Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-11
CUP|D'S ANNUAL FETE
Pictures of the Past Compared
With Those of the Present.
READY FOR VALENTINES DAY
Sentimental and Comic Tokens in I'm
usually Large Variety.
"F YOU LOVE ME AS I LOVE YOU"
Innovations of 1906 Materially Diff
ferent From Those of the Past
Reminiscent Verses.
OF YOU LOVE ME AS LOVE YOU

-neIululScenC verses.
THE rose is red, the violet blue:
Sugar is sweet. and you
This couplet formed the theme of many a
crude valentine in the good old long ago,
when "felIers'' In their homespun suits
wooed and won the gals in their calico
frocks. Those were the days of old-fash-
Toned sentiment, and many of the valentines
were hand-written. often misspelled and I'M
grammatical but full of real meaning.
IF you love me
As love you
No sword can cut
Our love In two
How many of the grandpas and grand
mas of today recognize in these lines the
sentiment crudely scrawled on their boy
hood and girlhood yalentinesi How they
recall the hasty and stealthy footsteps COM
ing down the front walk, the quick raps on
the front door. and the fleeing figure of the
beau or sweetheart vanishing in the dis
lance and the darkness, like a specter, on
st. Valentines night. With what eagerness
they picked up the tender missiye that had
been thrust beneath the door. and, hurrying
into the sitting room, how earnestly they
scanned the dear penned love verses by the
Pickering glow from the oid-fashioned fire.
place.
But those are pictures of the past The
valentines of this advanced age of fads and
far cies are very different affairs, The
sunny sentiments of years gone by have
been supplanted by cupid-embellished tri-
fies of paper lace, and, this year particu-
larly manufacturers seem to have Wed
with one another in bringing the amorous
tokens up TO date in both originality. size
and artistic finish.
st. Valentines day. 1906, will witness
many innovations. Valentines big and val
ertines little, valentines odd and valentines
gay. are displayed in the local shop win
dows, reminding old and young that the
first festal day of the new year will be next
Wednesday with its miSsives of love, of
sarcasm and of scorn, too, If the sentiments
expressed on the comics mean anything.
Some of these are sold two for a penny
with lots of color thrown in and they con-
tinue to be popular with the irrepressible
small boy and his little sister. The cheap
comics afford the youngsters the means of
getting back at their enemies without
fear of detection.
sComics" Are Very Cheap.
All the funny valentines seem to be made
for the express purpose of throwing into
relief some particular and undesirable char
acteristic of the person for whom intended.
For instance, the man who too often looks
upon the wine when 1t is red and finds
himself experiencing that dizzy feeling and
the acrobatic walk may find In the mail on
valentine morning caricature in red, yell
low and green of an inebrate, with these
lines:
Its worse than Jersey lightning and no better
than benzne.
And will burn thethroat of the toughest goat that
ever yet was seen.
If you were n seasoned tramp and the viest
kind of sot,
'Twould be your death for its heats enough to
melt an Iron pot
The woman scold is another character to
receive attention at the hands of the comic
valentine rhymester and the artist, who
depicts her In a manner that would put to
shame the most lurid of the witches in
Macbeth" The verse usually, runs:
The pen is mightier than the sword
As maxim, fame has won.
The pen Its power has often shown,
The sword its work has done.
Some tongues are mightier than both,
To yours this power is given.
Its up TO you, the way 1t wags
WIN make your h heaven"
The very latest fads in 1906 valentines are
illustrated post cards in many designs and
with an infinite variety of versifcation to
suit the lovelorn, the morbid, the gay, the
vengeful or the curious. Some of this
years post cards are comic and others are
in somewhat serious vein. but all are re-
garded as up-to-date novelties.
There is tendency this season, Also In
the direction of framed verses and senti-
ments from the works of poets, ancient and
modern, and appropriate notices, while
some of the faddists send their beaux or
bellies silver. glass and china tokens with
delicate inscriptions. The range of posi-
bilitieS In the matter of valentines is a
wide one. For instance there Is a clever
toy known the flying cupid, which sails
gracefully up into the air when released
Other novelties are cute little kittens and
puppies, bearing hearts In their mouths.
Confectioners' Shops Invaded
Even the confectioners' shops have been
invaded by the faddists for dainty valentine
bonbons. A warning to oyer-confident
lovers is conveyed in big piece OF taffy
surrounded by the words: This is the
cause of 1t ALL"
In the window of down town store is
the pasteboard figure OF a man. IT is life
size. In the center of the figure is a sea
green heart on which appears this verse:
Mans made OF dust they say
The l want is he
With sand enough to end way
To make the dust for me"
On one side of the pasteboard man is at
taehed a bag of sand as a visible reminder
Another valentine skit in which poetry
big elephant and bale of hay, with this
verse:
'Tf were elephant.
And You load of hay,
I'D put yon In my little trunk
And carry you away.
A valentine of the modern sort repre-
sents cablegram from kissing Port. or
Somewhere Near, ST. Valentines Day,
February IA, 1905. II is represented to have