Stories for Every Holiday

Halloween, Maguire!" he said. "Sure and don't I know that?" the old Irish janitor said, getting up and pouring more coal from the scuttle into the stove. "Don't I remember All-Hallow Eve in the old country when I was a boy?everybody out listening for the fairies, and watching for ghosts on the churchyard wall. Then the games in the barns, and plenty of apples and cakes! All- Hallow Eve's a fine time, lad. Nobody knows it better than Patrick Maguire." "Well, it seems like Halloween here in the city a bit, anyway," Terry said cheerfully, pointing to the window that looked out on the street. "I went over to Jasmine's father's store this afternoon and, O, such fat pumpkins as she was selling, and red apples, and bags of nuts! I tried to tell Jasmine about Halloween, but she's an East Indian girl and couldn't understand how we keep it up. " 'What does Halloween really mean, little master of the precinct?' she asked. 'O, Jack- o'-Lanterns, and spiders, and witches, and snakes!' I said. Then her eyes got so big. 'Not snakes!' she said. 'O, yes,' I told her, and she seemed so surprised. Girls are all 'fraid-cats, aren't they, Maguire? " "I don't know about that," Maguire said, thoughtfully. "I've known girls in Ireland every bit as plucky as a boy. But Terry, lad, do you know the real meaning of the Eve?" Terry got down from his stool and went over beside the old man. "Why, no, Maguire," he said. "What does Halloween really mean?" The old Irishman too...