Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-14

afore | see you l thought all women
was alike, but now | find what a
reg lar soft-hearted inkred'lous turnip
/ must ha' been fer there Amt no.
body like you though 1 like you bet
ter than nothing at all So ! take
the privilege of the day, Mary M
dear, as the genl'm'n in difficulties
did wen he walked out of a Sunday,
to tell you that the first and only
time I see, your likeness was took
on my heart in much quicker time
and brighter colorS than ever a like
ness was took by the protect macheen
witch p'raps you may have heard on,
Mary my dear, altho' it does finish
a portrait and put the frame and
glass on complete with a hook at the
end to hang 1t up by, and all in two
seconds and a quarter. Except OF
me, Mary my dear, as your walen-
tine, and think over what I've said.
My dear Mary, 1 will now conclude,
your love sick P1CkWlCk-
At one time people sailed forth with
a net on the 14th of February in order
to insure their happiness for the re-
mainder of the year by catching two
SparrowS and an owl. And the course
of true love was sure to run smooth II
one caught ones lover asleep on Val
entine morning.
In Scotland. however, and in some
other countries the sacred rites of the
day implied more important things
than the identity of ones playmate
for twelve hours or so. Such super
stition came to be attached to the
drawing of names that life partner
ships were often formed in that way.
The Connoisseur evidently got hold
of the diary of some young lady when
1t printed this extract in l7o4:
Last Friday was st. Valentines
day, and the night before 1 got five
bay leaves and pinned four on the
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
1t with salt; and when I went to bed
ate it shell and all, without speaking
or drinking after it. We wrote our
lofers' names upon bits of paper, and
rolled them up in clay and put them
in water; and the first that rose up
was to be our valentine. Would you
think it? Mr.. Blossom was my man.
l lay abed and shut my eyes all morn
ing, till he came to our house, for 1
would not have seen another man be-
fore him for all the world"
* x x
OTHER maids of other lands We're
~ less retiring than this one, how.
ever. 1t was often the custom in GER
tain places for the ladies to make the
advances to the gentlemen of their
choice. This may have been a relic of
an ancient Persian festival which was
called "merdgiran," in honor of the
angel guardian of women. The day
set aside for this celebration was
known as "Womans day." and wom-
en- had power over even their huS-
bands for "a hours.
Any number of other origins are
suggested, and whichever one accepts,
it is plain that the day has strayed
far from its original meaning.
One legend has it that during the
reign in Rome of the Emperor Claud-
ius, often called Claudius the Cruel,
a certain high priest named Valen-
tine officiated in temple near the
palace. So popular was he that his
congregation was composed Of high
and low, rich and poor, alike. During
"a series of long wars which were rag