Trick or Treat

[sagehen]

Whether the expression "trick or treat" does I don't know, but certainly
the custom goes back farther than '39 or '37.  Both the door-to-door
begging and the pranks were regularly practiced in the Lincoln NE of my
childhood.  Perhaps without the /or/, since the pranks occurred whether the
begging yielded results or not!  Soaping windows was the most common
practice, but the occasional small fire was set, and, where available,
privies were overturned.
A. Murie