davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

ing in this era of equal rights in the val entine lottery and henceforth the names of young people of both sexes were writ ten on bits of paper and placed in the proper receptacles so that at the drawing each participant was sure to secure partner from the other sex. The seiec- tion thus made was supposed to seal a sentimental bond that should endure TOT at least year. if not terminated by mar riage Throughout the twelvemonth couple designated partners by fates de- cree stood in the relation of cavalier and lady of beauty, the knight being bound, of course, to honor and defend his charge who repaid his championship by sWlles and sentimental tokens
 The custom soon spread from France 10 England and was in high favor there as early as 1890. ,The practice or having both the young men and the young wo- men draw lots or valentines, had one disadvantage in that it was seldom that partners were placed in a double pond by each drawing the name or the other' As rule, a young man who drew the name of a girl would find that his name in turn had been drawn by some other girl. However, disputes as to the pos. session were in great measure 1orestaiieu by the accepted custom of young men III general to show greater allegiance to the valentines that fell to their lots than 10 the maidens who drafted them. as IL were In Scotland 1t was the custom sev- eral centuries ago for, young men anu young women to regard as valentine the first representative of the opposite
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

ancient custom that was extraordinarily singular Early in the morning of St. Valentines Day young men, necessarily of the character that "dee-llghts" in the strenuous life, started out together with .clap-net to catch an owl and two spar rows In some neighboring barn. If they were successful in catching the birds and brought them to the village inn without injury and before the women folk had risen, they were rewarded with three pots of purl Cwhatever that is) by the inn keeper. They also enjoyed the privilege of demanding similar consideration at the hands of every householder in the neigh borhood.
 Things that bear the earmarks of age, even though they be nothing more sacred than customs, should be reverenced, it is true. But a wee bit of speculation as to 'how 1t felt to be there" can scarcely be considered iconoclastic or irreverent- though 1t may be somewhat irrelevant. In the first place, 1t may be noted, this unique and laborious method of procur- ing the aforementioned purl was evidently a species of graft that appealed strongly to the minds of those rustic swalns.
 Why They Did It.
 Just why this purl should be considered worth crawling out of warm bed at 3 in the morning and stabbing around in the dark with a clap-net for an owl not lon to his job,' while the hay from the loft of the barn sifted down into ones nostrils, the chronicler fails to relate Perhaps the young men of those days considered such a stunt a regular helluva time Or, perhaps, it was simply a case of seizing an opportunity of getting on
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

the outside of lot of purl In free-lunch fashion. At all events, according to the chronicler, they went after the birds with the same patience the modern 'bugolo- gist" expends in chasing butterflies over a new-plowed field and received their reward with an applause and admiration similar to that the presentday head of a family receives if he can get out of bed on to the cold floor in the morning and turn on the steam without a mur- mur. Though scarcely necessary to say so, 1t is Incumbent upon the writer to relate that he has not been able to dis cover survival of this custom in any form In the modern American celebration of St. Valentines Day.
 In many of the European countries the St Valentine Day kiss was exchanged between young people as token of good will The exact nature of such an oscu- latory performance is Somewhat vague. Though the same conscientious chronicler does not mention the relationship, it sug- gested that this St. Valentine Day kiss is a third cousin, at least. deceased, of the famous "soul' kiss. There is some doubt on this point, however, for in no way can an exegesis of the word 'affin- ity" lead the investigator back to that time. On the other hand, the fact that this custom is now in vogue universally not only ton St. Valentines Day, but on other days, and far into the night as Is that the so-called St. Valentine Day kiss of the present is a token of good will-and other things.
 Can It He Possib1e.
 Apropos of the same elucidating sub
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

ject, the ehronicler statess further that:
 If a man meet a maid and she does not readily assent to the osculatory prac- tice, it is a kind of service on him that his attentions are not desirable and is looked upon as a conge."
 Yea, yerlyl case of the original stingerino and the original "stung," 1t would seem. But it is far, far better than the big stick of the fly cop and joy ride to the police station.
 Even to the present day, 1t is customary in Europe for the young men to meet to- gether on the village green in trials of strength. The young lad who has read his sporting extras" most zealously and is able to give most huently the precise and indisputable reasons why Jim Jeffries should climb back into the ring and put 1t all over" big. black Jack Johnson, is the lad who should come off with the gate receipts. Being "the candy kid" he naturally has his choice of the maidens fair who have, apparently, laid aside their grouch as suffragettes and consent ed to occupy ringsde seats at the fight. The losers, however, come in for whack-up on the short end of the purse. for they are allowed to choose their maid
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

the identity of valentine senders hay credit for fostering the present-day comi valentine. Valentines couched in term of sarcasm and contempt made their al pearance almost as early as the origina penned vehicles of sentiment but, O course, those fearful and wonderful mult1 colored masterpieces of modern lithoe raphy, waited upon comparatively recen date for their evolution.
 The observance of Valentine Day, whicl q decade or two ago seemed about II wane markedly, has during the past rev years been restored t~eall Its old popq larity. The appearance of the souveni post card fad, which was speedily adapted to Valentine Day purposes. was doubtless in part responsible for this. So likewisI was the appearance of valentine tokenI more pretentious than any or the laci paper treasures of generation ago. Tn young man who this February seeks continental remembrance for twentieth century girl, can expend almost an amount his pocketbook will allow on sue triies as heart-shaped candy boxes, Val entine gift books, jewelry designed fol this significant occasion or noWers In | setting appropriate for the Valentine sea son.
 A growing observance of St. Valentine' nav throughout the United States take the form of valentine parties. The oppor tunities for appropriate decorations an, significant souvenirs have no equal unles if be on Halloween, and the very charac fer of the day suggests innumerabls games. new fad for St. Valentine'l Day that is rapidly gaining popularity Il the custom of seeking fortune teller oi this suspicious occasion. Of late year pypsy fortune tellers have found St. Val entine's Day harvest time without par allel throughout the year, and many 1 hostess seeking novelty for a Valentini Day entertainment now introduces for tune teller for consultation by her guest "a bona fde gypsy seer if one can b' found, but if not an amateur who at tempts to peer into the future by mean of cards or teacup. I
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14
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H CONSIDERABLE proportion of our fT American holidays re, before all else, yh child ems festlvals-that is, children derive the keenest enjoyment from their observance. However, the one observ- ance that Is not only pre-eminently, but almost universally. a young peoples holi- day, is St. Valentines Day. The de- voices of the February feast of sentiment include all members of the junior genera tion from little tots too young to under stand the significance of the exchange of pretty pictures to young med and young women who take advantage of the license of this occasion to make more or less yelled declara tons of regard or the re- verse.
 oddly enough the origin of St, Valen- tines Day would seem to give little war rant for the modern custom of exchang- ing on February If missiyes and epistles, either comic or sentimental. Certainly there was naught in the life of Saint Valentine, a bishop or pope of Rome, to suggest the promiscuous dispatch of tokens wherein are conveyed in prose, in verse or in emblematic picture the love of the sender the faults and foibles of the recipient. As a matter of fact Saint Valentine led a particularly somber existence. Clinging steadfastly to his faith during the Claudian persecu- tlons he was cast into jail and ulti- matey was beaten with clubs and finally beheaded.
 A second churchman bearing the name of Valentine. whose possible connection with the origin of St. Valentines Day has sometimes been suggested, was like wise bishop. Both bearers of the now magic name were accounted to possess miraculous powers for the sick The frstmentioned bishop while in prison cured of blindness the daughter of his keeper, and to the second prayers are yet offered up in Germany and Italy for the cure of epilepsy. This second Bishop Valentine also met a violent death, being
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

a sort of combined Christmas and Hal Iowe'en
 Though 1t Is certain the English idea of humor has not as yet grasped in its entirety the Americans joy in flooding his friends-and enemies-with the atro- cious comic valentine, there are still possibilities in this old custom.
 What d chance for the practical joker to leave a package on a door step, ring the bell and 'beat it" and, from the friendly shadows of a nearby tree or wall, watch the consternation of the sturdy English face that answers the ring and finds in the package, in place of the expected present, a little thing that only storks are supposed to have the privilege of depositing on front door steps!
 What's in the Packagef
 Or picture the hale and hearty English squire coming home nearer sunrise than sunset with the loving spirit of St. Valen- tines Day-and other spirits-oozing out of his very eyes. He's in better shape than the man who had to tell his cabby to ask his better half to pul-lease come down to the carriage and pick him out from the rest of the good fellows aboard it-but he's sufficiently three-sheets-in- the-wind to make it advisable for his cabby to deposit him on the front door step along with the rest of the pack ages'' laid there ring the bell and scoot- just like the other St. Valentine Day cele- brants As Is evident, there are vast pos abilities in this package system of ob serving the day. It depends upon the package"
 In the west of England there was one
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

the recipients name written in gold let ters upon blue paper. Then brief mot toes, such as Most courteous and most fair" began to make their appearance upon the primitive valentines, and grad ually, step by step, there was evolved the silk and satin lace paper confections of the present era.
 For many years the belles and beaux had to depend for the fashioning of yalen- tines wholly upon their own Ingenuity and skill in penmanship. At the outset all such tokens had needs to be delivered by the author in person, and even after the establishment of post systems this practice was largely adhered to for the dispatch of love tokens by mall was an expensive luxury. Then with the reduc- ton in postal rates and appearance of printed valentines there dawned the pres ent regime of manufactured sentiment run riot. Cheap postage and the oppor> tunities the mails afford for concealing
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

choked by fish bone.
 Students of history and delivers into the lore of tradition have made various at tempts, none wholly successful to ex- plain how the modern festival of mirth and sentiment derived It's name. One of the most plausible theories is based on the fact that in the olden days "" and ''g" were frequently interchangeable in popular speech There is evidence that the Norman word galantin-a gallant and lover of the fair sex-was frequently written and pronounced yalantan or va lentln. With such foundation 1t is easy to credit the corruption of the phrase to the present-day Valentine Day or mayhap,S by a confusion of names, Bishop Valentine may have been estab- lished as the patron saint of lovers and sweethearts. although, as we have seen in feeting glimpse of his biography, there was no warrant whatever for such designation.
 As far back as 1721 when Valentine Day was already an established custom in England we find one British writer attempting to explain its origin on the premise that about this time of year the middle of February-the birds choose their mates and that probably this sug- gested the custom of young men and maidens adopting the same season as a time for choosing valentines or special loving friends. An even more plausible explanation Is that our latter-day feast of St. Valentine is merely the Christianized form of the classic Lupercaia-a feast held annually in Rome during the month of February in honor of Pan and Juno and the chief feature of the ceremonies of which was the practice of placing the names of young women in a box or other receptacle from which they were drawn, as chance directed, by young men,
 As the story goes the Christian clergy, despite repeated efforts, were never able to abolish this pagan practice. During the sixteenth century the church in the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

gun to bestir itself over what 1t considers the imminent importance of rules and regulations governing the rights of the atmosphere, now that it expects war balloons (both armed for battle and of the sort to spy out foreign countries) to be sailing through the atmosphere over Europe State balloons, military balloons, air ships belonging to private individuals and dirigibes like those mentioned as planned to carry passengers for regular traffic will all have to be governed by new legislation and in France the official bureau chiefs must report the ideas for the French chamber of deputies and senators to work on.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

person of St. Francis de Sales Severely forbade the custom of valentines or giving boys in writing the names of girls to be admired and attended on by them.' As substitute there was inaugurated the prac- tice of giving billets containing the names of certain saints, but in the end St. Fran cis was no more successful in this cru sade than his predecessors had been. The sentimental young folks returned to their old practices and restored the heart mart with all its old significance.
 Indeed they did more. They abolished, about this time, the practice of leaving solely to the young men the choice of mates. France took the lead in usher
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

sex who was met with on the street on the morning of the 14th of February.
 In Shakespeare's day the approved ob- servance of St. Valentines festival seems to have taken the form of challenging valentines, with the understanding that he or she who said it first on meeting person of the opposite sex should receive a present. In short, 1t was q custom very similar in effect to the Christmas gift greeting which long prevailed, and yet obtains in many parts of the United States. As time went on the practice was so amended that all the challenging was done by the young ladies and all the giving of presents by the young men who were successfully challenged. This GUS tom seems to have been the direct fore runner of the modern practice of exchang- ing printed or written valentines. In diary dated in London, on February IA, 1667 we read of an innovation in the form of a valentine token consisting of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14
Passenger Balloons Planned Tn France.

D EFORE many months have passed m away it is planned by what is A1 claimed 10 be a substantial conner cial corporation in France. to have giant steerable balloons flying, or perhaps more properly speaking. sailing, from a number of big French cities and carry Ing loads of passengers in competition with the railroads It is claimed for this new idea that it will be far cheap er to operate than railroads and the manufacturers of dirigible balloons are said to have guaranteed that the air ships for passengers will be safe and able to live up to schedule except under extraordinary weather conditions.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

UPID reigns every day-but on St. valentines Day be reigns supreme. N Of all the holidays in the year the fourteenth of February Is the only one set apart on which to make obeisanceoto the mischieyous, adorable little son of Venus. Not that the troublesome elf needs a day for his very own, or that he ap- precietes the honor, especially, for he well knows that every day is his own, that his arrows hy just as true and as straight on one day as on the other and that all men and all women of all ages have bowed to him and obeyed-al- ways
 But on St Valentines Day the spirit of Love is recognized more openly than at other times. The little winged godi or daned the God of Love by the Romans, and held in high esteem among their host of deties, sends his arrows broad cast. They turk in dainty missives of tinseled lace paper valentines, that keep the postmen busy delivering them. They tide in the petals of violets and roses and the sweetest of floral tributes to Milady Fair from her adorer. They go through the land and leave in their wake happiness and heartsease or disappoint- ment and rue. And lovers await them, expect them, welcome them.
 In Our Own Country.
 The ceIebra tion of the day in our own country is so well known that 1t scarcely needs setting forth. The custom of send ing ones valentines anonymously, how ever, seems to be largely confined to the English speaking people. And the mush- room growth of the so-called comic val entines, horrible distortions of even clod- hopper humor, is distinctly American. St. Valentine, If he be the one responsible for the day, could scarcely have counte- nanced such things as these. Our cele- bration is more a personal one to the individual than a collective one in which a number can get together and celebrate sfmulta neously. In fact, the sender of a valentine nowadays does 1t almost like the proverbial thief in the night.
 In the Churchyard.
 In Derbyshire, England. when a love lorn lass, who is not afraid of the dark and supernatural. wants to find out what her future lord and master looks like, she goes into the churehyard at midnight of St Valentines eve and, as the clock strikes F, commences running around the church and repeating without intermis- sion:
 "I SOW hempseed hempseed I SOW,
 He that loves me best
 Come after me now.
 Having made the circuit of the church 12 times, repeating all the while the touching little doggerel, she will behold, unless she drops with exhaustion from her rapid transit, moving picture oratori- cal stunt, the figure of her lover, dim and ghostly, following her footsteps around the church.
 In the county of Norfolk, England, as soon as it grows dark, packages are laid on doorsteps, the bell is rung and the bearer scoots away. The packages are supposed to contain presents, thus being
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

ems for the ensuing St. Val~-E2o Day festivities according to the osder of merit of their bruised physiognomies.
 In Ireland, the great feature of St. Val entine's Day is the breakdown dance. All the boys and all the girls engage in 1t, the couple dancing the longest winning the coveted applause. The victorious couple is looked upon as well-mated and not infrequently a wedding follows during Eastertide.
 They Dance Seriously.
 The dance itself is indeed q spectacle. With much ceremony the door of the barn is lifted from its hinges and the dance commenced as soon as the fiddler or the player of the bagpipes orders the couples out The floor of the barn is of mud; hence the door is laid on the ground to form a suitable surface for the dancers Goldsmith describes the dancers ins his "Deserted Village"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

The minister of public works for the French Republic has already begun to outline the rules and regulations which Will govern airships in future sailing through the air. The French minister mas decided to call all air craft by the name of 'aeronefs." As balloons pro- ceed through the air more after the man ner In which ships force their passage through the water than like any other form of locomotion, the French govern ment proposes to treat all vehicles pro ceeding through the air as ship or vessel rather than as in the nature of an automobile or railroad car.
 The French foreign office has also be-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

TT Is claimed that seven acres of apple
 trees recently sold in the state of
 Washington at $3,000 an acre. In the same vicinity were other small fruit farms where the land was just as highly valued. xThe returns from these small fruit farms, where intensive cultivation Is practiced, are said to run Ill, to thousands of dollars per nnnum. In Delaware there is single apple orr hard said to bring its owner $100o0 gear. When husbandry reaches such figures there must be brains. of high order tehind the pruning knife and cultivator.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

There Is said to be no more health life than that of the intensive farmt and the hours are short ard the wot very light. Two-year-old apple tired, when transplnnted from the nursery D the apple farms, will bear some fruit te third year and five boxes of fine frit can be obtained the sixth year.
 After this the trees respond annuay with plenty of fine fruit, which, win modern methods of transmitting fruit h refrigerator cars permits the apples b be forwarded to great cities where l. munerative prices can be obtained.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

It is noticeable that the old-fashioned apple tree and not the new-fangled or semi-tropical fruits appears to be the key to this unusual wealth in horticul- ture In fact, no single crop is as valu- able as the apple. The demand is un- failing and where close intensive culti- vation is made the returns are said to be more certain than from any other form of crops. Chickens and pigs are raised between the apple trees and with the five and seven acre farms the great bulk of the labor can be dor by the owner, his wife and children.