Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1881-02-13
ST. DAY.
Its origin and Observance I'm the
Past.

LIS Ortgtn ana Observance In the
Past.
Tomorrow is st. Valentine Day, and al
ready the Postofice is burdened with the
missives the occasion calls forth. st. Val
entine is a popular saint. Tradition has il
that more than sixteen centuries ago he was
a kindly priest, who delighted in tying the
knot matrimonial. His disposition was SO
benevolent and his amiability so widely
known, that his memory was endeared to
succeeding generations. 1t is said that aft.
erwards, in his honor, the maidens chosen
at the ancient festival of the Lupercalia
were called by the young men who chose
them their valentines" The Church
subsequently frowned down the practice,
and it remained for the British Isles to per-
petuate a custom which thus became dear
to all who-are young and to many who are
not. We read Of the early English prac-
tice, that when the maidens and bachelors
met together, each one wrote on a slip Of
paper the name Of another person of the
opposite sex. The mems names were put
into one box, the girls names into another,
~ a QICW q udIut lIUIu tuS pIOptID OA,
and then called the name of the person SO
called as his or her valentine. Then the
men gave balls or treats to their valen-
tines, wearing the ballots or billets by
which they had chosen them on their
breasts or sleeves. The temporary tie,
thus begun in sport, frequently became at
once permanent and serious. During the
reigns in England Of the members Of the
house OF Stuart the custom of choosing
valentines was not confined to the bache-
Tors and maids, nor to persons of low de-
gree, for the garrulous Pepys tells us that
Miss Stuart, afterwards Duchess Of Rich
mond, drew the Duke of York, who after
wards became James III, for her valentine,
and was presented by him with a jewel
worth $4,000, and the same fortunate
young lady, o. another occasion, drew
Lord Vaudeville, and received from him q
ring worth So, 200. 1t was long the con-
ceit that st. Valentines Day was the day
on which the marriage Of birds was con-
tracted. Drayton says:
Each little bird this tide
Doth choose her loved peer.
And Donne wrote at the time Of the mar
riage Of the Princess Elizabeth to Count
Palatine on st. Valentines Day, 1864, a
marriage from which Queen Victoria is de-
scended
And all the chirping choiristers,
And other birds, are thy Pensioners
Thou marryist every year
The lyric lark and the gray whispering dove,
The sparrow that neglects his life for love.
The missives which lovers in olden
days sent to one another, and which were
filed with complimentary imagery and
fervent love-making, came to be called
valentines" and from these ornate and
iattering descriptions of maidens, as they
appeared in their lovers eyes, came the
la~ce-adorned pictures of Cupid, and the
grotesque caricatures which now make life
a burden to every letter carrier on, before
and after the 14th Of February. 1t was
once The fashion for noblemen to excel in
V~alentinian poetry, and one of the most
distinguished writers of valentines was
Charles, Duke OF Orleans, who, by the
way, used his sword with less effect than
his pen, for he was taken prisoner at Agin-
court by young King Henry Of England,
who was himself an expert in the affairs Of
Cupid and St. Valentine. OF late years
valentines have fallen very much beneath
their former level. They have not been
tender and amatory, nor truly poetical
and courteous; the people who have writ
ten them have not been French Dukes,
nor have their recipients in the main been
'ladies Of high degree" Yet, human ma
ture remains what it ever was, and it is the
same in the country school girl as in the
high born and ho~t-house-bred belle Of the
city; in each heart there is that "one touch
Of nature" that 'makes the whole world
kim" Love has dominated the highest,
no less than the lowest Of our race, and
while warm blood continues to flow in
the veins OF each one OF US 80 long will
affairs Of the heart continue to be the
highest, noblest and best of human
themes. We may pretend to be cold to all
such softer influences, but the pretense
either betokens a falsehood or a callous
heart that has no place in the great econo-
my Of human affairs.
Valentines, If less poetical, are at least
more natural Than in days Of yore. II
written in a less exalted style, they are at
least more real, more genial, and express
sentiments that come nearer from the
heart. That they are more commonplace
is true. Instead Of the high-lown compli-
ment, and its answering couplet, we have
such sentiments as these from the maid to
the bachelor:
In vain, great calf, your boots you shine;
Just bet you amt my valentine.
And from the swain to his mistress
Your charms no longer I'll embrace
hate your speckled, turnip face.
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