National Republican., 1883-02-14
THE SENTIMENTAL SAINT,
Whose Memory will he Honorcd by Many
Tender Missivc To-Dny-Tho History
OF the Custom or Sending Valentines.

N Tender Missive To-Dny--Tho History
OF the Custom OF Sending Valentines.
Long years ago in the soft Ausonian cline,
IL was pretty custom of the Umbrian pco-
pies to put, at n certain season Of the year,
the names of the young virgins of the tribe
into box, whence they were drawn by the
young mon in sort of chance. That season
was the feast of the Lupercalia, the festival of
Pan, in the merry springtimc, when the voice
of the turtle was heard in the land and the
nightingacs mated by the Arno, the Tiber
and tho Trobbia. Tho young maiden
whose name was thus drawn, became the
partner of the young man whom chance
had favored with the selection, and together
they performed the ceremonies that this lin
goring remnant of Etruscan religious rites inn
posed upon them. In so spring.lilke q Gli-
mate and among so artless II people, this
pretty rite of the worship of personiiied ma
ture soon became so deeply rooted in their
souls that even the purifying discipline of
the Christian fathers failed to eradicate the
custom. With the cOnslynmato Practical
wisdom which seems to cling to every
thing Roman, even TO the name the early
Latin fathers determined to direct what
they could not destroy, and to convert
the last and most imprcgnable retreat of Pa
glnism into tho tenderest and most devout
shrine of Christianity. The Presbyter Valen-
tine, who must have been disciple of John
rather than of Peter, and whose heart as
suredly was very near TO its mother Nature, suf-
tercd martyrdom under the Emperor Clau-
dian, A. ID. 270, and shortly after death was
cannonizcd. As the date of his birth, his
death, or his canonniznton was in February,
the time when tho LuperCalia were Cele-
brated, the new saint was invested with these
prerogatives of Pan, which related to the
pairing of youths and madcns in religious
rites, and the transition from Pagan Office to
the 'tendcrest Of Christian customs, was
thencefOrth easy and assured.
And so these many centuries has the good
martyr Valentine, been the saint to whom all
Christian lovers pray. The practice of send
ing love tokens Is u very old one running
far back into the mists of the past. There
are traces of it to be found among the
jongleurs and troubadours of France, nor was
it unknown in ea rly days to the Celts and
Teutons of northern and western Europe
Just when the first fancy" valentines, in
the present sense of the term, were invented
is problem hard to solve. In this country,
however, Turner & Fischer of Philadelphia
about 1920 immortalized and enriched
themselves by new devices in SEN
timentai valentines, dainty triAe1 of
embossed and tinted paper and lace, which
are still remembered by old people. The prices
of the costliest of them ranged from $25 to
$50, and in few instances as high as 500.
That was the EZRA of good feeling" in politics
and the reign of the sentimental in art and
song. Tom MOOre's songs were sung in every
city with feeling and expression, and the fond
lover warbled "Oh! the heart that has truly
loved never forgets," as he mailed hisfantas-
tic concet Of lacework and paper to the idol
of an hour. Then when Seguin came and
set all America wild over the guitar and
nightly serenades, and George Patten wrote
his love songs, musical as flute notes, fragrant
as violets, sad as "tho days that are no
more with their passionate melancholy
then was the sentimental valentine pOrphy-
rogene indeed, and its brief but palpitating
reign rose-fushed to the very core. Brief
was its reign, and thS comic one usurped the
throne, coarse, vulgar, hdeous, disgracoful
But so tender an idea rs that contained in
the worship of st. Valentine could not long
r1main with incenie to IL gods as, ending
from its affairs, Pan could not long give way
to Vertumnus. Tho progress of decorative
art made the valentine thing of beauty, as
it was the symbol of a joy forever, and to-day
the mails are loaded with the most
exquisite and beautiful designs, original
in conception and marvellously lovely
in eXecutOn-tributes of humanity to its
holiest emotions, all the more earnest and
gushing and charming because for awhile
under the whitening spell of the twin demons
delicacy of thought and expression which has
made the Christmas and Easter cards of the
past few years such exquisite triumphs of art
is equalled, even surpassed, by the valentines
ofto-day The devices arc as numerous as in
dividual wishes, and as apt A tavorito form of
expression Is a female head of rare attractive
ness looking at you from the depths of n
daintily fashioned casllet, as from IL mullioned
oriel with smile realistic in its naturalness
yet wholly ideal in its beauty. Another
admired form Is book whose sillSen
pages and velvet covers unfold like
the convolutiOns of the morning glory
until in its inner recesses you behold an eN-
quisite gem Of art, as lovely and as radiant as
the deWdrop in the heart of the flower. The
advance in high artistic expression from the
most exalted forms of forty years ago is al
most immeasuTable. Nor are the prices want
ing in strict conformity with tho require
ments of tho age. From 81 to $50 will pur-
chase these lovely trifles, some of which might
teach grace to Guido and spirituality to Fra
Angelica. Dealers say that for the last ton
years the number of coarse valentines has
been decreasing until, during the present sea-
son, ninety-hve tasteful valentines are sold to
five of the coarse class-a revelation of the
valentine even more gratifying than the high
development in its artistic value.
For the Washington Light Infantry.
An enthusiastic meeting of the subcommit-
tee, No. 3, on contributions for the fair of the
Washington Light Infantry last evening at
the rooms Of the Washington Fair association.
p. IL. Christman, chairman; Granville f.
Hyde, secretary. After general discussion
n subdivision of committees was made as fol-
lows;
First district-from Fifteenth to Nineteenth
streets-Capt. p. l.. Rodier, chairman George
S, Kraft IL, l., Bscoe, NJ, Hebner, Charles
Klotz, Tyssowski Brothers, p. IL. Christman
John II, Haswell, j. O. Hieston, and Alex
ander II. Baldwin.
Second district-Nineteenth street to Rock
creek-J. Maury Dove, chairman; T. j. Lut-
troll, Henry PollSinhorn, w, II, @. Bayley,
W. g. Duckett, +. p. Hackney, and p, II.
Christman.
man A. b. Cropley, S. Il. Wheatloy, John NJ.
Waters, p. III. Christman, Charles Ii, Flick
ling, A. Hanlon, and Kengla Brothers.
Henry NNntterson DIned.