Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-02-14

Hts Origin. History and Observance
Briefly Stated.

SENDING VALENTINE.
I might begin, THE rose is red
CIhougn that is not so very new,
Or this the boys all think is good:
If you love me as l love you
But-seems to me-a valentine
Is nicer. when you do not say
The same old things that every one
Keeps saying ia the same old way.
And asked Jane, the other night.
What grown-up people write about.
She would not answer me at first.
But laughed till began TO pout.
That stopped her. for she saw l meant
The question land she will not teaSe)
"Why-love," she said land shining eyes,
KISS soft hair-iust what they please"
1t can't be hard. if that is all,
So III begin by saying this:
To my dear lady beautiful.
/ send a valentine and kiss
The valentine because she has
The lovelieSt hair and gentlest eyes;
The kiss, because love her more
Than any one beneath the skies:
Because she is the kindest. best,
The sweetest lady ever known:
And every year I'll say the same,
The very same, to her alonel
There Now it's finished Who will do?
I've thought of one and then another.
Who is there like it? Why. of course
III send it right away to Mother
To-day is ST.. Valentines day. and thous-
ands Of sealed and anonymous messages of
love and satire and fun will burden the
mails. The display In the show windows
OF the book stores and news depOts is nm.
suslly large and varied, and In fact, we have
not in years seen such a varied assortment
In our city. The number and excellence of
designs In Christmas, New Years and Eas-
ter cards which have appeared within the
last few years have revived this ancient
custom OF gallantry and lifted it above the
interchange OF comic and often coarse mes
sages into an expression Of the purest senti-
ment.
The origin of Valentines dsv is lost ir
antiquity, and can now be only speculatively
fixed. One theory is that It sprang from
the ancient Roman festival OF the Luper-
Gala, celebrated on February Is This was
at first shepherds invocation to the God
Of Fertility. As young Rome grew the fes-
tival became general among all classes. and
college OF priests especially devoted tn the
service of the god was established. When
the Christian Church gained power an effort
was made to abolish the heather feasts,
which by that time had become a mere
expression OF gsllantry; but this proving
vain. the date was changed to the birthday
OF St Valentine, February IA. This saint
was canoniZed soon after his execution bv
order OF the Emperor Claudius about go.
He was Christian Bishop, and he was mad e
the patron of the day because OF the loving
charity Of his character. Another theory is
that the festival, in its essential it not in
its precise date, is as old as the human race,
being sn expression of the vernal impulse
common to all living beings, and which
Tennyson sings In the familiar lines:
In the spring livelier iris changes on the bur.
nished dove
In the spring the young mans fancy lightly
turns to thoughts of love.
References to the mating OF birds in the
spring and to the feelings of love which
thrill the breast at the season when nature
wakes from her winter sleep are scattered
through all literature back to the earliest
times. Catullus, in particular, has a charm
ing lyric on the impulses of spring, which Is
curiously like the opening lines of Chaucer's
prologue:
Whanne that Aprille with his showers swote
The droughte of March hath perced to the
roote,
And smalle fOules maken meiodie,
That slepen all NIGHT with open eye.
ITS ANCIENT OBSERVANCE.
The ceremonies of what is now st. Valen-
tines day, In this view, became the express
sion OF great human passion, coexistent
with the race. Valentine was made its
patron, and fits date was fixed by his birth
day, s'mDly because his name is equivalent
of gdldntiH, French for "gallant." This de-
rivation is quite reasonable, for like change
is found In "vsliantn and "gallant" both
from the Latin Vd'enS The theory of the
origin from the Lupercal has in its favor,
however, the fact that It became a custom
for Roman lads and maidens to write their
names upon tablets, which were drawn by
lot from a box, and the couples thus
thrown together were supposed to
be devoted to each other for a
certain period. A like ceremony, accord
ing to Nilsson, a learned traveller of the
early part of the last century, had been an
ancient custom among the young folks Of
Epglsnd and Scotland, on the eve Of st.
Valentines day. He says: Gan equal
number OF maids and bachelors get together;
each writes their true or some feigned
name upon separate billets, which they roll
up and draw by way of lots, the maids
taking the young mems billets, and the men
the maids; so that each of the young men
lights upon girl that he calls his Ud'entine
and each of the girls upon young man
whom she calls hers. By this means each
has two valentines; but the man sticks fas-
ter to the valentine that has fallen to him
than TO the valentine to whom he has fallen.
Fortune having thus divided the company
into so many couples, the valentines give
balls and treats to their mistresses. wear
their billets several days upon their bosoms
or sleeves, and this little sport often ends
in love-"
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