Salt River herald., 1878-02-23
VALENTINES DAY.
The Fourteenth Day Of
 February.
How 7t Was Celebrated En The FiGIeezIfA CentIsry-Ei Pres cmt ObscPyancc.

Valentines day, the 14th of Feb ruary, is, or more correctly wds, eel ebrated in England, Scotland, and in different parts of the continent, par ticularly Lorraine and Maine in
 France. by a very peculiar and anus ing custom. On the eve of St. Val entinc, number of young folk maids and batchelors-wOuld as semble together, and inscribe upon little billets the names of an equal
 number of maids and bachelors of their acquaintance, tl.' ow the whole
 in receptacle of some sort, and
 then draw them lottery-wise-care,
 of course, being taken that each
 should draw one of the opposite sex.
 The person thus drawn became ones
 valentine. Of course, besides hay
 ing got q valentine for ones self,
 one became, by the universality of
 the practice, some other persons
 valentine but, as Nilsson, q learned
 traveller in the early part of last
 century, remarks, the man stuck fas-
 ter to the valentine that had fallen
 to him, than to her to whom he had
 fallen These imaginery engage
 ments, as may be readily supposed.
 often lead to real ones; bee use one
 necessary consequence of them was
 that for a whole year, a batchelor re-
 mained bound to the service of his valentine, somewhat after the fash
 ion of a medieval knight of romance to his lldy-l ve. At one period, it } was customary for both sexes to make each other presents, but lat terly the obligation seems to have been restricted to young men. Dur the fifteenth century, this amuse-
 ment was very popular among the upper classes, and at many Euro
 pean courts. We see that in Charles Ills reign, married as well as single } people could be chosen.
 For some time back, the festival at least in England and Scotland- has ceased to possess the graceful 7 symbolic meaning it used to have, and has become a considerable nui-
 sance. The approach of the day
 is now heralded by the appearance I in the news dealers shop-windows of vast numbers of missives calculated : for use on this occasion, each gener- t ally consisting of a single sheet of ! post paper, on the first page of which is seen some rediculous-colore car
 feature of the male or female figure. i. with d few burlesque verses below.
 More rarely, the print is of a senti-
 mental kind, such as a view of Fly % mems altar, with pair undergoing % initiation into welded happiness be DO fore it, while Cupid futters above, % and hearts transixed with hls dart
 decorate the corners. Maid-servants 30 and young fellows interchange such DO cpistles with each other on the I4th % of February, no doubt conceiving % that the joke is amazingly good % and, generally. the newspapers dc cO not fail to record that the pos;-mer
 delivered so many thousand nor, on letters on that day than they do ir % general
 S9 The connection of the custom witt ST SJ St. Valentine is purely accidental a@o In the legends of the different saint. nt of that name recorded, nc trace O De tine practice peculiar to the 14th o ;'' February is found.
 to to In Bailey's Dictionary the follow
 ing explanation is given: 'Abou m this time of the year the birds choos he their mates, and probably thenc
 came the custom of the young mel
 and maidens choosing valentines O
 special loving friends on that day To- ADVERTISE in the HARALD.