New-York tribune., 1908-02-14
VALENTINES.

On this festive day of the Lupercaia which
some freak of chance has dubbed st. Valentines S
Day, we are moved to ponder the decay OF man
ners The waning of the once favorlte valen
tines popularity gives occasion for philo-
sophica inquiry into the causes of the great 1n-
dustriaI depression among sentimental and
comic poets and artists. That hard times have
really struck the valentine manufacturers can
! hot be denied even by the rosy specialized In
rural districts 10 be sure the loyelorn and the
spieful still leave the expressing Of their sent-
ments to professional thrummers of heartStrings
and caricaturists, just as the lower classes IN
Italy and the Orient patronize public letter
writer's. But in the cities, where more than
one-quarter of the population three-quarters OF
the fluid capital and 80 per cent of social
influence are concentrated, other methods or
manifeSting emotion have almost wholly super
seded the valentine. A generation ago the city
youth at the maudn age thought only of blow
ing" five dollars huge piece of paper lowell
ness ornate with ribbons, vistas, water cOlors
and gilt stanzas from the poets To-day the
young man gets into line aEead of the speculat
ors and invests the same sum in two tickets for
the roth performance of the BuXom Bur
lcsquers Were his fair one to receive In lieu
of this rare intellectual treat tinsel exhorta-
tion to Remember me when this you see her
irate reply by return messenger would be, For
get ii -
Why this change of heart? Is it merely that
women have lost the fine lrIstre of sentiment in
their mad scramble for pleasure? BY no means
The still, small voice of the shy valentine has
merely been drowned by the booming bass of
the twentieth century youth as he shouts: You
certainly a peach Mame." In brief the
sentimental messenger is out of job because
shyness is lost art. The modern swain talk
ing straight to Phyllis as easily as he would
say Boo to d goose sees in the valentine a
mere pleasantly. to be INDUCED in only when
Phyllis can be amused in no better way. But
if the valentine is still pleasantly, somebody
asks why have the cheap comic ones lost their
vogue: Surely there is just much humor
ever in the somewhat "idealized' colored por
trait with the appended twelye-line ode begin
ming:
You silly gawk with bleary eyes
And teeth that look like railroad ties
Why, then, are the mails on February 13 and
l.. no longer congested with such pleasantres:
The answer is easy. Let the Inquirer note that
the decline OF the comic valentine was cOntem-
poraneous with the rise of journaiisms orange
inc cartoons. This tells the whole sad tale
Humor 10 be forcefu!. must have a touch of
unexpectedness aud novelty in it. 1t needs con
trast effects, too. Naturally, then, d public " nich
gaZes every day new vaientinized pict-
ures Oh celeDflteS redl anu imaginary and hears
at each fresh dawn offensive personalities set
To rhyme and rhythm cannot be prodded to
laughter by the annual comic valentine. Strictly
speaking, of course, the comic valentine has not
been Vanquisiied; 1t has been passed 10 d
higher plane OF existence. IL has ceased to be
AN event. 1t has become national habit, Il
language with picture writing Instead of wait
ing fer February II to come, the civilized world
now Insists upon having the deeds OF every day
Jotted down in i-upercaliau script There must