Try A Kind Treat Rather Than Cruel Trick

In 1922, my family was living in rural Spokane County. That year was the first time that I was allowed to go out on Halloween night with my friends, and the other assorted ghosts and goblins of the day.

Of course, my friends and I planned to find some mischief.

But by the time we were turned loose, however, all of the outhouses in the area had already been overturned by the high school boys. So there was nothing for us to do but to paint horrible faces on the insides of the doors of barns and wood sheds and hope that we could scare the first person to enter.

Our search for adventure eventually led us to the wood shed of an elderly widow named Mrs. White. After properly decorating the door of her wood shed with black and white paint, we noticed that there was an enormous pile of freshly sawed cordwood inside the shed.

We wondered: What should we do to make our Halloween presence remembered?

My friend Earl suggested that we split and pile the whole load of wood. Since all of the necessary tools were right there, we were soon busy wielding axes, sledge hammers, wedges and splitters.

In about an hour, all the wood was split and neatly piled, including a supply of kindling.

We had all been Boy Scouts until our leader left town to take a teaching job elsewhere. That night, we went home repeating the Scout’s oath, thankful that we had the opportunity to do our daily good deed.

It is my hope that years from now someone will look back on Halloween of 1997 in the Spokane Valley and recall a kind treat rather than a cruel trick.

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This sidebar appeared with the story: IT’S YOUR VOICE “My Voice” is a forum for readers who would like to share their experiences and observations on life in the Spokane Valley. If you have a story to share, write: Mike Schmeltzer, Valley Voice Editor, 13208 E. Sprague, Spokane, WA 99216. Fax: 927-2175. Call: 927-2170. E-mail: mikes@spokesman.com