Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1857-02-19
ERoM pHILADFLPHIA.
Correspondence of the Wheeling In,elligencer.l
,,,Y,,,pu1, Fob IL 1877


PHILADELPHIA, Feb. Ii, 1857.
Elitors Wheeling IaielLigeneer
It's Valentines day, the festal day of old
Bishop Valentine, the arch ilamen of Hytnen,
As Lamb says "Nysterious parsonage, like
unto thee, assuredly there is no other mitred ia
Their in all the calendar; not Jerome, nor Ann
brose, nor CIVIL, nor the consigner of undipt
Infants to eternal torments, (Austin,) whom all
mothers hate, nor he who hated all mothers,
f(Origen,) nor Bishop Bull, nor Archbishop
Parker, or whitgift. Thou comest attended
with thousands of little Loves, andthe airs
enrilsted with the hiss Of Tus,IIus Wings"
Singing cupids are their choristefs. and their
presenters, and instead of the cIosier the mys-
teal arrow is borne before thee" In other
words this is the day on which those charming
little rnissives, yclept Valentines, cross and in
ltercross each other at every street and turning.
The weary penny postu1an sinks beneath load
OF delicate embarrassments, not his own. is
scarcely credible to what an extent this ephe-
neral courtshipi is carried on in this looming
town TO the great enrichment OF the penny post,
and to the detriment of knockers and bell wires.
In these little visual interpretations, no emblem
is so comnona as the heart,-that little, three
cornercd exponent of all our hopes and fears,
the bestuck and bleeding heart,-it is twisted
and tortured into more allegories and affccta-
tions than an opera hat. What authority we
havcin history, or mythology, for placing the
head quarters and metropolis of the god Cupid
in this anatomical seat, rather than any other, is
not very clear, but we have it, and it will serve
as much as any other, else we might have mag
ined upon some new system, which might have
prevailed, for any thing which our pathology
knows to the contrary, and lover addressing
his lady love in perfect simplicity Of feeling,
Madam, my liver and my fortune are entirely
at yonr disposal" But custom has settled these
things, and has awarded the stab of sentiment
to the aforesaid triangle while its less fortunate
neighbors wait at animal and anatomical dis
lance.
Not many sounds in life, and include I'LL ur-
ban and moral sounds, exceed in interest kuoek
at tie d0oi. It gives very echo to the throne
where hope is seated But its issues seldom
answer to this oracle within. 1t is so seldom
that just the person we want to see comes in
But of all the clamorous visitations, the welcom-
est IN eNpectallonlS ING Souhu lllhI usie!s i vi
seems to usher in, a Valentine. As the raven
itself was hoarse, that announced the fatal en-
trance of Duncan, so the knock of the post
man on this day is light, airy, confident and be-
fitting one that bringeth good tidings, It's less
mechanical than on other days when you will
say, THAT'S not the Post, am sure" Visions
of Love, of Cupids, of Hymens!-delightlul
common places, which ''havins been will always
be-" which no school-boy nor teacher can write
away, having your irrcyersible throne in the
fancy and affections. What are your transports
when the happy maiden, opening with careful
finger, caretu1nOt to break the emblematic seal,
bursts upon the sight Of some well designed al
Iegory, some type, some youthful fancy, not
without verses,
InYrts nil