A highly scientific poll conducted by a major Midwestern university predicts that most, if not all, little girls will go as Elsa, from the Disney animation “Frozen.”

If there is any deviation from this rule, it will likely be Anna, another character from “Frozen,” followed by the ever-popular witch, and then, in descending order, mermaid, pirate, unicorn, Snow White, Wonder Woman, bobbysoxer in poodle skirt and Cinderella.

For boys, it’s Spider Man, ninja, Bat Man, Superman, Captain America, medieval knight, the Transformer Autobot leader Optimus Prime, Darth Vader, Iron Man and the Red Ranger.

Not as many cowboys as there used to be.

Also, there used to be a lot more ghosts. It was always a fine sight to see eery, wind-blown, bedsheet-clad apparitions fleeing across dark streets on beggars’ night, like as not tripping because the sheet was too long. Also, the eye holes would never stay in place.

I attribute the scarcity of ghosts in 2014 to the prevalence of colored and patterned bed sheets. Over time, as fewer and fewer white sheets were purchased, the supply of potential ghost costumes gradually dwindled.

The children will be out relatively early, as sunset will be at 5:54 p.m. on Oct. 31. Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday, Nov. 2, at 2 a.m., when we go back to standard time; it will darker in the morning, light for a little longer in the evening.

Until such time as we are utterly swallowed up in the darkness of winter cold and desolation. But never mind that now.

A friend of mine who grew up on Staten Island remembers that, before World War II, children from orphanages would be brought out to beg at people’s doors, calling “Anything for Halloween?” or “Anything for Thanksgiving?”

Her parents handed out fruit, most often apples, and coins.

Children in the suburb where I grew up used to wail “Help the pooor!” as we held open our paper bags outside our neighbors’ front doors. None of us was poor, and we were after candy, although we would not scorn the occasional nickel or dime. Apples and pennies we regarded with contempt.

Children used to dress as cowboys because we were raised on westerns – western movies, and later, westerns on television.

I wore a cowgirl outfit, complete with a six-gun holstered on each hip, to kindergarten. Those must have been great years for the girls who loved horses. I didn’t care much about horses one way or the other, but I did like cowboys. Probably this is the reason my mother and my older brother both saw fit, individually, to give me copies of Pam Houston’s excellent collection of short stories, “Cowboys Are My Weakness,” one Christmas after I was grown up.

Recently, watching the ME TV channel, I have noticed that “The Rifleman,” Lucas McCain, played by Chuck Connors, is pretty much forced to kill at least one person per episode. Naturally, McCain would prefer to settle these issues that come up so often out West in a nonviolent way, but somehow bad guys are continually forcing his hand, and he has to blow them away.

As a child, watching “The Rifleman” with my sister and brothers at Grandma and Grandpa Allen’s hose after Sunday dinner, I took all of this for granted. Only recently did it occur to me that, unless Lucas McCain was a psychopath–as perhaps he was, hard to say–he must have suffered from post traumatic stress disorder. And what about his son, Mark? He seems like a nice enough kid, but you’d think it would make a boy nervous, growing up that way.

Kids still dress up as Superman. “The Adventures of Superman,” starring George Reeves, a television show from the Fifties, reappeared on ME TV last month. I watched this show every week as a child. Superman never shoots anybody. Yes, sometimes accidents happen to the bad guys, but they started it! It strikes me now that Superman, with or without his Clark Kent disguise, devotes most of his superpowers to helping out Lois Lane at the Daily Planet. Who knows, maybe Superman was an early influence on my desire to become a journalist. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, not to mention the Lake Placid News, to find someone like that for their news team.

Have a happy Halloween.