New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1917-02-09

H''' i'iiillt we're % sweet
or saucy documents, of lighter import, like the
sugary rhymes of our grandmothers' time nor the
flowers ana gloves of today. Instead, they were
real human beings whom destiny paired for the
space of a t~welvemOnth.
1t was the duty of the Roman youth on the day
OF the feast of Lupercalia, which, according to
ancient chroniclers, comedies with our st. vaIen-
tlnes day, to repair to the Sacred urn in search
of n sweetheart. In the urn were the names Of
the maldens of the neighborhOod, written on Sins
OF parchment. The Roman youth never thought
or shrinking from the ordeal. Any attempt on
his part to go around by the back streets on his way
TO business or to spend the day on the golf links
instead of doing his duty as a man and n citizen
would have marked him out as a man with no
sporting blood in his veins. SO, assuming nm mir
or gay Indifference, he took his place in the line.
called upon the gods for succor and boldly
plunged his hand into the Sacred urn.
Then, like the historic IIorner, he pulled out. let
us hope, not a plum, but, in the modern language
of admiration, n peach. If so, his face lighted de-
l~ightfully and he hurried out to buy an unusually
rich and varied assortment Of sacrifices for tbe
altar of Venus, Cupid and the rest Of the really
important d~ivinities. If, however, fate had gone
against him and he had drawn an undesirable
maiden from the bowl, striking his clenched fist
fercely upon his brow, he strobe in silence from
the place of doom.
But he never thought Of demanding n second
helping. No, the gods had willed it, and so 1t
was to be. He had acquired n sweetheart for n
year, and he stuck by her until next st. Valen-
tines day gave him the opportunity to break the
engagement.
1t was in the year 496 that Pope GeIasius,
noting with pain the ancient method Of observing
the feast of Lupercalia, which took place on
February IS, decided that something would have
to be done about 1t. AS the youths of the time
seemed to be strangely addicted to the practice
of pulling the names of young women out of the
Sacred urn, 1t was decided that 1t would not do
to deprive them altogether of this playful diver
sion. Instead, they could be led by easy stages
away from the heathenish portent Of the game.
SO the leaders of the reform movement hit upon
the scheme of permitting the Sacred urn to per-
form on its usual day, but the names of saints and
martyrs were substituted upon the papers which
the youths picked out of this receptacle for those
of maidens in the community. Then, reasoned the
reform leaders, the youths could consider that the
saints whose names they drew out were their
patron saints and could pattern their lives by
those of these worthy persons. This would be
quite as exciting as picking out the name of ones
next seasons girl.
And to make the Transformation of this day Of
pagan rites into a Christian festival complete, 1t
was decided by the reform element that the day
should henceforth be known as st. Valentines
day and that 1t should be set on February II in
honor of the fact that in 27O A. D. the good bishop,
afterward st. Valentine, was beheadcd by the
prosecutors Of the early Christians because he
had performed the remarkable miracle of making
his jailer's blind daughter see.
The Day Of Lovers.
st. Valentines day February IA indeed became,
but, alas for human frailty, although the name was
changed, the spirit of the day remained as before.
Down to our own time it Is still the day of lovers
the world over. The names of the saints which
came out of the Sacred urn instead of those of the
pretty girls of old Rome were powerless to turn
the thoughts of young men away from love and
toward self-sacrifice and piety. The
ancient usages persisted, and thus originated the
situation whereby an ecclesiastic Of
life and pious history has given his nam
for all time to q festival devoted to the impas-
stoned sentiment of lovers.
In later days, when valentines had cOme to be
delicate missives in which lovers expressed their
nrdOr in their own verses, the duke of Orleans
one of the many great personages who thought
the inditing of valentine verses not too small q
goal for his pOetical ambitions. II was after
Charles was taken prisoner at the battle of Agin-
court, in 1415. that he did the greatest amount Of
valentine poetizing. He composed the first
valentine which now exists. AS he was a
prisoner of England for 25 years, he had plenty of
lime to polish up these dainty ~epistles, and he left