The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1854-02-02

Men have an usance in this region
To look and search cupid's calendere
And choose their choice by great affection
Such as be prckd with cupids motion,
Taking their choice as their lot doth fail
But | love one which exceleth ALL"
The divinations practiced on Valen
tine S day are curious subject. Her.
rick mentions one by rose-buds-
"She must no more a-maying;
Or by rose-buds divine
Who'll be her Valentine"
Perhaps the poet may here allude to a
practice similar to the following, quoted
by Brand: "Last Friday was Valentine
day; and the night before l got FIVE bay
leaves, and pinned four of them to the
four corners of my pillow, and the fifth
to the middle; and then, if / dreamt OF
my sweetheart, Betty said we should be
married before the year was out. But.
to make IL more sure, l boiled an egg hard
and took out the yelk, and filed it with
salt; and, when | went to bed, eat it shell
and all. without speaking Or drinking af-
ter it. We also wrote our lovers names
upon bits of paper, and rolled them up in
clay, and put them into water; and the
first that rose up was to be our Valentine.
Would you think it? MIR. Blossom was
my man. l lay abed, and shut my eyes
all the morning, till he came 10 our house,
for l would not have seen another man
before him for all the world" Accor-
ding to Mother Bunch, the following lines
should be said by the girl on retiring to
rest the previous night
"Sweet guardian angels, let me have
What most earnestly do crave,
A Valentine endowed with love,
That will both kind and constant prove"
We believe the old custom of drawing
lots on this eventful day is obsolete, and
has given place to the favorite practice Of
sending picttifes, with poetical legends, tc
objects of love or ridicule. The lower
classes, however, seldom treat the mat
ter with levity, and many are the offers oi
marriage thus made. The clerks at the
post offices are to be pitied, the immense
increase of letters beyond the usual av-
erage adding very inconveniently to their
labors. Such Mr.. HalliwelPs account
of Valentine sday.
In "Poor Robins Almanack," 1876,
the draping of Valentines is thus allu-
ded to-
.@"Now, Andrew, Antho-
Ny, and William,
For Valentines draw
Prue, Kate, Jilian.'
Many curious customs are related by
different writers in honor of this day but
of all the quotations that could be made,
none is more quaint and striking than the
following from the Diary of the celebra-
ted Pepys. On the 18th of February,
1867, is there entered: "This morning
came up to my wife S bedside, being up
dressing myself, little Will Mercer to her
Valentine, and brought her name written
upon blue paper in gold letters, done by
myself very pretty and we were both
well pleased with it. But am also this
year my wife is Valentine, and it will cost
me E5; but that | must have laid out. if
we had not been Valentine s." He also
adds: IL find that Mrs Pierce's little girl
is my Valentine, she having drawn me
which l was not sorry for, easing me of
more than must have given
to others. But here | do first observe the
of motoes as well as names; so
that Pierce, who drew my wife did draw
also a moto, and this girl drew another
for me what mine was, l forget; but my
wife's was most courteous, and most fair,
which, as it may be used on an anagram
upon each name, might bevery pretty
One wonder | observed to-day, there was
no music in the morning to Gallup our new
married friend (Peg Penn, J which is ve-
ry mean, methinks."
That Valentines were not confined TO
the lower classes in the days of Pepys,
and were sometimes of very costly de-
may be judged from the follow
inc statement: "The Duke of York be-
ing once Mrs. Stuart Valentine, did give
her a Jewel of about f80O, and my Lord
Vaudeville, her Valentine this year, a
ring of about f3Oo."
And in the following year, he notes
down: "This evening my wife did with
great pleasure show me her stock of jew
els, increased by the ring she hath made
lately as my Valentines gift this year, a
Turkey stone set with diamonds with
this, and what she had, she reckons that
she hath above E150 worth of jewels Of
one kind or other, and am glad OF ii
for it is fit the wretch should have some
thing to content herself with"
With regard to the origin of this festi-
val in the calendar, there are many con-
flictine opinions. St. Valentine, who suf-
fered martyrdom in the rely gn OF the En-
peror Claudius, was eminently distin,
guished for his love and charity and the
custom of choosing Valentines, or special
loving friends on this day, is by some
supposed to have thence originated
The following solution is, however, the
more probable one. 1t was the practice
in ancient Rome, during a great part o
the month of February, to celebrate the
Lupcrcalia, which were feasts in honor o