Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-02-18


1.-THE festival of st. Valentine is of great
antiquity. The Lupercalia. feasts Of an
Gent Rome in honor Of Pan an Juno, were
held about this period of the year; and
among the ceremonies was game IN
which young persons of the opposite sex
chose each other jocularly by lot. The
festival continued as a popular custom,
even after the introduction of Christianity,
only the patronage of Pan and Juno was
laid aside, and in their place was substi-
tued. Saint Valentine. Throughout the
middle ages, twas apreyalent notion that
the first unmarried person of the other sex,
whom one met on st. Valentines morn
ing walking abroad, was destined hus-
band or wife. A gentleman, indeed, was
privileged to make such a one his Valen-
tine for the ensuing year, and even to kiss
his sweetheart: custom commemorated
n Sir Walter SCOTS novel, 1.-The Fair
Maid of Perth"
Subsequently, the popular observance
ofSt. Valentines Dakconsisted in the
drawing of kind of lottery, followed by
ceremonies not unlike an ordinary game
of forfeits. A traveller, who visited Eng
land about 100, thus deserves the festi-
val "On the eve of st. Valentines Day
the young folk, by very ancient custom,
celebrate little festival. An equal num-
Der of maidens and bachelors get togeth-
err; each writes his or her true or feigned
name upon separate billets, which they
roll up, and draw by way of lots, the
maids taking the mems billets, and the
men the maids; SO that each of the young
men lights upon a girl that he calls his
Valentine, and each of the girls upon a
young man whom she calls hers. By this
means each has two Valentines but the
man sticks faster to the Valentine that is
fallen to him, than to the Valentine to
whom he has fallen. Fortune having thus
divided the company into SO many cou-
pies, the Valentines give balls and treats
to their mistresses, wear their billets sew
eral days upon their bosoms or sleeves,
and this little sport often ends in love-"
ASTONISHING STRENGTH OF THE POLAR
BEAR.-This powerful animal is, among
quadrupeds the sovereign of the arctic
countries He is of immense strength
and courageous savage and sagacious /;
apparently clumsy, and yet not inactive.
His senses are extremely acute, especially
his sight and smell. AS he traverses ex-
tensive fields of ice, he mounts the heights
and looks around for prey on rearing
his head and shutting the breeze. he per-
ceives the scent of the carrion of the
whale at an immense distance. Seals,
however, seems to be his most usual food;
yet, from the extreme watchfulness of
these creatures, he is often, it is believed,
kept fasting for weeks together. He can
swim with the velocity of three miles an
hour, and can accomplish some leagues
without much inconvenience. Having an
amazing strength of jaw, he has been
known to bite lance in two, though
made of iron half an inch in diameter
When pursued and attacked, he always
turns upon his enemies (; if struck with
lance, he is apt to seize it in his mouth,
and either bite it in halves, or wrest it out
of the hand. If shot with ball, unless
he is struck in the head, in the heart, or
in the shoulders, he is enraged rather than
depressed, and falls with increased pow
er upon his pursuers. The polar bear
will seize man by the back, as cat
seizes mouse, and run off with him with
the greatest ease, or swim with the body
in the heaviest sea.