Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-02-09
SAINT VALENTINE.
Something About the Patron of the
Fourteenth Of February.

Something About the Patron Of the
Fourteenth Of February.
HE MAY NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CUSTOM
OF SENDING VALENTINES, FOR THE PRACTICE
Is SAID TO HAVE HAD ITS ORIGIN IN AN OLD
PAGAN FESTIVAL.
Saint Valentine, according to some ecclesi-
astical writer's, was bishop, while others assert
that he was presbyter, but they agree that he
was beheaded at Rome in the year 270, during
the reign Of the Emperor Claudius, and was
soon after canonized. A STAR man, in looking
up the history of this venerable saint, has
found that he was said to have been man of
eminent piety and $50 famous for his love and
charity that the custom of choosing Valentines
on his festival took its rise from thence" If the
practice of exchanging valentines, or messages
OF affection, arose from the observance of the
festival of this saint, the old gentleman is re-
sponsible for much blighted affection and
many blasted hopes. True he can comfort
himself in the knowledge that many happy
pairs nave been mated through the medium Of
valentine, and have lived thereafter long and
useful lives. But they are like the good who
need no repentance, while those who have had
tner dispositions soured and their lives made
barren waste by the failure of some one to
SEND them tender valentine or by the receipt
OF one Of those carricaturistic monstrosities
known as a comic valentine, even though the
sender intended only HARMLESS fun, are the
BLACK sheep who need repentance but never re-
pent As the ponderosity of evil is greater
than good. the old saint must feel that he is
having second edition Of purgatory when he
contemplates the vast amount of misery that
has had its origin on the 14th of February.
IN JUSTICE TO ST. VALENTINE,
however, who from all accounts was a very
worthy man, it should be said that although
his name has been given to the one day in the
year when the postal revenues are greatly in
creased by the transmission Of messages of
love or evidences Of hate, the custom probably
took Its rise from practice prevalent in
ancient Rome at the festival of the Lupercalia
during the month of February when, among
other ceremonies, the names of young women
were placed in a box from which they were
taken by young men as chance directed This
Louisiana lottery way of disposing of the sur
plus young women of Rome worked well in
some cases and in some it did not turn out so
well. The Augurs insisted that this method of
procedure was directed by the gods but the
young men who drew women with shrewish or
vixenish dispositions believed that the neither
deities directed the selection. Whether the
young men who drew the names from the box
were chosen by lot or whether they were
drafted for that purpose as young men are
now conscripted for the army is not known,
but it is reported that those who got bad bar
gains used to anathematize the box, and that
from this arose the expression which is used
even in these times:
'.IN A BAD Box"
The early fathers of the church looked upon
this method Of marrying as a sort Of free
love affair. and of course could not counte.
nance it. They tried at first to extirpate this
pagan ceremony, but finding that impossible
they proceeded to change its form. They ar
ranged it 50 that on the eve of the l4th OF Feb
rpary the names OF a select number of one sex
should be put into some vessel by an equal
number Of the other sex, and then every one
drew a name, which, for the time being. was
called his or her valentine. This it will be seen
gave those preparing the names an opportunity
to select those particularly pleasing to them.
and as the coupling was but for a day, it could
not lead to any uncomfortable results. II was
a sort Of mock betrothal and the pairs made by
chance furnished great amusement to those
who witnessed the drawing. The drawing was
always supervised by the local magnates Of the
place where the festival was celebrated and
as will readily be understood. every ticket was
prize, like the grab-bag of a church fair. In
deed. some historians insist that this was the
origin Of the church fair. although this trans
action was much more fair than many that
nave been witnessed at some OF the fairs in
recent days. The young people who drew and
who were drawn were greatly envied by their
associates and high honors were paid to them
Frequently these valentinarin couples became
genuinely attached to each other and then
they took the chances Of married life. Some
times when young mans luck was against
him and he didn't draw the name of the eirl
that he wanted. he would trade off the one he
did get for the one whom he desired and then
all would be well. 1t is not impossible that
the modern practice of trading candidates on
the day OF election had its origin in the above
practice.
ANOTHER ALLEGED ORIGIN
Of Valentines day is said to be that birds were
supposed to select their mates on the 14th Of
February. Shakespeare gives hint of this in
Midsummer Nights Dream" when he saws:
Saint Valentine is past; begin these wood
birds but to couple now" The Poet Walton
gracefully refers to this tradition as follows.
Now all nature seem'd in love- and the birds
had drawn their valentines"
Whatever its origin the celebration of St
Valentines day is very ancient. and the oh
servance has increased with the advance in
intelligence and culture. In Shakespeare
time 1t was the custom to send presents of
gloves, garters and jewelry, and he recognized
the sway that Cupid had on that day by max
ing poor Ophelia in her insanity tell her affec-
ton for Hamlet as follows:
Tomorrow is st Valentines dsy
All in the morning betime,
IA And nd = maid AID a your window
In doing this Shakespeare followed the
scientific theory that the uppermost thouehts
IN the mind always find extravagant expression
In cases OF insanity. Ophelia's love for Ham
let was her one absorbing passion and her
grief at finding that the affection of the prince
which she was once sure was hers. had been
diverted. was the principal cause Of her in
sanity, though her fathers untimely death
was, perhaps, the Immediately exciting cause.
TOM HOODS SONNET.
All poets in all ages have sung the praises ~
st. Valentine and his festival, but no more
dainty tribute has ever been paid than IN the
following sonnet by Tom Hood:
No popular respect will I owe IL
To do the honor on this happy dav
When every loyal lover tasks his wit
his simple truth In studious rhymes 10 nav
And 70 MS mistress dear his hopes CONVEX
Rather than know IL would still outrun
All calendars with Loves, whose date alWav
Thy bright eyes govern better than the ann
For with thy favor was my life begun:
And stu reckon on from smiles to smils.
And not by summers, for thrive on none
But those thy cheerful countenance corn nile.
Oh II IL be 70 choose and call thee mins
Love, thou art every day my valepdna
Wanted-ANew Word.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.