The evening world., 1889-02-14
IS CUPID GETTING TIRED ?
GOOD ST. VALENTINES DAY NO LONGER
WHAT 1T WAS.

Not n Single Extra Postmun Is Needed To-
Day TO Deliver Loves special Missiyes
in New York-In the Country mt Large,
However, the Old Custom sill Has
Populnrity-words from Dealers.
Whether Cupid has tired of shooting the
Manhattan preserves, or Love has grown
blasc in the humdrum of life in this big
town. depouent saith not, but it is a fact
that the commemoration of the festival of st.
Valentine by the interchange of dainty and
more or less poetic illusions on scented paper
and in bespanglcd envelopes and disguised
handwriting is going out of fashion in New
York.
The climax of the popularity of the fad
was reached in 1888. when it was necessary
for the Post Office to work every available
man infhe service in disposing of the mail of
Love to Dove.
The decline of the custom of sending val
entines began with the next year, 1884, and
has steadily continued, till to-day there is
not an extra man on the postal force of car
riers. though there are perhaps twenty-five
Thousand other pieces of mail to handle.
The day is being celebrated in the old and
merry way in the country at large, however.
as the books of the wholesale houses show.
Agent Searle, of the Whitney Company, of
Worcester, Mass. was in a gleeful mood when
an EVENING WORLD reporter called upon him
to-day.
The factory had a N output of $3.50, 900
worth of the dainty messages of Love this
year" he said, rubbing his hands, land the
lace valentines have not sold so well in years.
As to fringes, which are said to be going out
of fashion, we have put out 2, 600. 900 of them,
ranging in prices TO the buyer from 8 to rs
cents.
Booklets. illustrated in hand painted
W alter colors and teeming with joyous rhyme
and amorous sentiment, have been the
thing. We have put out half q million one
cent valentines alone, and they are prettier
and neater than the tive-centers of ten years
ago.
"A new style called the metaline has
jumped into immediate popularity. 1t con-
sists of a leahet on fancy boards. with a
water color framed and inscribed III metal.
The house has employed $50 to 400 girls
for the past six months ut the factory, and we
have not had SO prosperous a year in a long
time
The Prang valentines, each a work of art,
have run more than ever to satin goods in
bleeding hearts, sachets, booklets, ~tanciful
bouquets, hand mirrors, which reflect my
Valentine and dainty love songs set to
music, all adorned with oil or water color
hand painted designs. Knots and silk cords
have abounded, but never a fringe"
Comics" said James Leach, who has
purveyed to amorous swains these thirty
years from his Nassau street store. - are
gone out of fashion, l am thankful to say. |
have had none this year, and no call for
them. My Prangs run from five cents to IS
each, and are as popular as ever. The quaint
and nsthetically colored English valentines
of Marcus Ward & Co., Belfast and Lon
don, so much the rage for a year or two, no
longer appeal to public favor. The firm has
stopped making them, and they are no more.
The sale of valentines as compared with other
years has not been good. Love is dying out
or is proving more demure and dignified."
The Mclaughlin Bros factory at Will
iamsburg has turned out an almost ndles
variety and a prodigious number of valen-
tines this year, those which give the receiver
n delightfully."- romantic glimpse of sentiment
through the deftly interviewer meshes of
paper lace being especially pretty.
The competition in the valentine trade has
forced an abandonment of the old custom OF
sending the goods to everybody ON commits
sion and a profit of 300 per cent. on the sales.
Nowadays the goods are sold like any Other
line, for cash and at a moderately reasonable
discount of profit to the retailer.
The Scottish Rite Hall, Madison avenue
and Twenty-ninth street, will be the scene
to night of n st. Valentines revel, partici.
pated IN by the Mobiles of the Mystic Shrine
and their ladies. Among the Mobiles are In.
spector Williams, Capts. Grant, Eakins anG
Westervelt, Gus Williams. George Thatcher.
George Primrose, Billy West, Harry Miner
Tony Pastor, Nat Goodwin and Rosenquest