The Washington critic., 1890-02-14
ST. VALENTINES DAY.
IT IS USHERED IN IN A MOIST AND
STORMY MANNER.
Lovers Spirits Receive Damper-
Cupid's Patron SalDS Becoming
Unpopular--Dealer Complain of
the Poor Sale of Valentines.

Lovers Spirits Receive a Damper-
Cupid's Patron SalBs Becoming
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Complain of
the Poor Sale of Valentines.
A love SO fond and true,
A heart of honest truth,
J send, dear one, TO you
An humble gift, in sooth
What happiness would I'LL my breast
If you would but put my love TO test
A thick black bank of threatening
clouds arose slowly and sluggishly over
the eastern horizon in place of the
warm face of Old Sol this morning
and frowned down upon the District of
Columbia. Like shadowy octopus II
stretched out its long tendril.like arms
over the broad eXpanse of still gray
sky until the heavens were shrouded
as if by veil of mourning. Then q
driving rain began to fall, and ST. Val
entine's Day was fairly ushered in--the
one day in the year when gallant beaux
and pretty, rosy checked sweethearts
commemorate the birth of the lover
saint.
In the olden days, when formalities
were unknown and the young swain
and blushing sweethearts gave them
selves over to unadulterated enjoyment
and pleasure, st. Valentines Day was
looked forward to as the time when
mirth and merriment reigned supreme.
AS the years rolled by and old Father
Time swung his keen-bladed scythe
round and round over the universe, old
customs disappeared and new ones
sprung up in their places. Some were
uprooted and died, but the bulbs of st.
Valentines Day were nourished by the
lover oifsprings of the pretty sweet
hearts of old folk lore, and to-day the
little sprays shoot up, green and
pretty.
The day has changed, though. The
fight for supremacy, for wealth and
riches by the people of to-day, has in q
wonderful measure swallowed up many
Of the old.time pleasures and with them
is rapidly disappearing good old st.
Valentines Day. Probably it is for
this reason that the day is in mourning.
That the custom of sending these
little tokens of love is yearly going to
the wall was never more clearly demon
stratcd than to-day. Dealers through
out the District claim that never in the
history Of the day has there been such
a poor demand for valentines.
There was time" said a well
known dealer on Ninth street, "when ]
sold valentines by the hundreds. Sew.
eral years ago young lovers would
think nothing of spending So for an
deliberately decorated valentine for his
lady love, but gradually the demand
has fallen off until during the past
week have not had more than dozen
calls for expensive valentines. The
| demand has been almost eX.
clusively for cheap ones fol
children. The older lovers appear to
have come to the conclusion that it is
folly to invest their money simply to
follow out pretty well worn out Gus.
| tom. 1t has almost come to be a chill
dren's day, the older lovers seemingly
feeling that there are so many new and
modern ways of expressing their af.
lection other than sending to theil
sweethearts love sick poetry.
There are but three wholesale man
ufacturers Of valentines left now aud
they have resorted to every known de
vice to keep up the demand by introduc
ing all sorts of unique and pretty de
signs to attract attention. Plush
covered albums, with gilded inscrip
lions, valentines of mother of pearl
with elaborate hand painted dec
orations, and silver and gold valen
tines have all had their turn
but, like doctoring a dying horse, i
causes temporary animation and theT
lapses into even more quietness.
will be only matter of a very few
years when st. Valentines Day among
the older people will be pleasan
Renaissance of the past.
1.-THE children will keep it up TO
years, though, and the old lace valen
tine, which sells for five cents, and ha
not been changed in design for twenty
five years, will probably be in demand
for many years. The comic valentine
have had their day, and now the onl,
demand for them springs from the low
and unrefined classes.
Notwithstanding the great falling OF
in the demand for valentines, and con
sequently the number Of letters sen
through the postoflice, the increase il
the mails for the past few days has beef
astonishing. In fact, the old death
trap at Sixth street and Louisian
avenue has bren undergoing
perfect siege. 1t simply showed, it wa
said, the absolute inadequacy of tn
structure for carrying the mails. TIL
distributing room is so small and ding
that even with the falling off in tn
sending of valentines many lovers an
sweethearts will be compelled to wa
maybe two days before they receiv
4 ~