American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1866-02-21
VOLUME 3.
st, Yalentine's Day.
Old times are changed, old manners gone
Lar or THE LAST MISsTRz

Valentines day IN my eiahuia'hei
sime ; it was something worth looking for
ward to then; you should hear the old
gentleman talk about it. The ice OF many
q courtship was broken; the heart OF
many maiden won through the medium
of those emblematic pictures and fiatter-
ing rhymes sent on that licensed morn
Young meu-my grandfather among the
tnumber-were known never to have re-
tired to rest at all, but to have spent the
night previous under their mistress win
dow for the purpose of gaining her hrst
glance in the morning, and thus, accord
ing to the old superstition, have the
right of being her Valentine for the rest
of the day, or, what was perhaps still
more important, her husband for life
Young girls, in order to avoid the sight
of disagreeable suitor, would shut them
selves up for the entire morning; others
bv various clever stratagems-peepin
through little friendly holes in the win
dow curtains sitting with their eyes shut
for hours, until they heard the wished
for step or well-beloved voice-endeavor-
ing to take in destiny, and cheat the fates.
Postmen were known to have tainted be
meath the weight of Cupids, doves, Hy-
mems temples, and gold rings their burst
isg bags contained One misanthroplc
man of letters committed suicide on Val
tines eve, by throwing himself bag and
all, into river near my grandfathers
house. leaving note on the bank stating
his reasons for the act; hatred to mar
riage, and desire to save his fellow-crea-
tures from that misery, as the Dooer on
the fourteenth Of February 'cas generally
foot By the first Of april.
But Valentines day in the nineteenth
century-~the sober, intellectual, satrical,
nineteenth century-is a very different
affair. "These are the days of advance"
In our onward march of civilization We
have trampled the Msypole under our
feet, dethroned its pretty queen, and turn
ed Cupid out of doors. "Strong mind
ed young ladies" sneer at such ''senseless
things" and youth itself will soon be as
much out of fashion as the rest. But yet,
with all these disadvantages to battle
against. Valentines day, although the
mere ghost of its former self, still con-
tinues to have its old "match-making"
propensities, truth still turks in those au-
nual rhymes, and many proposal those
love lines have contained has ended in
smiles and bushes, wedding favors, and
bFide-eake at Whitsuntidc. There's my
cousin Mabel and Minnie Grey, they are
living examples of this last fact.
Of course you have never seen my cou
SIN Mabel but if you had you would
certainly say she was the prettiest girl
you had ever beheld Female critics of
beauty, it is true, found fault with her
pose as being somewhat too short" and
her mouth as "a little too large" but
then her eyes were so blue and soft, her
eye-lashes so dark and long, her hair so
rich and bright, you forgot every other
fault in looking at them; and as to her
dimples, they would positively have made
Hebe jealous, could that young lady have
seen them. Yet Mabel, strange to say,
with all her beauty, had reached the ma
tare age of eighteen without lover
Her father, country clergyman, had
jealousy kept his fair blossom to nestle
by his side, hidden from all "vulgar eyes"
in the old ivied parsonage of retired
little village; rarely, if ever, allowing bcr
to take part in any of the festivals and
junketipgs given by their neighbors
those pleasant, innocent, 'merry meet
ings," where rural firtations are got up.
and the partners of dance so often be
comes the partners of life. The con
sequence was, that when Mabel came to
spend her Chritmas with us, she had not
been q week away from her leafy home
before she danced exquisitely, flirted sci
entifcally, apd had caused half dozen
young men to wear turn-down collars, ,aad
seriously contemplate suicide.
Now, as my father loves full house,
and declares a merry Christmas" would
be an utter impossibility without merry
guests and good cheer, with ''that so
plenteous," that like the jolly FRANKIE
Iein, at this time.
at snewed in his hous OF mete and dripke."
You may be sure Miss Mabel had every
opportunity of exercising her newly &C.
auired accomplishments,
Teddy Green pr opposed Tor her FIVE
minutes after the 6rst introduction, was
refused, and has never since been heard
of. Jack Sharp, the Wears son, enlisted
- private soldier, to the unspeakable
grief of his parents, because Mabel had