Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-02-14

To-day is sacred to st. Valentine.
The festival of st. Valentine, like
many other customs, is of pagan ORR
gin, and, like many of those mytholo-
gical celebrations, was retained and
ChristianiZed in the early days of the
church.
One of the features of the original
celebration was the drawing by young
men from box of billets with maid
ems names inscribed, which made the
couple partners for at least time, and
this practice modified to the partner
ship being purely platonic, existed in
England until a comparatively recent
date. The parties thus coupled were
called each others valentine, and the
gentleman was expected to give his
partner a present in commemoration
of the occasion. Pepys, in his diary,
mentions that Sir William Bal
ten, his wife's valentine, had
brought her half a dozen pairs of gloves
and pair of silk stockings and gar
tiers, and congratulated himself that
he had drawn Mrs. Pierce's little girl
for his valentine, as it would not cost
him so much for present for her.
In olden times it was believed that
the birds mated on st. Valentin's Day,
and Herrick, in his Hesperides, says:
Oft have I heard both youth and virgins
say
Birds choose their mates and couple, too,
to-day,
But by their fight L never can divine
When | shall couple with my valentine.
The following privilege was granted
in England on St. Valentines Day: Ii
the young men went before daylight
and caught an old owl and three spar
rows and brought them to the village
inn they were entitled to three pots of
puri. 1t was supposed that the owl
in his wisdom influenced the feathered
tribe to mate on that day, whereby
single men and maidens would be re-
minded to follow the birds example
and get married.
In France they used to draw mad
rigals with their valentines, and in
Roumania the beauX presented their
valentines with rings OF silver or iron,
but among no people did st. Valentine
have more devoted disciples than
among the English. But charce-chosen
valentines have suffered the same fate
of the May-poles and other sports of
England's merrie days, and even the
writing of rhyming letters of affection
or compliment has given place to the
sending of artistically manufactured
tokens of regard or coarse caricatures.
In some parts of England young peo-
pie went from house to house on st.
Valentines morning singing carols
and expecting a present in return. In
Lynn Regis, in the last century, the
day was celebrated by the Mayor, Cor
poration, and twelve old, decrepid men,
called from their dress "Redcoats,"
headed by band, marching in process
sion to the mart and proclaiming 1T
open for business. Pleasure and bust
ness were blended, and it was an old
fashioned fair, where people could
trade and also enjoy themselves by Wis
iting the wild beasts show, the giant
and dwarf, peep-shows, jugglers, etc.
The fair part of the celebration, robbed
of its ancient glory, is still kept up.
In other parts of Norfolk and Suffolk
counties the custom of making pres
ents on st. Valentines Day and the
mode of delivering them was certainly
unique, and exists to some extent to
the present day.
Two or three weeks before st. VAL
entine's Day the shops were dressed in
gala attire and the newspapers teemed
with advertisements OF suitable pres
ents for valentines, including jewelry,