1887 Victorian Halloween Party
This fun little poem was written by Helen Chase back in 1887. She talks about her Great Grandmother in her early years as a young maiden, so I assume this poem is happening in the early 1800s.
October days were almost done;
The red leaves strewed the garden,
The dahlias bent their splendid heads,
And seemed to ask our pardon
For leaving us; the cricket sang
A plaintive little ballad
Among the grasses, while, above,
The blackbird —saucy dallard!--
Chattered and crooned from out an ash,
Aflame with scarlet berries,
While idly drifted, in the wind,
The thistle's fairy wherries.
All Hallowe'en was almost here;
Great-grandma —dainty maiden*--
In lilac print, was stepping round
Her store-room, richly laden
With golden pies and 'lection cake,
And luscious tarts and crullers,
And apples —stored with nectar—each
Aglow with gorgeous colors;
For such a party as was set
For Thursday night, why, never
Had Middlesex been bidden to,
In cold or summer weather.
And Lois Brown would bring with her
Her cousin "'way from Bostin;"
While Persis Drake, the old Squire's son,
Would have Alphonso Austin,
Just home from foreign parts, where he
The Queen, in her young beauty*,
Had seen in London town! Each maid
Felt it her bounden duty
To don her finest gown, and strive,
With purpose sweet and hearty,
To show the strangers "how to hold
A Hallow Even party."
At last it came —the fateful night!
Great-grandma —like a picture,
In peach-blow silk, and bodice trim--
Received her guests. The mixture
That's sacred to all Hallowe'en--
"Snap-dragon" —crowned the buffet;
The hickory logs blazed merrily,
While Ruth and Simon Luffet
Led off and named the chestnuts brown,
And set them wildly snapping,
And swung the finger-rings, to tell
Your fortune by their tapping.**
"Oh, who will try the lonely walk
Around the garden, holding
A looking-glass, as backward she
Steps slowly? None?" Then, folding
A kerchief round her dainty neck,
Great-grandma bravely started
Adown the path, while silently,
The girls all stood—faint-hearted.
"What's that? A shriek?" All sought the door.
There stood Great-grandma, blushing,
And by her side, a gallant youth,
Her sudden tumult hushing.
"Good friends," he said, "my ship rides yon,
At anchor in the harbor,
And with dispatches, as I rode,
I halted at the arbor
To hear your merriment, when sped
A maiden down the border,
And" —(here the gallant stranger smiled)--
"She deemed me a marauder!
But if her gentle heart can prompt
Her to forgive my daring,
I vow she never shall regret
Her deed of sweet forbearing."
Great-grandma smiled, and held her hand
Out toward the handsome stranger,
And over it he bowed. Alas!
Her lovers each saw danger
To all their schemes in that caress!
And—well, within the harbor,
A ship long tarried, and next June,
When roses decked the arbor,
A bride across the old oak hall,
All swept and garnished duly,
Stepped softly to the stranger's side,
And vowed she'd love him truly!
Helen Chase, 1887
Happy Halloween everyone 🎃
hugs,
Birgit
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