St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-02-07
In These Degenerate Days the
February Saint Gets the
Worst Of 1t.
Goodly st. Valentine Must
Give Way to the March Of
Democracy.
Valentines Grew Common,
and Are Now Rapidly Pass
ing Into Disuse.
Some st. Paul Substitutes for
the Foolish Customs Of
the Past.

Every age produces its DesSimists
who see decay in all good things. The
Millerites ere only band of kindred
low-tide spirits, but the world didn't
come to an end after all. Marriage has
been declared failure, and there is an
increase in marrying and giving in
marriage. A London paper recently
made the discovery that there is a de-
cline in laughter, and straightway even
Nature wreathed herself in smiles to
refute so vile libel. So when L heard
the decree had gone forth that there
should be no more sentiment, all things
were to be reduced to rule and measure,
that romance was to give place
to realism, and the moon had
decided to betake her satellite
self off to some gentler sphere
l smiled in skeptical way, and said as
long as the world ways lovers Will WOO.
Was l mistaken? The holiday which is
marked in crimson or the calendar as
belonging exclusively to lovers is soon
to be upon us. Years ago the shops
were full of trifes to allure the pennies
from the pockets. Every one gave and
received valentines, and young men and
maidens, old men and children, yea.
even wives and Sweethearts, haunted
the shops for weeks before Feb IA.
Then the heart palpltations as the white
packet was opened and the wondering
who could have sent it, for only the
young man who was desperately afraid
the other fellow would get the credit
put his initials inside the envelope
where she would find them. All this
is changed now. The small boy still
sends those hldeous caricatureS called
comic, but the shopkeepers order much
smaller quantities of Sentimentalities.
and the mails, which used to
be burdened past measure, no
tice the difference not at ALL
Adonis no longer remembers Venus
with valentine, and why? Because
Sambo sends Sallie one. Democracy is
strong in our land. stronger than ever
as '92 creeps along, but Adonis pre-
serves aristocratic ideas concerning
himself. He would really like to send
Venus a love remembrance; it is
quaint custom, you know; but in these
days, when fustian bears a close re-
semblance to broadcloth, when the
dime has purchasing power equaling
in appearance the dollar through the
silver alchemy of the inventor and mau-
ufacturer, there must be something to
distinguish them from the cook and the
coachman, and Adonis decides if it can
not be acts of commission it shall
be omission. So Venus gets no
valentine, and she signs a little
as she looks over the queer,
quaint ones grandma has preserved and,
wanton like, thinks republics aren't
success; a rigid system of castles best ap-
peals to her feminine soul, provided
only she is near the top. So Sambo and
Sallie are happy over their ribbon and
paper lace connection; sensible John
and Mary do just as they see fit, and
Venus and Adonis bear the scant con-
ISOLATION that they are strictly de riguer.
How 1t Began.
The original of this festival is lost in
the Dark Ages, but somewhere there
was good Bishop Valentine who was
noted for his deeds of charity, and par
tlcularly favored young men and maid
ems. All the world loves lover. and it
isn't known where the good bishops
diocese was. Like the scenes in
Arabian Nights" and" Hans Anderson"
it is how in the realm of speculation
and the Saints picture is hung in the
gallery along with Friar Tuck and the
archbishop of Granada. His rule as
diocesan now is world wide, and what
ever may be the indistinctivenesS of his
figure in the past, it is a much more
plausible one than that of grim old
Gregory VII, Pope Hildebrand. Where
ever shepherd tells his tale, under the
hawthorn, in the dale" there this high
priest of love sets up his confessional.
The associations of this day have fur
niShed theme for many song and story.
Scott has made it the main thread run
ming through his tale of 1.-The Fair
Maid of PERTH" for in We olden time the
first one of the opposite sex you saw on
the morning of st. Valentine would be
your valentine for the whole year, and
many and daring were the devices by
which the cavalier sought the first
glimpse of his fair one. The Bard of
Avon makes the gentle Ophelia present
herself at Hamlet's window to be his
valentine, and strongly suspect it was
the thought of this holiday which in
spired Lord Tennyson to pen his we'll
known lines beginning I'm the spring."
1t is the time when heavens marriage
ring is round the earth, the doves are
billing and cooling, the SUMS warm rays
tempt out the flowers, and it certainly
shows that Adonis is trying to thwart
nature by not yielding to the influence
Of the season. He Feed not send Venus
one of these concoctlonS of frayed rib
bon, paper lace. tinsel and sentimental
verses. Let him exercise his ingenuity
and his inamOrata will prize it the more
highly, partly because she can be so
sure Sambo never could have designed
or chosen it.