Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-02-10
mo UNSIGNED VALENTINES
Changing Fashion of Cupid Calls for
Candy OF Flowers
BOOKS SOMETIMES SENT, BUT NOT OFTEN
And the Modern Maiden Doesn't
Care 20 Bother Her Head
with Guesses as TO the
Donor.

NEW YORK, Feb. s.T-seorecy and senti-
ment distinguished the valentine Of the
eos. Neither secrecy nor sentiment IL a
marked feature of the 1907 valentine, which
is another illustration OF fashions lckle-
ness.
In the sos the givers Of valentines with
few exceptions tried to hide their identities.
There were known cases where girls lied
up and down to conceal the awful gilt Of
sending a tender line to a favored swain,
and felt they were following the only possi-
BILE maidenly course. The typewriter, that
great leveller OF penmanship, not having
yet made its appearance, youths and maid
ems sat up nights practising a disguised
handwriting. According to the testimony Of
a charming old lady who has always lived
in New York, gifts of flowers as valentines
were not in high favor nifty years ago,
almost any girl preferring TO receive
fancy paper OF silk valentine embellished
with a tender sentiment, original or other
wise, which could be laid away This old
lady has preserved several Of these souv-
enirs which she says the Carnegie millions
could not buy, and when asked who were
the doners?" she laughs gayly and says:
"I am only sure about one valentine
which the man married afterward iden-
titled. It was a case Of guess with the
others, but thiHk guessed pretty nearly
right, although It never would do TO even
whisper the names to a third person."
Poetic Sentiment out of Date.
What the 1907 girl will do for valentine
souvenirs to stow away in a memory box
it is not easy to say. Nowadays no man
who knows what's what dreams of sending
poetic sentiment in a fancy paper set
ting to a young woman. He only wishes
he might be allowed to, sentimental verses
being a lot cheaper than American Beauty
roses or satin bonbon filed boxes.
But that sort of valentine won't go with
the 1907 girl, who doesn't care about mys-
| terry. She prefers TO have a neat little
card bearing the senders name to accom-
pany the gift.
How stupidp' exclaimed a young woman
who has long list of admirers when a
beautifully bound copy of love poems,
minus any sign of a card. reached her last
St. Valentines day, and she tossed the
gift petulantly to one side.
Just as IL I only had one admirer"
she remarked in justincation, and she
didn't waste a second bordering the hand
writing on the wrapper The purchaser
had evidently, after selecting the book,
given the address to which it was to be
sent and forgotten to put in his card, or
else the card had been lost in wrapping
| the book.
Did the young man. when he got no ac-
acknowledgement of his gift, remain mysteri-
ously silent? Not at ALL He went to call
and put the question OF its receipt at the
| first chance. He did more. He got the girl
to go over some of the poems with him
and she was bored to death--so she said
Nevertheless the pair are to be married
before Lent, a circumstance which justif1es
the statement of one mother of daughters
that the old way of sending valentines was
less productive of matrimony than the up
to-date method.