Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-02-14

their mates, and that, some mysterious in
| fiuence of the day extending to men, the
| first unmarried person one met of the OPP
posite sex was destined to become the
future wife or husband. Pepys says Feb
| ruary IA, 1862: 81 did this day purposely
shun to be seen at Sir w Batten's, because
/ would not have his daughter to be my
Valentine as she was last year, there being
no great friendship between us now as
| formerly. This morning in comes w.
Bower, who was my wife's Valentine, she
| having, at which | made good sport TO
myself, held her hands all the morning
that she might not see the paynters that
were at work in gliding my chimney-piece
and picture in my diningroom.'
A young miss, who signs herself Ara
| bella Whimsey, in a letter to the editor of
the Connoisseur, gives us a glimpse of some
of the curious and absurd practices con-
| nected with ST. Valentines day in her
| time. She appears TO have devoted her
| self to trying all manner of superstitious
| spells for the determining of love affairs,
and under date of February II, 1913,
writes: Last Friday, Mr.. Towne, was
| Valentines day, and I'll tell you what |
did the night before. l got five bay leaves
and pinned four of them to the four cor
ners of my pillow, and the fifth in the
middle, and then if | dreamt of my sweet
heart, Betty said we should be married
before the year was out. But to make it
more sure, | boiled an egg hard, took out
the yolk, and filed it with salt, and when
| went to bed ate it, shell and all, without
| speaking or drinking after it. We also
wrote our lovers names on bits of paper
and rolled them up in clay and put them
into water, and the first that rose up was
| to be our Valentine. Would YOU think
it? Mr.. Blossom was my man | Law
abed and shut my eyes all the morning till
he came to our house, for would not have
seen another man before him for all the
world"
Nilsson, who lived in the early part of
the last century, says in his travels in
England "On the eve of ST. Valentines
| land, by Il very ancient custom, celebrate
little festival. An equal number of maids
and bachelors get together: each writes
their true or some feigned name upon sepa-
rate billets, which they roll up, and draw
by way Of lots, the maids taking the mems
billets and the men the maids so that
each of the young men lights upon girl
whom he calls his Valentine, and each of
the girls upon a young man whom she
calls hers. By this means, each one has
| two Valentines, but the man sticks faster
| to the Valentine that has fallen to him
than to the Valentine to whom he has
fallen. Fortune having thus divided the
company into 50 many couples, the Nalen-
! tines give balls and treats to their mis-
I tresses, wear their billets several DAYS
! upon their bosoms or sleeves, and this lit
tie sport often ends in love-"
The notion that on Valentines day the,
birds choose their mates, seems to have
been popular, particularly in the rural
districts, and Chaucer, Shakespeare, Mer-
rick, Gay, and others allude to it.
The Princess Elizabeth, daughter of
James l., and grandmother of George l.,
was married on the 18th of February,
1914, to Frederick, Count Palatine of the
Rhine. DR.. John Dome, the divine and
poet, wrote a poem on the occasion, and, in
the opening lines, thus beautifully alludes
to the prevalent superstition:
Hail. Bishop Valentine, whose day this is
All the air is thy diocese,
And all the chirping choristers
And other birds thy parishioners;
1nOu maFryeSt every year
The lyric lark and the grave, whispering dove,
The sparrow that neglects his life for love:
The household bird with the red stomacher,
| Thou max ST the blackbird speed as soon
AS doth the goldfnch or the halcyOn-
This day more cheeriully than ever shine,
This day which might inAame thyself, old Val
entine.
One of the earliest known writers of
valentines was Charles, Duke of Orleans,
father Of Louis MI Taken prisoner at
the battle of Agincourt, he employed some
of the leisure of his captivity in England
in writing amorous poetical addresses
suited to the day. Drayton, contempo-
rary Of Shakespeare wrote charming
poem, ITO Ny Valentine two verses of
| which we quote:
Muse bid the morn awake;
Sad winter now declines,
Each bird doth choose mate
This days st. Valentines;
For that good bishops sake
Get up and let us see
What beauty it shall be
That fortune us assigns.
Each little bird this tide,
Doth choose her loved peer
Which constantly abide
In wedlock all the year
As Nature is their guide
SO may we, too be true
This year nor change for new
As turtles coupled were.
Il Elizabeth b. Sayres in Electra.