The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-02-12
A VALENTINE OF
A CENTURY AGO

The manufactured valentine which,
In one form or another, has become
the currency Of love and ridicule, and
as such has circulation millions strong
every amid-February Is an institution
little more than century old, yet the
festival which these missives COM
memorate is an ancient one.
Gradually, however, the observance
of the Roman holiday overspread Eu-
rope. The early practices of st. VAL
entine's Day on the continent abound
ed in quaint and fanciful conceits. For
Instance, in Italy young people took
to following singing birds until led by
the winged messengers of song into
the presence Of their valentines. In
France the youthful believers in ro-
nance were wont to seek secluded
woodland pools in the hope of finding
mirrored therein the faces of their
destined loves.
1t was in England and Scotland,
however, the festival attained the most
universal popularity from its earliest
introduction, and that the most hilari-
GUS spirit characterized its observance.
In We olden time the young folk drew
lots for one another on the eve of st.
Valentines Day, and the swain who
was not forehanded must needs auda-
ciously choose valentine out of hand
at sunrise on st. Valentines Day or
be barred from the frolics of the oc-
casion. The manner of the pairing
of of these ardent SWANS and maidens
was rather a novel one.
On the evening preceding the festi-
val day an equal number of bellies
and bachelors assembled at some ap-
pointed rendezvous each wrote his
name upon billet, which was rolled
up and placed with others of its kind
in a basket. Then occurred a draw
ing of lots, the maids taking the mems
billets and the men the maids, so that
each of the young men had designated
by a girl whom he called his valentine,
and to each young lady was delegated
an escort whom she called hers. The
plan had the disadvantage that each
person in the company really had two
valentines, but this problem was in a
measure solved by the unwritten law
that each man should be more loyal
to the valentine that had fallen to him
than to the valentine to whom he had
fallen. After loves lottery had
thus divided the company into couples
the valentines gave balls, provided
treats of one kind or another for their
mistresses and wore their billets on
their sleeves for several days. AS to
be expected such tenptings of fate fire.
quently fostered romances that ended
in marriage.
Merry England was also the country
in which the practice of sending valen-
tines in the form of love laden mes
sages found earlier favor. One ex-
PLANTATION advanced for this was that
the British swain, though quite as
amative as his cousins on the CONT
nent, did not possess the agile tongue
of the Southern races nor the holiness
of the Latin in love making. Conse-
quently, SO tradition runs, the young
Britons adopted the plan of dispatch
Ing tender verses or complimentary
pictures in lieu of verbal declarations
of affection. At first the messengers
of love were homemade verses, pen
ned in colored ink and accompanied
in many instances by a crude drawing
designed to typify the devotion of the
artist.
Ere long the poets of the United
Kingdom came to the aid of lovelorn
young people, and the market began
to be flooded with booklets of "appro-
pirate rhymes" for lovers and sweet
hearts of all ages and stations in life.
The first of these aids to the senti-
mentally inclined appeared about 1880,
and thereafter they continued in vogue
with no loss of popularity until about
1880. Some of these booklets were
issued annually, like almanacs, each
new edition stored with the very latest
productions of the poetasters.
The choice rhetoric and lofty senti-
ment that abounded in these little
volumes of gems" for valentine send
ers was in a measure reflected in the
titles of the volumes. Witness, for
instance, "The Annual and Universal
Valentine Writer" "Cupid's Festival"
"Cupid's Budget" "Cupid's Cabinet and
Court of Love-" polite Valentine
Writer" "Rhapasodies and Pastimes,"
Select Verses for Bellies and Bucks
Who Throng to Hymen's Court"
"Cupid's Annual Charter" 1.-THE School
of Love-" Ladies' Polite Valentine
Writer" "The Bower of Cupid" and