The Nevada journal., 1857-02-13
ST. VALENTINES DAY.


orous youths and maidens who consti-
tute ;he high court and parliament of
Love, to the worship of their patron
saint Now, the mails all over the
world are burthened with precious
freight of billet-doux, of all shapes and
sizes, square, oblong and three cornered.
Now, college boys, and all heart strick-
en- swains, are puzzling their stupid
heads to fill into metrical completeness
the melodious chimes Of Z" love-" and
dove" Now, midnight oil is being
consumed, and Walkers Rhyming Die
tionary is in great demand Now, Betty,
the house maid, is expecting the annual,
triangularly folded, diagonally written
missive from her devoted Jeemes, and
the love-lorn Seraphina Augusta, hoop
ed and girded, is sitting "in her lonely
bower" and wondering what gilt edged,
sweet scented missive, will assure her of
the undying affection of that =" dear, ell
egant Charles Augustus. Now, poor,
unfortunate, bachelor editors are dream
ing of delicate little angels, floating in
bright feecy clouds of muslin and lace,
and little black CATERS, and little white
hands, and such lips tchick oh, my
r.so,J- o1;4ouc go b,,,ooo ood I-oo,,-
what's good, though they never can en-
Joy it - and are summoned from their
heaven of dreams, to the stern realities
of dilapidated linen, and unpaid bills,
and the villainous call for copy.
But, alas, the worship of good St. Val
entine is waning in these latter days.
Sending Valentines has grown too COM
mon, and in republican country like
ours, that will damn any thing. We
mind us of the time, and only few
years since, when "bashful lovyers true"
were accustomed to bottle up their af-
fection for a whole year, at the immi-
nent peril of explosion, and on the glo-
rious 18th of February, give vent to the
whole accumulation of sighs, and tears,
and vows, and wishes, in Valentine
And we mind us also of a still earlier
time, when men who were of the best
blood and brain of the earth, were not
ashamed to use their mighty pens in the
writing of sonnets, and love songs, and
Valentines. They are all gone, Beau
mont and Fletcher, Carew and Herrick,
and rare Ben johnson. Anacreon
Moore sang the last pean to Cupid be-
fore he grew grey. Chloris and Phyl-
lis "live no longer in the faith of rea-
SON." Young America has discarded
true love, and. Valentines have fallen
into disreputc.
Well, it isn't strange. How can
man be expected to get up any enthu-
siasm on those masses of cordage, and
cotton, and whalebone, which form the
CO mponent parts of a moGern woman ?
rigging enough for seventy flour gun
ship and after all, what better OBJ
iect is there for one to fix his affections
upon, than nice broiled quail a cup of
coffee, and a prime Havana? Vire Ia
Bachelorho0d l.! Who'll treat?
QUARTZ MINING.-We hear of rich
quartz and preparations for extensive
operations in this branch of mining, from
all sections of the state. In Shasta
county, we learn from the Republican,
rich lodges have been discovered, and
in Amador, new lead has been taken
up by a party of young men which
promises to be one of the most valuable
in the state. Speaking of the latter,
the Amador Sentinel says, "the rock
has been thoroughly assayed by DIR.
Harris, than whom more competent
assayer does not exist, and found to
yield S160, to the ton of quartz rock.
The owners have commenced opera
tons in earnest, by sinking shaft and
erecting a mill, which will soon be in
working order
- A number of good leads of quartz are
known to be in the immediate vicinity
of this city, which are not being worked.
The failures which followed the quartz
mania that ragged here several years ago.
have deferred our monied men from en-
gaging in this business. The leads are
now principally owned by men who
have not the means to work them, and
could be bought much below their value
There is no doubt, too, but that little
prospecting within a mile or two of the
city, would discover valuable lodges
which are now unknown. Here, then,
is fine field for capitalists, which we
hope soon to see employed.