Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-02-06

You t4ach each little elf
More than you know yourself;
And talk like u pettieoat college;
YOa ike TO smack the boys,

| You preside at the seat OF knowledge.
The small pupil looks upon that as the
one sure and safe method of getting even
with his teacher for the merited punish
ment he may have received at her hands
Revenge is sweet. even in the infantlle
period, and no doubt many an aged maid
over whose pretty face full eleven suns
mers have passed, will be stricken with
fear and trembling when an unevenly d.
| rectcd envelope reaches her from under
the front door of her paternsl mansion,
one week from tomorrow morning, and
containing the loud colored and highly
rhythmical assertion that che is at least
numbered among the maids that are old {.
She has a shrewd suspicion that it has
been sent her by little ten>year. old John
ny Carrot, whose taffy and popcorn she
has discarded for the caramels of the
more mature youth, Arthur Antic, aged
fourteen. She only turns up her dear
little nose-a great strain on that already
retrousse teature-and shifts haughtily as
she reads under the dreadful picture;
AN OLD MAID.
Long years ago your char decayed,
You'll never get them back-old maid.
And when you show what new rem ins,
You're only laughed at for your paiDs
Your neck 80 scraggv. legs so thin.
Are shapeless as rolling pm;
While such II frightful chin and nose
Are only ut to fright0n crows.
She had anticipated something of the
sort, and duly provided therefor the day
before by sending Johnny valentine de-
picting youth with an abnormal head
and cigar to match, which, no doubt,
crushed him when he found that he be>
longed i'll the category of infant swells,
and was further alluded to as:
INFANT SWELL.
You little ape no bigger than ladle.
Go home, and get into your little cradle.
How care you, sir IL y0u res pect my nose.
Come from your home, without your swaddling
clOlhesy
These squibs, happily, generally speaks
ing, do no harm, and certainly cost but
little. Others there arc which are invar-
iably of an affectionately flattering char
acter. but they cost more. They go to
show that the demand for valentines is
steadily on the increase. Not only are
the paper lace affairs sold as largely as
in former years-indeed, Chicago man.
ufacturer says that while last season he
made up only 1900, this year his orders
have called for nearly thirty thousand
but higher grades are growing in favor.
The very finest of the new fashioned
valentines are made up in an I'm conceiv>
able number of styles. Every possible
object has been brought in for pictorial
display and imitation in form. Washing
tons hatchets in plush, Loves ladders in
silk. violins of the same material and lace,
and satin scent bags are among the nov
elites. The scent bags sell for 81 %, a
toboggan valentine with a tiny sled and
an entire landscape. is marked at So
cents. while a perfectly tame silk plush
owl mounted on drab quarter moon, in~
scribed Best Wishes" brings only So
cents IN the retail market Cupid-real
or initated-is high priced fellow, and
when surrounded by satin furbelows and
other gimcracks, is quoted at So %.
Another notion in valentines is a fully
ACQUIRED church, bell, big hinged door
and all, with vines running around its
messy tower. for So This last price
leads up to the even more expensive ones