Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-02-12
st. Valentines Day.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE DAY AND IT'S PREF.
TY CUSTOMS.

sSAD AAAN0 AoOOI THE DA1 AND PRET-
TY CUSTOMS.
Among the days specially honored in the
calendar with the names of their own is
that OF st. Valentine, although history fails
to inform us'why the 14th day of February
should be houored as st. Valentines Day.
No connection of the day with any of the
legends of saints of that name is found in
the "Arcta Sactorum," but so it ia. and
long established usage has confirmed it's
right to the title, though its observance is
fast becoming thing of the past.
We have in our day no feast of St. Val
entine, as did the merry people of ancient
times in the old country. Jubilant ooca-
sions for the youth of those days they must
have been How the interest must have
eliminated in the drawing of the valentines
when to each participant in the game was
awarded by lot the name of some person of
the opposite sex, who was then regarded as
his or her valentine for the ensuing year
Suitable gifts, such as sweetmeats, bon
bons, trinkets and the like were interchang-
ed, and to each brave lad belonged the priv
ilege of escorting his fair valentine to the
various gatherings, festivities and merry
makings which should intervene for a
twelve month. Certainly in those times st.
Valentines Day held fivors not to be dis
pretty much the same the world over, it
may be surmised that the valetiDe dra~ing
must have been attended with considerable
anxiety, and. perhaps, even little harm
less stratagem may have been resorted to
10 mating the valentines.
Gone are the old time bachelors and
maideos, rhe valentines of other days, but
in memory of them still fingers the pretty
sentiments of valentine gifts or favors, as
witness the Thousand and one charming
devices. yalentiees se-called, which begin
TO throng our shop windows and counters
soon after the holiday season, replacing the
beautiful Christmas and New Years cards
and leaflets.
In these days when, as some one has sa-
tiricalv observed, referring to the almost
universal craze for decoration, ''even our
almanacs and calendars are works OF art"
it is no wonder we have valentines of the
very daintiest sort and design.
The sending of the valentine is, of course,
shrouded in mystery, and this fact is allud-
ed to in the inscription, as
"A message of love from the heart of a friend,
'On Valentines Day venture to send.
The name of the sender secret shall be,
Unless thine hearts whisper reveal it to thee"
Many of the Inscriptions are limitations
time valentine, as the following, which may
bs preservation of some quaint old lines
and have done a similar duty scores OF
years ago:
80 Ladye air, before thy shrine
Behold this doubling heart OF mine!
If hope of myne
Meet wish of thyme,
pray thee for thy valentine"
And so on, ad infiuitum, rnn their greet
ings. and not to be forgotten in this coDlec-
tion, are the comic valentines.
Who has not at some time or other recslv
ed one of these two penny sheets, hideous
with daubs of colors and doggerel rhymeo
What perfect delight in their startling ar
ray of pictorial talent is afforded the mis-
chievous school-boy He has only to maze
a choice aud select the victim.
Yet harmless fun after all and innocent
amusement is that invoked by t.Valentiue.