The evening times., 1900-02-14
SAINT VALENTINES DAY
The POStman's Coming Expectantiy
Awaited in Many Homes.
4 Custom Which Had Its Origin i'm
the Love Lottery of Pagan Rome.
Its History Through Many Ages.
The Inarti>tic Productions Of the
Early Part OF the Century Recalled.

Early Part OF the Century Recalled
All of the young and many Of the ole
| folk in this city know that this is Val
! entine's Day, and many are the dainty tes-
timonials of this fact that the untirinl
postman is delivering at the homes along
! his route The day is celebrated in thi:
| city. as il is in every other one in The
country, in a quiet but eXpectant manner
1t is universally acknowledged that the
valentine has a long look back. 1t dates
from the time CT Pagan Rome. Ii was the
! Roman custom to devote the latter por-
| tion of the month of February to the cele-
bration of the Lupercalia, or feasts in
honor of the god Pan and the goddess
juno. the last receiving the name OF Feb
rusta or Febrella.
The Romas. who copied the Greeks in all
their customs, had adopted the Athenian
habit of love lottery by drawing the
names Of young girls at the Lupercalia,
but when Christianity had made its mark
and Rome was converted from paganism
the members OF the holy council cOnsid-
cred how TO break on this decidedly anti
Christian amusement. The golden youth o.
Rome stuck to the annual lottery, and ii
would not have been prudent TO close it by
order OF law.
A simple and holy monk hit upon what
was thought splendid device. Let us,
he said substitute the names of holy
women long since gone to their reward.
Moreover, let us, as the lottery is drawn in
the middle of February, place it under the
patronage of some holy saint whose feast
falls about February IA or Is
Unfortunately the history of St Valen-
tine and his disciples has little or no
chronological sequence. After the saint
was made patron of the lottery of love- "
nothing much is heard about him until the
Middle Ages. when he is found firmly es-
tablished as the patron. not of lottery
OF holy souls but Of flesh and blood
people, who reverenced him with extra
ordinary devotion.
The eve OF St Valentine : feast was kept
with great honor Good parents recon-
mended their SONS and daughters to his
care, and the maidens prayed hard that the
morrow might bring them "A valentine
that later on would turn into a husband" "
The next morning, with the early dawn,
every one was on the qul NlYe.
The custom of choosing the valentine
from a chance meeting sometimes entailed
awkward consequences. as in the story Of
royal princess, who, rising one Naen-
tines Day at an early hour. found on en-
tering her sitting room a young mason
who had come TO execute some repairs 10
The chimney. According to the rites of the
saint be was her valentine for twelve
months This naturally. caused her in
tense annoyance, but there was no getting
out of the unpleasant position. Her valen-
tine he was. and should SO remain. He
however proved TO be most discreet. In
the end he discovered a plot which was
hatched against her. and saved her life
II was an old English belief that the
birds selected their mates on St Nalen-
tines feast. and that an influence or
potency was inherent in the day which rem
dered in some degree binding the lot or
chance by which any bachelor or maiden
was Al this time led to fix his or her at
tention on a person Of the opposite sex
Old John Duuton, in The British
Apollo, says that il was formerly the Gus
tom for the valentines to interchange
presents. In the reigns of the Stuarts.
however, there was introduced the French
fashion of the man presenting his valen-
tine with bouquets and gifts all through
the year of their temporary engagement.
BY degrees the gifts became more valuable.
Pepys speaks of the jewels given by the
Duke of York as a valentine to Mistress
Stuart and tells how Lord Vaudeville, who
was her valentine the following year gave
her a ring worth 81 400. This giving of
presents became at last a heavy tax. and
later on poetical valentines were in many
instances substituted for more costly gifts
The literature OF the valentine is ex-
tremely diffuse: any one possessing the
growing mania for collecting" might
equip himself with a library of pocket
books dramas, gift books. poems. and let
ter writer's quizzing. satirical and virtu-
GUS
The earliest poetical valentine is ascribed
to Charles Due d'Orleans. who was taken
prisoner at the battle of Agincourt 1415.
and, being carried 10 England was i'm
prSOned in the Tower of London He was
Of a romantic imaginative turn of mind
and some OF his verses are full of melodious
lines.
Lydgate. the Monk of Bury was also
early in the field as a valentine writer. In
$40 he addressed Queen Catherine. consort
Df Henry Y, in some quaint verses.
Among the earlier English poets, Chau- |
,er. Phineas Fletcher, Raleigh. Spenser |
Ben Jonson. Marlowe, and William Cart |
wright all contributed to the literature of |
St. Valentines Day.
The beginning of the century saw the in
reduction of the pictorial valentine. a
fashion which grew at once into poplar
avor. The first noticeable feature in the
lew picture valentine was the manifest in
eriority of the poetry, which at once sank
o a bald and inaTtistic level, the greater
attention being bestowed upon the wood
ut that adorned the sheet from 1900 to
1928 These woodcuts were of all kinds
}egant, vulgar, sentimental. hearts trans
liked by darts, turtle doves, and a profu-
sion of fat boys, supposed to be Cupids.
The verses We're sometimes written in
inc running hand. sometimes printed.
Later on the lace edged valentine wss
introduced. and was considered singularly
elegant, being oTnamented by painted bas
lets of roses, forget -me-nots, and true
overs knots The valentines were how
.ver. of all kinds and prices. to suit every
purchaser. the trade inventing new pat
erns every year, just as is now the case
With Christmas cards.
This was the foreshadowing of the ap-
roaching end of ST Valentines influence
he world was becoming hard, practical;
money was lord of the situation and ST |
'alentine's votaries were growing gradu-
lily fewer and fewer. He struggled to
,eep his place. but the advent of the rort
title Christmas card, which is in no way
compromising, gave him a temporary set
,ack
The girl of the period is clever enough
0 make her val ntines at home. She paints
overs knots. floating ribbons, and bleed