The Washington times., 1895-02-12

The city post-ofice distributes an average
of 635, 900 pieces of mail matter daily, but on
Thursday next this number will be increased
by one-iourth. or about 157, 900 additional
packages.
This boom in Uncle Sans stamp trade is
due to the fact that the feast of good old
Saint Valentine comes on that day.
The custom of exchanging love tokens at
this time is of great antiquity. We read in
ancient Rome that feasts in honor OF Pan
and Juno were celebrated about the middle
OF February. Amid an elaborate display of
ceremony the names Of young women were
drawn from box by young men, and the
until the following festival.
The pastors of the early Christian Church
disapproved of this heathen custom. But
even in those austere days the young folk
were much on the order of the present genera
ton. They had opinions Of their own on the
subject of love, and they utterly refused TO
depart from this pet celebration.
So the good fathers, with more temperate
zeal. then revolutionized its character and
meaning. They appointed day On which
iove-making by word and token met their
highest appreciation and a patron saint,
whose especial office was TO speed affairs Of
the heart.
WHO ST. VALENTINE WAS.
The saint thus distinguished was Valentine,
a bishop of Rome, who suffered martyrdom
in that city under the Emperor Claudius in
the year go.
According TO Wheatley, "St Valentine was
a man of most admirable parts and so IA
nous for his love and charity that the custom
of choosing valentines upon this festival took
its rise from thence"
That celebrated authority, Brand, does not
accept this version, and says: Were not al
the saints supposed to be famous for their
love and charity? Surely. he does not wish
US TO understand the word love here as
implying gallantryr'
Be that as it may. the fact remains that
lovers of all degrees have taken st. Valentine
into their hearts and render him the homage
due to his lofty and important calling.
Cne of the earliest recorded poems, which
took the form of a valentine, was written in
the beginning of the fifteenth century by
Lydgate, monk OF Bury. in praise Of Cath
crime, eonsort of Henry V.
Goldsmith describes the manner Of rusties
on Valentines day, particularly the practice
of children going into the houses OF the rich
singing:
Good morning, to yen, Valentine,
Curl your locks as L do mine;
Two in front and three behind,
Good morrow 10 you, Valentine"
There is an old superstition that at this
time birds begin to choose their mates
Shakespeare refers TO this in Midsummer
Nights Dream
.St Valentine is past
Begin these wood birds but to coupls now"
FIRST MET-FINAL FATE.
According TO folk lore there is still another
version of this festiyity. The first lad or lass
not an inmate of your house to whom you
speak will be- your valentine-that is, will be
kindly disposed to receive the arrows of Gu
pid and all the other devices OF torture
known to the cruel little god. Poor Ophelia
sings:
Good morrow, to st. Valentines day.
All in the morning betime,
And /, maid at your window,
To be your valentine.
Valentines. rs we now understand the
term. are illustrated b;llet-Coux. and if we
can rely on popular opinion, they are fast
falling iuto disuse.
Time was when the daily mail trebled and
Quadrupled its average; now it increase but a
fourth. The booksellers once made q har-
vest on these dainty triiles second only to
Christmas gifts; this year few of them have
gotten a new stock of valentines. for the very
good reason that they have still on hand u
large supply of old ones.
Whether lovers have lost faith in the eff
cacy of wood doves cooling on branch of
forget-me-nots, in arro1-pierced hearts and
lovingly-clasped hands, or whether we are re-
turning to the simplicity OF our ancestors, is
an open question.
Those good people did not need embellish-
ments of moonshine and roses in their Wooing.
but with touching artlessness said to the ad-
mired one, MADAM, my life and fortune are
entirely at yonr disposal
COMIC VALENTINES POPULAR.
In the present depressed condition OF the
lovers exchange children have become the
best patrons of st. Valentine Most of them
admire those on the comic order, and every
year they send thousands to each other, so
now it is to the juvenile woi Id that the spent
and weary postman, groanlng under a load
of delicate embarrasSments not his own" is
the object of anxious anticipation.
To one of the old poets, a contemporary Of
Spencer, is ascribed the following eulCgy on
our saint: Hail to thy returning festival,
good old Bishop Valentinei Great is thy
name i'll the rubrie, thou venerable arch
flamen OF HYmenl Immortal go-between.
who and what manner OF person art thou?
Mysterious personagel like unto thee, as
suredly thero is no other mitred father in
the caiendarI Thou comest attended with a
thousand and ten thousand little loves; sing
ing cupids are thy choristers and precentors,
and instead OF the crosier. the mystical arrow
is borne before theeI'' MARGARET BRENT.
And Yet 1t Is a MouoIoeuc