On the morning of November 1, a family was eating breakfast. The father asked his son, “Did you push the outhouse into the creek last night?”
The previous evening was Halloween. Without hesitation, the son told his father the truth. “Yes, Pa. As a Halloween prank, a few of my friends and me pushed our outhouse into the creek last night.”
The father determinedly rose from his chair, left the room, and returned with his razor “strop”. The son knew what was about to happen and tried to plead his case.
“Wait, Pa. You always told me to tell the truth, and I did. Why are you gonna whop me? George Washington told his Pa the truth when he chopped down the cherry tree, and he didn’t get a whopin’ because he told the truth.”
The father replied, “Yes, but was his pa in the cherry tree when George chopped it down?”
One of my friends has renamed Halloween as “Satan’s birthday”, and strongly exhorted me to have nothing to do with “that Godless holiday!” There is for sure a lot of deviltry that has happened on October 31. It seemed to be a common practice a few years ago for piles of tires to be placed in the middle of secondary county roads and set on fire on Halloween. I remember when I was principal that someone was paid to stay at the school overnight on Halloween to be sure nothing was damaged or destroyed. I remember it was on Halloween night that the old Nave Hill School burned to the ground. It had been unused for years, and was not served with electricity. Go figure!
I never went trick-or-treating when I was young. I was more than happy to sit just inside the door of that old house where I grew up and hand out candy to the visiting goblins. The age and construction style of the house added to the creepy atmosphere. Few houses existed in the immediate area that were as old or older than the house in which I lived.
The invitation to spooks was given by turning on the 300-watt light bulb on the porch and plugging in the plastic jack-o-lanterns in my front bedroom window. The darkness around the sides and back of the house added to its scary effect.
Sadly, there were stories of terrible events that happened on Halloween, such as apples being given out that had razor blades in them. An event meant not for evil, but for fun for children, became dangerous.
Now I neither live in a century-old house nor a subdivision. I haven’t turned on lights or handed out treats for many years. In later years, subdivisions and church-hosted trunk-or-treats have catered to trick-or-treaters. Just in case a need should arise, I still have my old plastic jack-o-lanterns on standby.
May you, Dear Reader, and all you know have a safe Halloween. Remember Acts 20:35 (KJV), “. . . remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

ANSWER TO QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 76
What do you call a nose with no body? (ANSWER: No Body Nose)

QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 77
Why do bees have sticky hair? (See next week’s article in historicunioncounty.com for the answer.)

DID YOU KNOW? (If not, consider my enlightened as my email revealed this to me.)

In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington have him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted.

Arms and legs are 'limbs,' therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, 'Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg.' (Artists know hands and arms are more difficult to paint.)