Community Etiquette at Hallowe'en

"Etiquette is all human social behavior. If you're a hermit on a mountain, you don't have to worry about etiquette; if somebody comes up the mountain, then you've got a problem. It matters because we want to live in reasonably harmonious communities." – Judith Martin, aka Miss Manners

Hallowe'en Pranks Went Beyond Common Decency

Some of the holiday pranks perpetrated to Red Bluff last night were not pranks at all—they are libelous and disgraceful demonstrations of vicious minds, and the perpetrators of these so-called jokes ought to be apprehended and prosecuted. The fact that we support a custom permitting people to go forth annually and make damphools of themselves doesn't justify the defacing of business fronts, the scratching of plate glass windows, insults to respectable and law abiding colored citizens, and other acts too disgraceful to enumerate. All these things happened in Red Bluff last night, and today many business men are suffering as a result of it. Even an old established, but insane, custom like Hallowe’en does not justify a community in forgetting its good manners. – Red Bluff Daily News, 1919

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia