Middletown transcript., 1908-02-15

was broken the heart OF
many d maiden won through the
medium of those emblematic
pictures and fattering rhymes
sent on that licensed morn.
Young men my grandfather
among the number were known
never To have retired to rest at
\ al, but TO have spent the night
previous under their mistresses
window. for the purpose Of gain
ing her first glance in the morn
ing, and thus, according to The
old superstition, have the right
of being her Valentine for the
rest of the day, or what was per-
maps stiifni more i'm 1ur tttIIt - i. her
husband for life. Young girls,
in order to avoid the sight Of a
disagreeable suitor, would shut
themselves up for the entire
morning;others, by various clever
stratagems -peeping through
little friendly holes in the win.
dow curtains; sitting with their
eyes shut for hours, until
they heard the wished-for step
or well-beloyed voice eEdeavor-
ed to take in destiny, and cheat
the fates! Postmen were known
to have tainted beneath the,
weight of Cupids, doves, Hymens
temples, and gold rings their
bursting bags contained One
misanthropic man Of letters com
mitted suicide on Valentines eve
by throwing himself, bag and ALL
into a river near my grand
fathers house leaving note on
the bank stating his reasons for
the act: hatred to marriage and
q desire to save bis fellow crea-
lures from that misery, as the
Wooer on the fourteenth OF Feb
ruary, was generally a fool BY the
first of April.
But Valentines Day In the
twentieth century-the sober,
intellectual, satirical twentieth
century-is a very different af.
fair. 'These are the days of ad.
+. vance" In our onward march
ofcivilization we have trampled
the Maypole under our feet. de-
throned its pretty queen. and
turned Cupid out Of doors.
Strong. minded young ladies'
sneer at such isenseless things.
and youth itself will soon be as
much ont Of fashion as the rest.
But Jst, with all these disadvan.
tages to battle against, Valen.
tines day, although the mere
ghost of It's former self, still con-
tinnes to have its old tInaking"
propensities; truth still turks in
those annual rhymes, and many
proposal those love lines have
contained has ended in smiles
and bushes, wedding favors,
and bride-cake at Whitsnntide.
There's my cousin Mabel and
Minnie Grey, they are living ex-
amples of this last fact.
Ofcourse yon have never seen
my cousin Mabel; but if you had
you would certainly say she was
the prettiest girl you had ever
beheld. Female critics Of beauty,
1t il true, found fault with her
nose as being somewhat too
short, and her mouth as "a lit
tie too large; but then her eyes
were so blue and soft, her eye
lashes SO dark and long, her
hair SO rich and bright, you
forgot every other fruit in look
ing at them; and as to her dim
pies they would positively have
I made Hebe jealous, could that
young lady have seen them. Yet
Mabel, strange to say with all
her beauty had reached the ma
ture. age of eighteen without a
lover. Her father, a country
clergyman, had iealously kept
his fair blossom to nestle by his
side, hidden from all vulgar
eyes in the old ivied parsonage
of a retired little village;
rarely, If ever, allowing her to
take part in any of the festivals
and iunketings given by their
Aeighbors; those pleasant, merry
meetings. where rural fiirtations
are got up, and the partners Of
q dance so often become the
partners of q life. The con.
sequence was, that when Mabel
came to spend her Christmas
with Us she had not been a !. eek
from her leafy home before she
danced exquisitely, fiirted scien-
tifcally, and had caused half a
dozen young men to wear turn
down collars and seriously con
template suicide.
Nov as my father loves a full
house, and declares 70 merry
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