded paper. On one is written “Wealth,” on another “Honor,” on the third “Fame,” etc., and some of the papers are left blank.
Those whose papers contain the names of gifts are then blindfolded, preparatory to receiving their behests.
The first is led up and made to kneel before the Fairy Godmother, to whom she repeats these words:
Most gracious Fairy, the gift you give
I shall treasure and keep as long as I live.
Then the paper containing the name of the gift is handed the Fairy, who reads it aloud very solemnly: “Wealth”—and, turning to her basket, she takes from it a new dust-pan, to which is attached a ribbon-loop, at the same time reciting these lines:
Your choice is bad when you intrust
Your happiness where moth and rust,
In time, turn all your wealth to dust.
From a paper-bag the Fairy pours a small amount of dust over the kneeling girl, and hangs the dust-pan around her neck.
The next person who has drawn a prize is then brought forward and the performance is repeated, only altering the Fairy’s speech. For “Honor,” she will say:
Your honor crowds shall loud declare,
But in your heart, no crowd is there,
You’ll find, like Falstaff, “honor’s air.”
The present here is a pair of bellows, from which the Fairy blows a blast on the bowed head before her as she utters the word air. The bellows, like the dust-pan, are hung by a ribbon around the recipient’s neck.
For “Fame,” the Fairy gives a wreath of roses, and says, as she adjusts the crown:
When Fame doth weave a laurel-wreath,
He weaves this subtle charm beneath;
“For every evil thought that’s born
The laurel grows a prickly thorn;
But where pure thought and love reposes,
The laurel-wreath’s a wreath of roses.”
Buckeye Portière.
* Dishes.
CHAPTER XVIII.
NATURE’S FALL DECORATIONS, AND HOW TO USE THEM.
THESE beautiful decorations are free to all who care to possess them. Every autumn comes to us laden with ornaments which no skilled workman can rival. The graceful golden-rod, so rich in color, sways and bends over the low stone walls, and in the fields wild flowers of all kinds grow in great profusion. White, spreading wild carrot, yellow and white daisies, light and dark purple asters, and sumach, with its varied hues, give color to the landscape on our bright fall days. There are also the queer-shaped pods and feathery, silky seeds peculiar to some wild plants; among others the poor “vagabond thistle,” which has donned its robe of glistening white, although some of its tribe still wear their faded purple gowns. The latter may be gathered for thistle-puffs, and all the objects mentioned can be used in home decorations.
We cannot pass by unnoticed the brown milk-weed pods, for within the shells, full well we know, are hidden the silvery, downy seeds which make such pretty milk-weed balls. Here, too, we notice the rich coloring of bark as well as foliage, the bright scarlet berries contrasting with the brown, yellow, and green leaves. The vine, once a fresh green, is now changed to deep crimson; even the tiny leaves of the wild strawberry and some grasses have touches of red on their edges.
How the rich coloring of autumn differs from the delicate tints of spring, when the promise was made in bud and leaf, which is now realized in the bountiful harvests!
Having such a wealth to glean from, we scarcely know what to take first; but for decorations to last only a few hours it would be difficult to imagine anything more brilliantly appropriate than
Fresh Autumn Wild Flowers
and small branches of brilliant fall leaves. At the time of this writing wild flowers are very popular; one of our daily papers records a wedding which recently took place, where the display of wild flowers was beautiful in the extreme. Curtains of wood-ferns were caught back with golden-rod, and a bower of holly and oak was fringed with clusters of scarlet bitter-sweet berries. Daisies were also used in abundance, while the beauty of the little church was enhanced by the masses of white blossoms and oak-branches.
This idea can be used advantageously in decorating the house for evening parties and receptions, or afternoon teas and coffees. Have the flowers and foliage in masses, the effect is much better; and if you gather very large, hardy ferns with their roots attached they will make exceedingly graceful decorations, and placed in water or wet sand they will remain fresh for days.
When golden-rod is gathered in its prime it will keep nearly all winter without fading. Do not put it in water; all that is necessary is to keep it dry. The rich brown cat-tails should be treated in the same manner; these must be gathered at their best, before they are too ripe. Bitter-sweet berries will last for months and retain a bright red. The old-fashioned honesty, with its white, satiny pods, keeps perfectly for any length of time. The wild rose-bush in the fall is decked with seed-coverings, which closely resemble scarlet berries; these will last for many weeks. The wild clematis, with its festoons of hazy fluff, will keep for a long time, and always looks well when thrown over and on the top corner of a portière and allowed to hang naturally down a little on one side, or arranged in a similar manner over the tops of windows, doors, pictures, or wherever it will look graceful. It should hang out of harm’s way, as it is brittle and easily broken when dry.
A Young Decorator.
For entertainments, the more elaborate and bountiful the decorations of fresh wild flowers the more beautiful will the house appear; but for every-day life during the cold weather, when we have only the dried fall plants, we may almost make up for the lack of fresh flowers by using judgment and taste in arranging the dried ones. Though wild flowers are beautiful, you must use taste in their arrangement and not mingle them together promiscuously, but make a judicious selection, for where a light bunch of golden-rod would be the very thing needed to give color to a particular spot, should the dark cat-tails be placed there the effect might be lost. There are places where some high, stiff decoration would look best, and others where the soft, swaying clematis seems to belong. As with everything else, so with our decorations, we must seek to have harmony.
Who has not admired the dark-brown, glossy buckeyes and horse-chestnuts, and wondered what use could be made of them? Children love to gather them and come home with their pockets and baskets full, only to play with them for awhile, and then the pretty dark balls, each marked with a spot of light cream-color, are thrown away or lost.
Now, the next time the buckeyes are collected save every one and make a
Buckeye Portière.
The writer assures you that you will find it much easier to do this than she did to make a picture of the curtain, for it is difficult with a pen-and-ink drawing to give an idea of the richness of color in the handsome hangings these horse-chestnuts make when properly fashioned into a portière for hall or doorway. Two full bushels of buckeyes will be needed to make a curtain two yards and a half long and one yard and a quarter wide.
Take a very large, long needle and a strong, waxed thread a little longer than you desire to have your curtain, make a large knot in the end of the thread, and commence to string your buckeyes in the same way as stringing beads or buttons. Continue until the thread in the needle is exhausted, then tie the thread in a large knot close to the last buckeye, leaving a length of three inches of thread. Make your other strands in the same way. When all are finished, fasten as many small screw-eyes in a straight line on a curtain-pole, or a rustic pole if desired, as there are strands of buckeyes, and tie securely to each screw-eye one string of buckeyes. When all are fastened on, your portière is finished and ready to be hung. This is easily accomplished if the pole used is a regular curtain-pole, as they always come with brackets; but should your pole be rustic, it must be supported by bands of strong birch-bark, or leather, as in Fig. 131. Our illustration shows over the portière a
Fig. 131.
Birch-Bark Support for Pole.
Panel of Fall Decorations.
These also look handsome over windows and doors, and you are at liberty to use ornaments of all styles, for the panels are placed where there is no danger of anything coming in contact with them to break off the decorations or mar their beauty. Any kind of board will do for the panel, rough or smooth, as you like. Paint the board a pure white, then decide on your ornaments, which may be a chestnut-branch with bursting burs attached, sprays of common wayside velvet-leaf with clusters of pods clinging to them, a piece of black-berry vine with its. twigs, thorns, and dried berries, or branches of buckeyes with some of the nuts falling from their horned shells.
Select according to your fancy, and gild the decorations chosen, then tack them on the panel. It is best to place the ornaments on the board while the paint is soft and wet, for then it will help to fasten the decoration more securely; if the paint be put on thick where the ornaments are to be placed, they will lie partially embedded in the paint, and when it dries they will appear as if carved from the wood.*
A white and gold panel made in this way is very pretty and inexpensive.
The fall decorations also enable us to make a very effective
Louis Quinze Screen.
For this it is necessary to have two small wooden hoops, such as children roll along the streets; fasten these together with a strong piece of white tape, two or three inches wide, cut the end of the tape bias, tack this on the side of one of the hoops, bring it around between and over the other hoop, and tack it again, repeat the operation and the hinge will be finished (Fig. 132). If you look at the hinge on a wooden clothes-horse you will understand how to make one. Fig. 133 shows the hoops fastened together. Now cut two pieces of coarse, strong cotton cloth, a little larger around than the hoops, and place one of the pieces smoothly over one of the hoops; tack it down, driving the tacks in far apart, and so that they can be easily extracted; if the cloth wrinkles, keep changing it until the surface is perfectly even; when this is accomplished carefully tack the covering securely down, keeping it smooth and without wrinkles. In like manner tack the remaining piece of cloth on the other hoop. Next get four broomsticks and cut a notch on each one, at exactly the same distance from the top, for the hoops to fit in. Then measure where you wish the hoops to be placed and cut another notch on each stick a certain distance from the bottom; all the sticks must be of the same length and have the notches cut in the same places, so each one may be a duplicate of the others. Mark the hoops where the sticks are to fit, and then fasten them firmly on with small screws. Make the screen strong, so that there will not be any danger of its coming apart. Give each cloth a sizing of common flour-paste on both sides, then scrape off all the paste with a knife; in this way the cloth will be starched and prepared to receive the paint. When the screen is thoroughly dry, sew a branch across one of the disks and some waxed fall leaves in the places where they would naturally lie on the branch; when these are securely attached, decorate the other disk with something different; acorns can be used if cut in halves; but never place any ornaments on the screen which will not lie flat, for if they stand out they will be broken off or injured by persons passing and brushing against them. Now give the screen a coat of white paint all over, including the branch and leaves, but do not paint the hinge. Set the screen away until it is perfectly dry, then gild the branches and leaves, connecting the latter with the twigs by painting a line of gold between the two. Gild a ring around each pole near the top and another near the bottom, and cover the edges of the hoops where the cloth has been fastened on by tacking white gimp around each one, using fancy brass-headed tacks and placing them at equal distances apart; this completes the ornamental screen.