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Show Legend of Valentine Day . . . Be my Valentine! Today is the day to express our tender thoughts of love and affection to our friends and dear ones, for February U, St. Valentine's Day has been set aside by custom and tradition as a sentimental holiday. However compared to former years, it does not have much significance to us. andJ almost .obsolete, for at one t e- 1 rJnkeJ with Christmas and New Year's in importance. The story of it's origin is a f YT' and uite Probably true although there is no way of Proving it's authenticity. Being named for a Christiaif bfshop Valentine, who lived in the 3rf century after the death its evolution makes interesting reading; Valentine was nSI aint by the Church in that er after his death, and theay of his death was set aside as a feast-ing feast-ing day. The Roman youSJ and maidens for whom he gYve Ms S him honour, and so he came to be known as the "lovers' saint". The story is that Emperor Cla-us Cla-us at Rome issued a decree for-bidding for-bidding marriage, for married men were loath to leave their famUles !TJr'JhU3 d,d n make good soldiers, according to the Emperor's notion, and as soldiers were needed in warfare, he decided marriage should be abolished The good priest heard of this and was sad. He invited young lovers to come to him and secretly married them When the Emperor heard of this, he had the priest imprisoned, impris-oned, where he languished and died, a martyr to love. This seems a far cry from what we know as Valentine's Day now, doesn't it? However, gradually, the approach of Valentine's Day came to be heralded by the exchange ex-change of pretty sentiments, . written with flourishes on scented paper, and decorated profusely with hearts, arrows, doves, and various other tokens of love. In 1709 there appeared a book of verses, aptly called, "The Young Man's Valentine Writer". It contained con-tained many verses suited to men and women, and a collection of pretty and elaborate valentine sentiments. sen-timents. These were copied with great care upon cards or sheets of paper and presented to "My Valentine." Fair Ladies actually blushed as they read the love missives, mis-sives, for the pretty verses were not mere sentiments to them; they were actual declarations of love. Presently, the manufactured valentine came into style, and It has taken the place of the individual in-dividual sentiments. Because it was much less trouble, men purchased pur-chased their valentine favours instead in-stead of writing them by hand, until now the real significance of the valentine, or what it originally was, has lost it's dignity and simple sim-ple beauty. .At any rate, even what the holiday is today, it is worth per-' petuatlng and improving upon, for no one ever gets more love and appreciation than he wants. This is the thing that makes life worth living So take this day and opportunity op-portunity to express your thoughts of affection to those you care about. It will also make you happier for it, and greatly enrich your own life. |