Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1910-02-10

b MA my wife's valentine, and
n M8(7@ brought her name written
EsS2a upon blue paper in gold
letters, done by himself.
- Very pretty, we were both
SzzznzzaazsS we'll pleased with it. But
I am also this year my
wlfe's valentine, and it will cost me
| five pounds; but that | must have laid
| out if we had not been Valentines.
Two days later Pepys says: Il find
that Mrs. Pierce's little girl is my val
entine. she having drawn me, which |
am sorry for, it easing me of some,
thing more that l must have given to
others. But / do first observe the
fashion of drawing notices as well
as names, so that Pierce, who drew
my wife, did also draw a motto, and
| his girl drew another for me. What
mine was, forget, but my wife's was
Most courteous and most fair which,
as it may be used as an engagement
upon each name, might be very pref.
ty."
But fully as interesting and much
more strange were the st. Valentines
customs among the common people.
Many of the observances were singu-
larly like those of Halloween. They
were not so grewsome, but the resem-
blance is unmistakable. For instance,
pert miss, who lived in the 175O's,
writes: Last Friday was Valentines
day and the night before | got five
bay leaves and pinned four of them tc
the four corners of my pillow and the
fifth to the middle, and then if ]
dreamt of my sweetheart, Betty said
we should be married before the year
was out. But to make it more sure
| boiled an egg hard and took out the
yolk and filled it with salt and ate it
shell and all without speaking or
drinking after it, We also wrote our
lovers names upon bits of paper and
rolled them up in clay and put them
| into water and the first that same to
| the surface was to be our valentine %
There have been endless devices for
valentines, but perhaps the queerest
on record is that described in the fol-
| lowing little story One st. Valen-
tines morning an English gentleman
remarked to his pretty daughter that
on that day 100000 more letters than
the average passed through the Lon.
don twopenny post.
why, papa" replied the girl, that's
| just the number of young folks that
must be in love with each other
that's the way to reckon"
At that moment a bachelor friend
of the family came in and learning the
subject of their talk, drew a small
package from his pocket
Here's my valentine" he exclaimed,
and presented it to the young woman
It contained small rib, carved OF
| ivory and covered with white satin
ana ornamented with true lovers
knots. There were also some verses,
of which this is one:
| Till Adam had a partner given,
Much as fair Eden bloomed like Heaven,
| His bliss was incomplete.
No social friend those joys to share
/
| She came-'twas all replete.
We'll, now, l call that capital,
cried the lively lass. after such a
valentine you must take the hint, my
dear sir It's settled. you must get
married"
"Will you marry me?" he asked
81 marry you? No. You are toe
| old. But there are many women OF
your age. Why don't you ask one OF
| them?"
He had to be contented with this
sorry consolation, though he deserved
? better fate for the ingenuity of his
valentine.
St. Valentines day has always been
a favorite with the poets. 1t is men
toned by Chaucer, Shakespeare, Goe
the. Dome, Gay, Lydgate and others
and many first-class versifiers have
written valentines. Of these none is
more remarkable than Macaulay. That
renowned scholar and historian never
missed giving a st. Valentines tribute
to his favorite nieces and his valen
tine to the Countess Beauchamp
/ daughter of the earl of Stanhope
ranks with the most admirable of his
compositions.
1t is a pity that the fine old festiva
of ST. Valentines day is not made
more of by this generation. Some
thing should be done to bring back t.
it the charm, the romance, the poetry
of other times.
Happily. in the last few years the
comic valentines have been more hu
morous and less vulgar.-The Sunday
Magazine.