The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-02-14
A SAINTS PRANK.
Carrie Careless Tells ofst. Valentines
Way.
Copyright

(CoDWight)
NEW York, Feb. I3.-Valentines are
provided for all. Like the rain.
/ they may descend upon the just and
upon the unjust. They are to be found in
every style and every variety.
"Sally in our alley" finds a little niece OF
colored paper, with, perhaps. a decalcoma-
mia pasted upon it, very beautiful in her
sight.
The tough girl who has outgrown the joys
which interest Sally in our alley, and who is
what Sally will probably become in time,
/ finds the comic VALENTINE more TO her taste
| than the pretty piece of colored paper. and
she reads the rough jests and the bald joke
/ with great zest.
Uptown, Miss Silverspoon, who doesn't
believe in valentines. but who is fond OF
mementoes. feasts her eyes upon the satin
| cushion which has been sent her with the
best wishes OF the day, and languIdly turnt
the memento bracelets and rings which
| have come from her half a hundred girl
| friends
Beautiful valentine souvenir spoons are
| seen, and they are out of the ordinary run
| of spoons, In that the end of the handle is in
the form of a cupid, and oupids chase each
| other round the twisted wire of which the
handle is formed. In the bowl of the spoon
| fancy letters give forth the legend, The
| SaInt of Love-" and upon the revers OF the
| owl there are engraved the initials Of her
| who gives the spoon and her who takes IL.
Very few people go through with the old
| form Of valentine sending. and there Is little
use. then, for the display Of the fancy coll
ored paper with the pretty verse within and
| figures done in fancy paper work upon the
| outside. But ever so many people who have
not permitted themselves TO grow hard and
unsentimental love to remember the day by
some little token to indicate that st. Valen-
tine has left traces of bic love In their
| hearts.
Perhaps you have heard the legend Of st.
| Valentine, but IL you have not, here 1t Is In
| as small a nutshell as such a saint could
| we'll be condensed:
| The good saint lived so long ago that In
| those days there was no president to rule
| his actions. nor was there Mckinley bill
to raise the price upon his furs.
Instead OF that, st. Valentine had an em-
peror to rule him, and the emperor, whose
name was Claudius, became very jealous OF
St. Valentine, or Father Valentine, as he
| was then called. And one day Claudius
cut Father Valentines head off, and ban
ished his remains, so that nobody should
| know that he had been beheaded.
"Now, why did Claudius do thisF you
ask. Well, he did 1t because Father Valen+
tine became so great a favorite with the
young people that Claudius was not in their
affections at all.
but how did Valentine make himself
y
how indeedl How do you supposed How
| does any man or woman either, for that
matter. become solid with young peoples
Why, by helping along their love affairs,
to be sure, and by giving them every oppor'
| tuuity TO be alone aud talk 1t over.
Now, Father Valentine was born match
maker and he was always busy making
matches. If he saw two young people look
ing at each other with sheepish eyes he cast
his toga over his head and sat still, never
stirring for five minutes.
II young couple we're doing little love.
making before his eyes, the dear old priest
| would say his beads and let them go on in
| their innocent and natural enjoyment
And 80 Father Valentine got himself dis.
liked by the Emperor Claudius, and after
Claudius had cut his head off the young peo-
pie canonized him and, upon the good old
saints birthday, would exchange little love
tokens, just to keep his memory green.
The yo ung people who had known st.
| Valentine when on earth told their children
| about him In after years and their children
told their children's children, and so 1t has
come down TO US through many children OF
| children.
Do not, then, despise the little bit Of
| sentiment which prompts people TO remem-
| Der each other on Valentines day, because
| Of all the festivals Of the year it is the one
which plays most sweetly upon the heart.
| strings Of all.
In the postoffice one sees many maiden
| and many a matron, many young man
and many a BANKER stopping for a moment
| in front Of the parcel window to drop in
package, all too precious TO be intrusted to
the careless hands OF messenger and office
| boys.
A vale tine that had been delayed fifty
years came to light the other day, up in one
of the old country seats on
valentine had been bought by
some one in the long ago. and had been out
| in the pocket OF a dress suit to be presented
by hand to fair young woman who was
expected to arrive to grace the festive gath.
ering which was to assemble to celebrate
the birthday of the saint Of love.
The young woman was detained. In those
| days there were not the quick railways that
there are now and the snow was heavy and
| 50 the Tarrytown mansion-for it was at
old Tarrytown, the home of Washington IT.
| ving-did not see the fair coun enance of
the one who was To receive the valentine
| token. The envelope was put, all sealed in
| the pocket of the velvet coat worn by the
gallant one who had hoped to present the
| token of his esteem.
And SO it had lain forgotten, packed away
in an old trunk, until an overhauling by
some merry-makers who were filling the
! old mansion with old-time gayetv, brought
the coat to light and delivered the valentine,
all addressed, to the old woman who should
have lad 1t fifty years ago, when she was
| young girl
There were tears over the valentine, az
well as smiles. and the quaint verse with its
| old-fashIoned lettering. made the gay party
| laugh until the tears came, and they Vert
| not far off.
Ii is the girls In this progressive age whe
do mucnof the giving. The young men do
OF course. the greater part of it, but it ii
not considered womanlY for a girl to make
her admirers presents of small mementoes.
and, therefore, the girls go the full latitude
| which is allowed in this direction.
In sending valentine mementoes, the dear
girls usually prefer to disguise their hand.
writing, because a valentine gift is a love
gift, and no mistake aboutit Aud so, with
papa's stub pen in hand and one of Jacks
big plain envelopes, thay direct the little
token which carries with it the pretty little
message which no man, who is a man at all,
would misconstrue or take advantage of.
About year ago Bridget, who works in
Mrs. Somebody's kitchen, found her long.
lost Irish lover by means of valentine.
| Poor. simple-minded Bridget had bought
the prettiest colored valentine she could
afford, and then. putting it Ia fancy val-
entine envelope, had it directed to:
Mr.. PATRICK McGINNIs,
| Somewhere in Americkv.
ghaL f,aax AhokA III