Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-02-09


Iieved to have had any more fondness for
lovers than did the other priests. Neither
did he joy in sentimental poetry and de-
formed Cupids. and it is not known. nor
is it considered likely. that he indited any
epistle to fair lady before his execution:
but for all that he was to have a day of
general love-making named for him.
From time immemorial, even from the
days when ancient Rome was a rising
metropolis, there had been certain Gus
toms, the forbears OF the present carni-
walls and speaking pantomimes, current
among the Latin races. Among them
were the festivals called Lupercalia, held
during the month of February, in honor
of Februata-Juno. and part of their OBJ
seryance was as follows: A certain num-
Der of slips bearing the names of young
girls were placed in box and shaken up:
the young men then each drew a slip, and
SO 'chose partners The good priests,
when these heather superstitious Gus
toms" came to their knowledge. were
much Mortified, and Immediately set them
selves to work to right matters But the
customs were too firmly rooted even for
the priests, and they compromised on
solution of the troubles at once easy and
the festivals from those of the heather
gods to those of the Christian saints,
which settled the matter, and made their
celebration lawful, and even laudable. In
the general reconstruction Saint Vaien-
tine drew Feb. IA. and so comes down to
the present in the character of the patron
saint of lovers.
Out OF these old customs has grown the
H., A..1.1n
has lost most of its significance, and the
love-lorn verses of amorous SWANS have
given place to ready-made rhymes, turn
ed out of nineteenth century factory at
so much per line St. Valentines day is
as generally observed as ever, though
great part of the celebrating is done by
the children, and most of the valentines
are constructed to suit their pocketbooks,
with machine-made fat-faced cnpids and
startling sprays of forget-me-nots. The
higher-priced valentines, however, the
silk and satin, and celluloid ones, are all
hand-painted and though the work is
done as rapidly as possible, many of them
are really beautiful. The secret Of their
manufacture at the price, which is always
low for hand-painted work, lies in the fact
that, though no two are alike there is lit
bleeding hearts furnish the usual subjects.
BY close application to business a man
may learn to make bleeding hearts and
Cupids almost mechanically, and with a
surprising rapdity. The work is done
with water colors and a camers hair
brush, and a few strokes applied by an
experienced hand finish a valentine. 1t
is possible for one man to turn out as
mo nd fYta In
one day. The satin ones are the hardest
TO paint, and, as natural consequence,
command the highest price Some of them
cost as much as 500 apiece.
From 5000 to 10000 of the cheap val
entines, those with verse and sundry
cupids, surrounded with lace paper, are
turned out in day by a single factory.
The work is all done by machinery; first
the printing of the verse, next that of
the colored picture, then the cutting and
folding, and lastly the addition of the lace
paper, which is pasted en- after all other
parts are complete.
The comic valentine is an excrescence
of the present. 1t is a widespread evil,
too, for one firm gets out as many as 49,
100000 Of them annually and employs 400
workmel the year round. But in spite of
the 100000 comics the comic valentine
is a small part of the celebration, and
though certain Objectionable persons have
their shortcomings laid before them in a
strong light, and though certain other and
wholly inoffensive persons are annually
rendered insane with rage at what they
consider gratuitous insults, the general
trend of st. Valentines day missives still
stays by the good old rhyme of heart and
dart, eyes and signs, and other combina-
tons almost as old as st. Valentine him
self.