The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-02-12
for 1Mn1uen,

Gan W tEt6Eld1u fEenQS SoiHe-
time curing February, "a valentine party
As a very pleasant and timely means of
uo2ng so; for h the young man's-and
fna'den's fancy is proverbiaAy supposed
70 turn to thoughts of bleeding hearts and
chubby colored Cupids. The invitations.
therefore. should be sent ont for the four
teenth. They may be as deliberately sym
polie OF the day, IN their decorations. as
the hostess desires, with corner designs
of hearts, darts, and Cupid's arts; but a
simply written aote is entirely appropriate
and in good taste. 1t must bear, however,
as the important feminine postscript, the
request that every guest bring at least two
valentines. one of which must be original
addressed to any Of the expected guests, a
sist OF whom should also be inelosed with
the invitation. OF course the more the
merrier, and all sorts and conditions of
valentines are to.be encouraged. though
the original ones will in variably cause
the most amusement.
The Invitations having been sent, the
hostess has only to consider her supper,
write sundry rhymes herself, and prepare
her valentine box, which is to be the piece
de resistance On that eventful evening.
This box-or rather, it is better that there
should be two-should be placed convent
emily in the front hall, where the guests
may deposit their precious missives i'm
mediately upon arriving. They may be
simply two cake boxes, with hinged COW
ers, or they may be ~pasteboard ~handboxes
with a convenient slit cut in the top-one
box for the mems valentines conspicu-
ously lettered ~. s. Mail the other
destined to hold the valentines for the
youngladies, labeled ~. S. Femail.'
-
1t would be appropriate to the season to
spend the first part of the evening before
supper in a game of progressive hearts, as
it is a simple game and easily learned
even by those who have never played be-
fore. Or if a more novel diversion is
desired, a revised edition of the ancient
and honorable donkey game" is in order.
In this case a sheet is stretched a cross a
doorway and a large red heart two feet
wide, sewed or painted upon the sheet,
serves as a target. The guests are blind
folded one by one, whirled round three
times. then requested to tfasten with a
pin to the heart a Cupid's arrow of silver
paper. The two guests piercing the heart
most closely to the centre receive each a
prize. and the 'tbooby'' may also receive a
consolation gift. For this game or for the
game of hearts, appropriate prizes would
be tiny silver, heart stick pins, or a heart
and an arrow; while the BOBBY prize might
be a huge sugar heart. such as confec-
TONERS supply, or an enormous heart
shaped cookey.
The supper should be as symbolic of the
season as possible. Among other things
there might be small, heart shaped sand
witches; ices of pink and white served in
the shape of hearts; lady fingers, kisses,
heart shaped cakes, candles. and bon bons,
and coffee or chocolate served in heart
shaped cups and saucers. In lieu of the
oid-fashioned foolish, motto candies,
the hostess might also prepare a dish of
motto cakes-one for each guest-which
should be more or less oracularly pro-
phetic of the fortunes of love in store for
each person. These notices may be taken
from Shakespeare or the other poets. or if
the hostess has herself the gift of rhym-
ing, may be written for the occasion.
After supper the va1entine-boxes are to
be brought forth and opened by the hos
tess herself. Before distributing Cupid's
mail, she should nnounce hat the val
entines will be given out two by two-one
to a lady, one to a gentleman. and they
are to stand forth in full view of the COM
pany while they read the valentine over
silently. If they betray no emotion what
ever at the -contents-no smile or frown,
no blush, no pallor or no joy-it will be
taken for granted that the. valentine is
commonplace and undressing, and the
hostess will not order it to be read aloud.
But if any one detects even the flicker of
an emotion upon either of the two readers
faces, the valentine must be read to the
assembled company, however tender in its
nature or embarrassing in the reading. As
almost every one will doubtless show
some expression to the. wachful roomful
of guests, a full evening and a merry one
is assured in listening to the various
valentines, especially the original ones,
which will naturally be more personal and
Interesting.
The hostess should endeavor to guard
against possible slight to any guest
through st. Valentines omission of him
in the distribution of the mail, by her
self writing at least one valentine for
each guest, and by providing ready7made
ones for those who, she may have reason
to expect, will receive fewer missives tina
the rest.
Those women who put "a heavy fold
or design of cut cloth on their white
or design of cut cloth on their winter
skirt are very regretful if that skirt was
of light weight material.
The bottom of the wonderfully cut
skirts we are wearing. drag out of shape
quickly enough without the aid Of extra
weight.
But cut broadcloth designs at the foot
of the gown were {and are) very fashion
able and consequently we went in for
them with a vim We forgot the thing
was illogical and that the heavier would
always drag down the lighter.
I know a woman who put q curved
band eight inches wide of green broad
cloth on a brown cameIs hair skirt.
There has never been a day that she
wasn't sorry for that idea. And each
day she grows s~orrier, for every day
the condition grows worse.
If a band Of contrasting color is really
desired on the skirt make that band of
lighter goods h the foundation, or
you will fare as the woman with the
brown skirt. It will hang zIgkag, flop in
here and out there. making a veritable
sight of itself.