News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-02-22
VALENTINE AND ORSON.
BY ESIAH SHELAG :


will do, more Of the coming fourteenth
ofFebruary than OF geometry orrhetoric
Sensible College was not Vassa
where girls could slide down the banis
teTs at their own sweet will, and no crit
cal Wills to detect them; here was co
education.
On heroines, Bessie and Tressie, were
two sunny-hearted seniors, and had beer
chums for the whole three and one-hal
years of their college life; in their class
were two of their ardent admirers; twir
cousins, the college girls called them
for three reasons; infeatures andform they
were almost fac,similes of each other
they were OF congeniaI tastes, and ar
IDENTIFY attached to one another.
St. Valentines Day was at hand
Not one Of these pretty girls but had
tested or similar occasions some one OF
the time-honored, whimsical methods
of guessing at the identity of that prob
able husband, who in lateryears becomes
the possible.
Now, an innocent-faced, faxen-haired
Freshie asks, ''What is St. Valentine s
Day truly celebrated for ?"
Because it Is this day, on which birds
do their wOoing or mating for the year, %
replied Tressie
Indeed it IS not: it Is in remembrance
of ST. Valentine, who in 27O befriended
the martyrs of Claudius, and in conse-
quence was beaten with clubs, and on
the fourteenth of February was beheaded
The Romish Church had a festival al
ready on February 18th, called FEB
rutH limo. and the clergy honored the
beheaded Valentine, by abolishing the
festival of the heather goddess and in
sitting the 14th to he fast day in its
place, said stately Portia Stanton, with
her usual assumption Of superior dignity
over her childish companions-so she
flncied.
.sOh. POrtia, that version Is horrible
It is sufficient TO spoil all our Valentine
hoics to think OF such an origin as tnat; .
I won't believe it, III go back to the
days Of Valentine and Orson, and swallow
both the bear and King Pepin first, and
that's bad enough"
Good for you, Bess; let's believe it
Is the day of the birds wooing. I say,
girls, let's try something new this year;
sending an anonymous love-letter with
two embossed paper birds pecking at
each otherbeneath it, is, or ought to be,
out of date.
"'They say that if -ou go walking
alone that the first man YOU meet will be
your Valentine, the man designed for
YOU in Heaven where matches are
made"
s'Oh, pshaw, we often go walking
along these village ways without meet
ing anybody, even the boys, for although
not made by the lIedes and Persians,
yet the law forbiIding exercise of boys
and girls at some hours is as unalterable
as if 1t We're.
'.WeIl, we may meet the butcher, If
no one else" said one maIciously.
Suppose We don't meet anybody %
asked another somewhat anxiously.
''Why, then, Of course you will he old
maids
ooh oh Horrors That's awful q
"WeT. but how ever can We manage
to get off alone We have to take om
daily walk as a body" murmred Es-
telIe Pinkerton.
'sWell, now, Miss Estelle, look before
you leap or rather speak. St. Yalen
tines dayis good enough to come Satur
day this year, and, best Of ali, girls
Saturday
"Now we often go straying off by
twOs and threes, and if we come bacl
one at a time nobody thinks of it, excep
maybe that one made some special cal
alone, or had more shopping to do thai
another. I'm so glad it comes our Satur
day"
Believers in co-education, yet the7
we're not permitted tOwalk together ever
when preceded and protected by a rea
guard of Argus-eyed teachers.
They had each alternate Saturday
p. m, off from 1 to o'clock.
'Why, 1 never thought Of it, but it i
so, how fortunate; I believe it is righ
for us to do SO or the way would not be
so clear for us. We can separate as soor
as we are out of sight of the teachers" "
Bessie and I shall not separate, saiG
Tressie, confidently.
Then how Will You know if you meet
anyone whether it Is your Valentine OF
hero ?" asked particular EsteIle.
cob, we will draw lots" answered
Bessie.
Probably kind, obliging Fate will
send both Valentine and Orson to meet
You inseparables, said Portia, IoftiIy.
St. Valentines dawned sunnilv, and
the girls hastened away the moment the
clock struck one, most of them village.
ward, for that way lay the confectionery
and millinery establishments. likewise
mostly what few chances there were O
seeing their Valentines.
Portia soon returned in silent disgust
without visiting the village at all. though
she actually needed both chocolat
creams, and new pink satin bow t.
wear at her throat at the coming Wed
nesday's social.
To Portals disgust she had soon me
the hook-nosed Jew who repaired watcl
cs and sold cheap ieweIry in the viIlag,
She knew that he was free, for he In
recently lost his wife, but that did II,
comfort her. strange to say.
Estelle PinBerton, the most fincal
all the girls had been fated to meet Il
5UtcHer; his linen frock not snowy
earlier in the week, but bearing Il
memoranda of the weeks labor; Hcr
was where the liver spattered him whe