The daily gazette., 1875-02-08
FOT tNe Gd-Ptts. - ~ N v "" " "
+ SAINT yALENFINR's DAY.

SAINT vALENTfNR's DAY.
NJ --------4o9 OIL Hs5s =
The Festival of the Amcie n fs----Oka
EnEI1sh CuStOlns--The Present
Fashion -vaIenfine PartIas.
An old story relates how an old gem.
tleman, reading from O newspaper that
2oo, 900 extra letters had passed Through
the London post-offce on st. Valentines s
Day, proceeded to reckon into pounds
and shtillings the amount Of money spent
foolishly for stamps on that day. ooh.
no! papa" interrupted his daughter.
you must not calculate that way, YOU
must consider that to be the number of
persons in love with each other" r
The young lady was right, for in her
time IT was the day Of all the days in the
year for lovers, and many q swain, i'm
bsed with the tender passion, has wait
ed impatiently for the l4th Of February
as fitting time to reveal his love. r.
Judging Of the character Of st. Valen.
/ tine, from the customs of his day, per.
son would Imagine him to have been one
whose sole delight was to mite lovers In
the bonds OF natrimony, one who was
the companion of Cupid and the patron
Of poets But no; from history we find
during part of the reign OF the Emperor
IValinerius. Devoutly he followed his
holy calling, and for his religion 3 SAX
suffered inartyrdom by being behtaded
about the year 200, aud was buried in
the church of Saint Praxedes. arr
1t appears that the peculiar customs
which are, associated with the day an.
propriated to him in the calendar, hap.
pen so merely by coincidence, and the
most probable version of the story il as
follows: ' '''i @'
The ancient Romans observed a festi.
val called the Lnpercalia, which was
given in honor Of Pan and Juno, and
occupied several days in the middle Of
the month of February Among the
ceremonies OF this festival the names OF
the young, women We're placed in box
from which they were drawn by the
young men, who thus had partners .a fol
the various games. The early Christian
teachers, desiring to destroy as far as
possible all remains of the Pagan cere.
monies, or by changing the form to suit
them to the new religion, substituted
the names of the Saints to be drawn
from the box, and as st. Valentines was
the nearest church day to the Festival
it was chosen as the time for celebrating
the new feast. But it is almost iulpos
sible to do away with any old custom tt
which the masses Of the people have
been accustomed, and in this instanct
the young people still continue as before
with the addition of calling the one who's,
name they had drawn their valentine,
| A pleasing old legend is that which
gives as a reason for the origin Of tn,
their mates; and Chaueer in one of hi
poems, thus imagines Nature to address
the birds: ''''i'
= a rf \
And for your own ease, in fordring Of yoil
| need. '.n' - .a.fY ~
AS fast as 1 may speak, will me speak.
| ie know well how on St. Valentines day,
| BY my statute and through my gOyernaunce
Ye dochoose your mates, and after fieawa
with them, as move you with pleasaupce.n
And the British Apollo, a miseellan,
published long ago, contained the fol
lowing question and answer; s5al '.
"Why Valentines q day to choose
A mistress, and our freedom lose :?
May my reason interpose
The question with an answer close.
To initiate we have mind,
And couple like the winged kind"
Formerly, in England, the gentlemal
| who was chosen by lady to be her Val
entine was expected to present her wit
q gift, and also to give one to the lad
he had chosen. From the diary of tn
quaint and economical Samuel Pepys
that interesting chronicle Of the man
ners and customs of his times, we fin
examples of this and other customs.
On st. Valentines day, in 1867,
says; "This morning. came up to m
wife's bedside little Will Mercer to
her valentine, and brought her nam
written on blue paper in gold letter.
done by himself, very pretty; and W
were both well pleased by it. But | al
also this year to be my wife's yalentin,
which will cost me five pounds; but tha
| must have laid ont had we not bee
valentines" A few days afterward
said II find that Mrs. Pierce's littl
girl is my valentine, she having draw
me; which | was not sorry for, it hsvin
eased me OF something more that mus
have given to others. But here frs
observe the fashion of drawing mottos
as well as of names. So that Pierce VIII
drew my wife did also draw motto, an
= this girl did also draw one for me. Wins
mine was | forget, but my wife's wa
"Most courteous and most fair" On
wonder l observed to-day, that thei
l. was no musick in the morning to call u
new married people, which is very meal
methinks," We find here several cui
toms, and in another year he mentions
different one, which was that the fir
i
: lady on ST.. Valentines day was her va
). entine, and he says: "I did this da
purposely shun TO be seen at Sir w. Ba
n tens, because / would not have h
4 daughter to be my valentine, as she Wi
" last year, there being no great frien,
es ship between us now, as formerly"
Ie The following extract from lett
. . written by a girl OF the period and pu
he lished in the "Connoisseur,' . in the l. n
is century, shows superstitions closely r
a sembling those associated with Halo
ly Fen. Last Friday was st. Valentine
n, n, day, and the night before got five b,
o. % leaves and pinned four of them to Il
ID four corners of my pillow and the fif
to the middle, and then il dreamt
iy my sweetheart, Betty said we should
married before the year was out. B
~ ~ to make it more sure, / boiled an O.
~ hard and took out the yolk and filed
with salt, and when went to bed ate
shell and all, without speaking or drin
sr- ing afterWard We also wrota ol1 lova-