The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-02-14
DAY OF valentine
This Is "ROses Are Red and
ViOlets Are Blue" Period.
Old Customs Still Carried Out
by People of Today.
FIRST KNOWN IN 426 A. D.
Wild ReyeIs Often Ended in
Shocking Orgies.
Later Cupid and, Psyche Inau-
gurated a Drama.
"ROses are red and vio1ets blue;
Sugar is sweet and so are you"

| Sugar is sweet and so are you
smile to your lips, it's a sign you never
made valentine in school and gave
/ it to the girl you liked best. And if
| you got a valentine with the same lit
home walking on air. OF course,
you'll say you've forgotten, but we all
know it happened for we've all been
there" Those were the happiest days
the most care-free days-of our
| lives. Those were the days when VAL
entine Day was the real thing
In many of the schools of the pres
j ent period, especially in the cities, the
old custom of having a Valentine box
has been abolished But the spirit is
will take teacher with an "eagle eye"
to intercept the little messages of
youthful love today. How many little
| hearts will be made glad and how
many fights there will be between lit
tie boys who discover that both have
sent Valentines to the same little girl,
/ But the school children have not a
| monopoly on the day. The older
younger set are on the job in the same
old way; beautiful creations of lace
and paper, as well as flowers and choc-
| olates are being exchanged. The
youth who is afraid he hasn't a
| chance. yet cherishes just a rap of
| hope, has sent her the loveliest valen-
awful shattering of a weeks salary,
| in the hope of breaking down her
| barrier of indifference and winning
her favor. And our fathers and moth
ers, our grandfathers and grand
mothers, behold the whole affair and
| dream of their youth-of the days
when valentine was a thing made
with paper and paste and pretty pic
lures and appropriate verses written
! on it Today is Loves day and Cupid
is king of festivities, just as he has
| been in years gone by.
Back In 426 A. d.
| The true origin of Valentine Day
| is lost in the haze of the ages. AS
| far back as the year 426 A. D., in
| Christian Rome, we find youths and
maidens observing the feast of Luper-
Gala, the joint festival of Juno and
Pan. on February Is. The names of
young women were cast into an urn
and drawn out by blindfolded young
| men, the associations thus formed
| usually lasting year. The feast
| ended in eXtravagant revels-often in
shocking orgies. But Pope Galcius
| at length instigated the custom of
those of maidens in public drawings
and the observance of the day was
4 firmly set for February Ia, in honor
of the pitiful death of good Bishop
st. Valentine, who was beheaded for
performing the simple miracle of
.
daughter.
Following this date. there is a lapse
of several centuries before we again
find information concerning the day
Then. during the fifteenth and six
teenth centuries we again find young
! people celebrating in France and Eng
land by writing the names of some
one of the opposite sex on a piece of
paper and dropping it in box. The
names were then ''shook up" and each
youth and maiden drew a slip of pa
per, the one whose name was drawn
becoming his or her valentine.
Greek Mythology.
Being interested in Valentine day.
with which Cupid is so irrevocably as
| ISOLATED, we have but to turn to the
mythology of ancient Greece to find a
story concerning the little god of love
that runs. in brief, like this:
Venus, the mother of Cupid. was the
most beautiful of all goddesses and she
was intensely jealous of Psyche, who
every one said was very lovely indeed.
So she sent Cupid to wound Psyche's
i heart and make her fall in love with
some horrible creature. But when
Cupid saw her lying asleep he was so
overcome with her beauty that he sent
an arrow into his own heart, with the
result that he fell rnadly in love with
her. OF course. Venus was then an
grier than ever with poor Psyche.
So the Oracle to whom all good
Greeks went for advice decreed that
Psyche would have to marry some
horrible monster to atone to Venus.
but while Psyche was sleeping one
| day the West Wind bore her away to
a lovely palace, which she was told
was to be hers when the master
of the palace came to her at night,
she found his voice SO kind and gem
tie that she soon grew to love and
trust him implicitly, altho he always
left her at dawn and did not return
until dark. He told her of many
things, but above all, warned her that
she must never doubt him if she was
PLY until one day when the West
Wind brought Psyche's sisters to visit
her and they laughed at her for loving
a man she had never seen.
''You have married monster" they
I told her. xiii him at once and then
we can all live in this beautiful palace
together"
| So Psyche doubted. and with her
! lamp and dagger, crept softly into
her husbands room to kill him. But
when the light fell upon him and she
saw that it was the, beautiful little
Cupid lying there, smiling in his sleep,
her heart failed her, and awakening,
Cupid cried:
Cupid Flew Away.
ooh Psyche. why did you doubt
me?'' and flew out the window.
For many days Psyche searched for
him in vain, going at last to Venus.
who set her many arduouS asks to
perform. At last Venus sent her to the
dark lower world to get some of Pro-
serpina's beauty and on her way back.
thinking she might meet Cupid and
desiring to appear as lovely as posi-
BILE, she opened the box. But only a
strange aroma fioated from it and
Psyche fell over as if dead. Then
along came Cupid and restoring her to
life, bore her away to Mount Olympus.
where he begged Venus to forgive her.
The goddess at last yielded to the en-
treaties of all the other gods and god
desses and forgot her jealousy. giving
| Psyche a magic drink that straight
| way caused her to lose her mortal
form and become a lovely fairy.
Since that time she and Ct1nid have