The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-02-10

the efforts to save both life md property.
Amenities OF st. Valentines Day.
Have those times forever passed when the
most delicate expression of q young mans
admiration for young lady lay in sending
her once year an expensive and elegant
valentine? The paper was miraculously ali-
greed and embossed. A minimum of pic
ture was enclosed in maximum of frame.
Impossible nymphs were shown reclining be-
meath unrealizable foliage. Preposterous mot
toes did duty for poetry. Alteration wriggled
and writhed through doggerel Screens and
curtains Of embroidered paper revealed, when
uplifted, infnitesimal scenes of gold-and-ts-
sue enchantment. The paper was infinitely
more poetical than the prosody with which it
was emblazoned. If neither appealed to a
very high order Of intelligence both made On
onset OF the heart They were the very cream
of sentimentalism, the coxcombry Of passion.
No wonder that Araminta who had soft
bosom, and brains which, we are afraid, be-
trayed similar want Of density, believed her.
self the most worshipped and the most worthy
to be worshipped of her sex. No wonder that
Aphonso considered that he had done the
chivalrous thing and did not regret the five
or ten dollars for that efaorescence of the sta
toner's art.
But now change has como over the spirit
of ST. Valentines Day. The sentimental
valentine has almost dwindled into tradi-
ton. Nobody sends it, excepting fools and
children, and perhaps few old bachelors who
are to be placed somewhere between the two
The only kind of valentine which to-day has
a solid existence is the comic one. That still
holds place because of the opportunity it pro-
vides to malice, satire and ridicule. If we
could obtain correct statistics of purchasers
we should perhaps find that not few adults
employ this ingenious method of venting their
vindictiveness. Decency forbids that Jones
should tell Smith to his face that he is COM
mon drunkard; but it cannot prevent him
mailing him valentine representing him with
very red nose and an empty brandy bottle
The sweet amenities of life render it impos-
sible for Green to taunt Brown with having
had mother who took in washing; but it is
eminently admissible for Green to send Brown
some anonymous rhymes about soapsuds, &C
companied with highly colored illustration
representing Mrs. Brown, mere, over the tub.
Mr.. Thompson dare not inform his landlady
that her terms are high and living low; but
he can send her, without detection, some
satirical verses on hash, which will be superb
naturalization for the punctual payment she
injuriously insists upon.
st. Valentines Day is, then, an annual es-
cape-valve for the malice and uncharitableness
method for wounding our neighbor's SENSIBLE
tiles without being found out Yet even in
this respect it is steadily on the decline, and
ere long must take its place among the ghosts
of dead institutions, and it is ghost which
no one need care to materialize and make
tangible again. It has had its golden hours
and has contributed in bygone times to the
smiles and bushes and happy tears of inno-
cent maidens and susceptible spinsters. Its
sentimental side has too much of Arcadian
simplicity and rustic righteousness to suit
this rafting locomotive age. Let it therefore
take its place beside All Hallow E zen and other
spectral institutions which come stealing
Quleily Out W US OuCo y ul AIOLu OeI1uu tIlo
tapestry of tradition, till ct last they melt
into airy nothing and are lost in the blue
mists of time. No sensible adult sends q
serious or sentim entail valentine nowadays ex-
cepting from reason similar to that which
may lead him to choose stage coach in pref
erenco to the steam car. There is something
revcrential and antique in the flavor. The
most radical among us. do not always refuse
passing tribute to custom our forefathers
were not too wise to love.