The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1910-02-11

Nm Very pretty, we were both
@wxzaaS we'll pleased with it. But
am also this year my
wife's valentine, and it will cost me
five pounds; but that l 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
e%ntine, she having drawn me, which ]
an sorry for, it easing me of some
thing more that I must have given to
others. But l 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, l 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."
Pepys has a great deal to tell about
valentines, and what he says shows
that the day was observed in the high
est fashionable circles and that expen-
plSOSHtS WSIS given. IIS uC-
scribes how the duke of York, being
the valentine of Miss Stuart, a IA
beauty, gave her a jewel valued
at $500 and how Lord Vaudeville, an
other valentine of this lucky woman,
presented her with a ring worth $500.
a man had to have money to keep up
with st. Valentines procession in the
age of King Charles H.!
But fully as interesting and much
more strange were the st. Valentines
customs among the common people.
Many Of the o~bservances were singu.
larly like those of Halloween. They
were not SO grewsome, but the resem'
blance is unmistakable. For instance,
writes: Last Friday was Valentines
day and the night before l got five
bay leaves and pinned four of them to
the four corners Of my pillow and the
fifth to the middle, and then il ]
dreamt of my sweetheart, Betty said
we should be married before the year
was out. But to make it more sure
l boiled an egg hard and took out the
yolk and filled it with salt and ate il
shell and all without speaking OF
drinking after it. We also wrote oul
lovers names upon bits of paper and
rolled them up in clay and put them
into water and the first that same tc
the surface was to be our valentine
1Nhoro ho No hnop nnIlaCc 1auionc fnv
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 hat
on that day 200. 900 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
1t contained a small rib, carved OF
ivory and covered with white satin
and 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
Gave the gay scene a vacant air.
She came-'twas all replete.
"Well, now, I call that capital
cried the lively lass. after such q
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
a better fate for the ingenuity of his
valentine.
st. Valentines day has always beer
a ~favorite with the poets. 1t is men
toned by Chaucer, Shakespeare, Goe
the, Dome, Gay, Lydgate and others
and many first-class versifers 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 tt
it the charm, the romance, the poetr,
of other times.
Happily, in the last few years thu
comic valentines have been more hu
morous and less vulgar.-The Sunda,
Magazine.