, 1906-01-31

Dan Cupid's Dau
AS II Was
And as II Is Now
Bu WALTON WILLIAMS

> why ST. Valentines day Is so
called nobody has ever known.
There were a number of Valen-
tines. two of them saints, but
zone of them is recorded to have been
especially fond of flirting or sending
anonymous libels through the mails.
1t would have seemed more appropri-
ate to have called it Dan Cupid's day;
but, inasmuch as it was named several
centuries before we were born, there is
no need of bothering about that now.
One theory to account for the desig-
nation is that away back in early times
it was called g%allantin day, this being
the word from which gallant is derived,
and in time this was confused with
Valentine, so the church tackled on the
name of the saint. Another tradition
is that during the reign of the Emper
Claudius II. Bishop Valentine was II
of the most beloved preachers about
Rome. The emperor got mad at his
own wife or somebody else's wife and
decreed that nobody should get married
for n year. Valentine took pity on the
folks and married them secretly. When
Claudius learned this the bishop was
promptly jailed and afterward lost his
head. One legend is perhaps about as
good as the other, so the reader can
take his choice.
The origin of the day, however, be
longs to Il time far more ancient than
Claudius or even Rome. At about this
time of year in pretty much all Il
tries and all ages have been celebrated
the returning of the sun and the first
fracture in the backbone of winter.
As was proclaimed by many of the
old poets, this is the season that the
birds choose their mates. 1t is not on
record that the bird songs degenerate
into bad doggerel because of this fact,
but that is doubtless because the feath-
cred folk merely sing and do not send
valentines.
In the far ancient times the festival
was celebrated with orgies of the most
shocking description, but in Rome the
10Th of February, which was called the
Lupercalia, was toned down to compare
tive responsibility. There the names of
the Lydias, Chloes and other maidens,
such as gay old Horace used to sing,
were shaken up together and drawn by
the young men Of the day, and the
maiden whose name was so drawn be
came the partner of the holder of her
ticket for n year.
The early church could not suppress
this practice, so in place of having the
names of girls drawn by lot it substi-
4,,toJ 1Io n,,n of enintS If " Mt
about this time that Valentines name
was dragged into the affair. To the
youth of the middle ages, however,
saints were not nearly so interesting
as real flesh and blood maidens, so the
older custom of choosing the girls
names was revived. In consequence
the festival became very popular.
When the age of chiyalry was in full
swing this most gallant of the holidays
was about the biggest thing in the cal
endar. Why not? Love and spring
poetry thrive in February, and there
should be some day at about this sea-
son especially devoted to their culture.
Around st. Valentines day grew up
many other customs. One of the earli-
est was to permit the maidens to
choose partners as well as the men.
OF course the youths, manlike, were
more attentive to the girls whom they
had drawn than to the girls who had
drawn them, but at any rate an incip-
lent stage in woman's rights was in
evidence. In the dissolute days of
Charles III. in England the names of
married people went into the pot along
with those of the bachelors and spin
sters. AS a result that delightful old
gossip, Samuel Pepys, tells of a Lord
Something-or-other who spent $50 for a
ring to grace the finger Of somebody
else's pretty young wife.
The girls were all anxious to dream
of their sweethearts the night before
s.