Halloween, or the eve of All Saints' Day, has been observed since the beginning of the Christian era. In very early times, ghosts, demons, and spirits were believed to rule the universe on this evening, and any one who ventured upon the streets after dark was doing so at the risk of his life. For companionship, as well as protection, it was customary for large numbers of friends to spend the evening together; and these gathered around the fire-place, and passed away the time drinking cider, cracking nuts, eating apples, and telling ghost stories.
While the superstitious fears of Halloween have almost entirely disappeared, the evening is generally celebrated in the same manner as in the past. This is the only evening on which a boy can feel free to play pranks outdoors without danger of being "pinched," and it is his delight to scare passing pedestrians, ring door-bells, and carry off the neighbors' gates (after seeing that his own is unhinged and safely placed in the barn). Even if he is suspected, and the next day made to remove the rubbish barricading the doors, lug back the stone carriage step, and climb a tree for the front gate, the punishment is nothing compared with the sport the pranks have furnished him. There is, of course, such a thing as boys going too far with their Halloween fun and getting into malicious mischief, but the cautious boy is not likely to cause any serious trouble by his actions.
Figs. 300-301.
A Magazine Bean-blower.
Every boy who has used a bean-blower knows that the beans swell when held in the mouth, often to such an extent that they will not go through the opening, and clog the tube. [Figure 300] shows a scheme for a
Magazine Bean-blower, which does away with this difficulty, inasmuch as with it the beans are not put in the mouth. The drawing shows a section taken through the centre of one the writer has before him, which works admirably. This bean-blower will cost you just two cents, the price of two of the regular nineteen-inch tin tubes sold in the stores. To these add a large ribbon-spool, which can be had for the asking at almost any dry goods store, some glue, and a sheet of writing paper. Place the spool in your bench-vise, and bore a quarter-inch hole in the centre of the side of it (see A, [Fig. 300]). This hole should be on a slant, and extend only into the hollow part of the spool, as shown in the drawing. When this has been done, take one of the tin tubes and cut off two sections of it, one four inches long and the other three and one-half inches long. This is easily done by filing through the tin on one side with a small file, and then bending the tube back and forth until it breaks. Place the end of the four-inch tube in the hole bored in the spool at A, gluing a strip of paper around it to make it fit tightly (see B in [Fig. 300]). A piece of paper smeared with glue should be wrapped around the other end of this tube in the form of a funnel, as shown in [Fig. 301]. Press the paper around the end of the tube, as shown in the section drawing, [Fig. 300], and use plenty of glue upon it to make it stiff. Glue a strip of paper around the short tube, and stick it in one end of the spool, as shown at C, [Fig. 300]. The little wooden mouthpiece that is furnished with bean-blowers nowadays should be slipped over the other end of the tube, as shown in the drawing. Now take the second bean-blower, and glue it in the other end of the spool, as shown at D. The bean-blower is now complete. To operate it, hold the spool in one hand, and, after dropping a number of beans or peas into the magazine, place the palm of the other hand over the top of the paper funnel, and blow until the tube is emptied. It is necessary to close the opening in the top of the magazine, or the beans will blow out of it instead of from the end of tube D. Dried peas always work better than beans in a bean-blower, as they are round and never clog the tube.
Fig. 302.—A New Style of Tick-tack.