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<h2 id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI HALLOWE’EN</h2> Before many days the winds finished what work Jack Frost didn’t attend to himself. The leaves were neatly whisked from all the trees except the oaks and the evergreens. Oaks are cold trees. They keep most of their leaves on all winter and let them drop only when Spring sends word that she is on the way with a new gown for each. Such pretty secrets some of the trees revealed! Who suspected birds’ nests until the boughs were bare? In the gutters of the Westmore streets lay drifts of leaves through which the children loved to rustle on their way to school. The autumn air was full of the pleasant smell of their burning. [167] About the farms on the outskirts of town, cabbages were piled in green or purple heaps. Ears of corn dangled from barn rafters, drying for seed next year. In rows on the piazzas sat pumpkins. Lucy and Dora greatly wanted pumpkins because in a few days it would be Hallowe’en. On that evening the Westmore children dressed up and pretended to be goblins and ghosts. Every respectable ghost lighted its way with a pumpkin lantern. The children consulted Father. He asked Mother if the pumpkins could be made into pies after they had been lanterns. Mother thought a moment and said she could use them. Father bought two small pumpkins. Lucy wanted to make her own lantern and so did Dora, but they found the shell much harder than they expected. Mother was so afraid they would cut themselves that she would not[168] let them take the sharpest kitchen knife. When Father came home from work both little girls were glad to let him help them. Father did not find it hard to cut off the top of each pumpkin, but Mother let him have a sharp knife. Lucy and Dora scooped out the soft part with the seeds, and Father cut eyes and a nose and a mouth in each lantern. Lucy’s had teeth with sharp points, which made it look cross, but Dora’s had a smooth, curved, smiling mouth. Mother found a bit of candle for each, and they lighted them and turned down the gas to see how they were going to look. They looked decidedly spooky. The last day of October was windy and cold, but when the sun went down the wind went with it. This was lucky, because if it had not stopped, the policemen would not let the children build bonfires. [169] Directly after supper Lucy and Dora began to dress as ghosts. Each wore an old pillow-case in which Mother said they might cut holes for eyes and noses and arms. Mother tied the points so they looked like ears. She also tied tapes around their necks to make the cases fit better. Then their eye-holes would not slide about. “I declare!” she said when they were dressed. “I wouldn’t like to meet you in the dark myself!” Lucy and Dora jumped up and down with delight. If Mother felt that way, mere strangers would be terribly scared. Father lighted the lanterns. He told them to be very careful not to set themselves on fire, and not to go near any burning leaves. Mother told them not to go down into the square because big and rough boys might be out. She told them to keep in their own part[170] of town and to ring door-bells only where they knew the people who lived in the houses. The children said they would remember and skipped happily away. Underneath the pillow-cases they wore warm sweaters. First they rang the Bakers’ bell and Marion rushed to the door. She stopped short when she saw the two white figures with their lanterns. “It is Lucy and Dora!” she exclaimed. “I am almost ready to come out. Which way are you going?” They told her and ran off to make another call. The grown people in Westmore were very patient with the children that evening. They opened their doors when the bells rang and spoke pleasantly to the little ghosts. Some of them pretended to be afraid and most of them admired the sweet smile of Dora’s lantern. One gentleman gave them each a chocolate cream. [171] “Being a spook must be hungry work,” he said. Lucy and Dora told him that it was. Only a few houses kept their porch lights burning and wouldn’t give the children the fun of having the door opened for them. Lucy and Dora went to call at Miss Page’s home on the hill. Miss Page seemed to be expecting visitors, for she came to the door herself, screamed loudly and then guessed that the ghosts were Alice and Grace. The ghosts giggled and shook their heads. “Iris and Mary,” suggested Miss Page, and she did not guess Lucy and Dora until she had named all the girls in her Sunday-school class. When the ghosts took little leaps she knew she had guessed correctly. She gave them each a wee cake with pink icing and told them not to fall down the front steps and to be careful of their lanterns. [172] Next to Miss Page’s home stood Mr. Harper’s big house. “Let us go in here,” said Lucy when they had untied the tapes on each other’s masks, eaten the little cakes, and then tied the tapes again. “Alice will be out with the others,” said Dora. “I know it, but there are some people at home. I can see her father sitting by the fire in the room where the curtain is up.” Very softly the children crept on the porch and found the electric bell. In a minute they heard steps in the hall and the porch light came on. They did not run but stood in silence, holding their grinning lanterns. Mr. Harper opened the door and when he saw them he looked for a second and then threw his arms up into the air. [173] “Help, Mamma!” he shouted. “Ghosts, Mamma! Come and save me!” Lucy and Dora couldn’t help giggling. They had not expected him to act like that. They didn’t think Mrs. Harper would come, but she did. “Goodness!” she said. “What shall we do, James? Ghosts! and not an inch of mosquito netting in the house!” This was too much for Dora. She was so interested that she forgot she was a spook. “Don’t ghosts like mosquito netting?” she asked. “No, indeed!” said Mr. Harper. “It gives them hay fever. Harriet,” he said to his wife, “how could you let the mosquito netting run out?” Lucy began to think Mr. Harper was crazy, but Dora knew he wasn’t. Uncle Dan talked[174] in just that way. She laughed and so did Mrs. Harper. “Come in, won’t you?” asked Mr. Harper, opening the door wider. “No, thank you,” said Lucy. “We have a great many other calls to make. But is Alice at home?” “She is out being a goblin,” said Mrs. Harper. “I think you will find her on School Street. Could you each eat a caramel?” The ghosts needed no second invitation. They thanked Mrs. Harper. “Do you know us?” Dora asked as they were going. Mrs. Harper smiled. “Yes, I know you, Dora,” she said. “Mrs. Merrill’s little girls are ladies even when they wear pillow-cases.” “What did she mean?” Dora asked Lucy as they went down the steps. Lucy didn’t know, but when they asked Mother, she seemed to understand, though she didn’t tell them. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus4.jpg" width-obs="440" height-obs="650" alt="" /> “Ghosts, mamma! Come and save me!”—Page 173. </div> [175] After they had called on all the people they knew in that part of town they went to Olive’s house, but she was out, having a Hallowe’en frolic herself. Next, the children joined one of the groups in the street. It was holding hands and dancing around a bonfire. The fire was right in the centre where one street crossed another and the automobiles could not pass. The automobiles did not like it at all, but there stood Mr. Waterman, the tall policeman, and he made them all go around another block. This night belonged to the children. Lucy and Dora danced for a time and then began to feel rather tired. The fire was dying down and Mr. Waterman yawned behind a veil of smoke. Before they reached home they met Father, who seemed to be out for a walk. He did not say he was looking for them, but it was not[176] usual for him to walk about the streets at night unless he were going to church or to a lecture or to his lodge-meeting. Father offered to carry their lanterns and both were willing to let him. Even small pumpkins grow heavy when carried around for an hour and a half. The front porch was peppered with beans which boys had blown through air-guns. Mother thought it wrong for them to waste food in that way. “Did you have any callers while we were gone?” Lucy asked. “Yes,” said Mrs. Merrill. “Ten different ghosts have called on me. I gave each an animal cracker and they went away at once. One ghost said that elephants didn’t agree with him, so might he have a lion.” “Did you change it for him?” asked Dora. “I did,” said Mrs. Merrill. <hr /> [177] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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