In 1929 WS McGeorge married Mabel Victoria Elliot, the widow of Hugh Munro and a watercolorist in her own right. He died at Gifford on 9 November 1931 but she outlived him by nearly thirty years. In 1933 she donated a substantial number of her husband's works to East Lothian County Council as a memorial to her husband.

The children in this painting are dressed in fancy costumes, ready for a guising trip on Halloween night. The faces of the children have an eerie glow, cast from the turnip or pumpkin lights that they carry.

William Stewart McGeorge (1861-1931) trained at the Royal Institution in Edinburgh and at Antwerp Academy. Returning to Scotland he painted around Kirkcudbright in the summer and in Edinburgh during the winter. His favourite subjects were bright, light woodland scenes, often featuring children.