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Show Jng Just a Little Out of the " jjlftary Concerning Observance fljfGood Old St, Valentine's Day J jtlwt the custom of ob- P lino's day Is dctcrlor.it- br iK not always right. Z ftov. St. Vulcntlue In in .j fRte good old saintly f, ivcrlng with Joy as he j'l Uted place, on high, tho t r dono hi his name. J,0,111 tell you that ?.wilcH the observance f day la deteriorating In n of practically all of Cm i"irE' "iate more alro- pending of horrifying ti ?,Citcr " vc that oven 9 er editor would rr- , ghlp. During recent V j .'adk t Ml .III yearn tho "comic" valentine has como to the Jumping: off placo. and each succeeding succeed-ing fourteenth day of February ft Is being be-ing shoved a littlo nearer tho brink; presently It will bo pushed over. But Iho honest, straightforward valentine, valen-tine, tho missive of lovo and pledges of Iovp, Is with th people stronger than ever. Dealers will toll you that them has ben no appreciable decrease in the demand for tho bettor class of valentines, and that people do not begrudge two or three dollars for a beautiful creation of painted and written- tenderness. Who St. Valentino Was. Thorc are a great many Saints Yalen-lln. Yalen-lln. But only one St. Valentino Is tho patron of tho day. He was a bishop who nourished, more or less secretly, along about 271. Ho was persecuted to the limit, and was beaten almost to death, and eventually wax Jlnl.shcd by having his head cut nft' with a big ax. All this was done to him. It is writ, inertly because be-cause lie opened tho eyes of a blind girl, tho daifghtcr of his jailer. It so happened that iho custom now observed on St. Valentino's day Is one of pagan origin, as a great many customs are. The young folks of gay old Home used to have the lime of thlr lives on the loth day of February, the feast of Lupercalia, and the joint festival of Juno and Tan. At these festivals the names of young men and women were, drawn from an urn. and they wero supposed to bo lovers, and at length to becom husband and wife. In view of the fact, hnwevor. that tho drawing was done by u blind man, the selections wero often off-color. Bo-sides, Bo-sides, the post -general of the Roman empire, em-pire, being a pe.rverse postmaster general, as most postmaster generates are. declared de-clared that tho drawing was a lottery and the results could not be printed In tho newspapers If tho newspapers wero to bn sent through tho malls. Seeing that tho names could only appear ap-pear in the society column of the city edition', tho practice sort of died of Inanition. In-anition. Custom Is Modified. Along about 4G0 the church officials viewed with alarm, as the opposing political po-litical party does In its platform declaration, declara-tion, the scandalous orgies that closed tho Juno-Pan exhibition every year, and they substituted tho names of saints for women and took the blinkers off tho drawer. It was this custom that was being followed that the name of St. Valentine Val-entine was drawn. It being the anniversary anniver-sary of the day when the ax carno in contact with the back of his neck, the day whs named for him. In the pagan times the day was significant signi-ficant of tho time when birds mate, aud. as nobobdy could sec any good reason why human beings should not mato at that convenient lime, as well as birds, and moreover, as it lb about the timo when "the. young man's fancy." et.. It grew to be a regular thing for young men to send (heir sweethearts, or girls whom they wanted tor that Job. gifts. Inasmuch as the young men didn't run to writing very much, but rather to the battle ax and the wrestling mat. the remembrances re-membrances on St. Valentine's day wero substantial. When Valentines Were Born. II was not until the fourteenth century. fo the dope book says, that valentines were made by main strength of brawn and a highly non-facile pi.-n. But the heart and thu will was behind that pen, and they ground out. lov versus, more or loss rythmic and more or less blotted, but the verses told the slory of their strong desire and the girl always understood under-stood girls have a great way of understanding. under-standing. The home-made valentine was generally gen-erally a spontaneous dingus, and It looked 'he part. Thero are sonio'of thorn left In tho world yet. As Indicated, they are not much to nok at. but they contain a pile more real, true, genuine, blown-in-the-bottlc love than tho hlgh-falutln' eoni ruptions that are sold loday. In olden times, loo, mothers with marriageable mar-riageable daughters were on the job at St. Valentine parlies, and when tin; mating mat-ing hour came huz.ing around they were .loluiny-on-Lhc-Bpot with the gay young things, for whom they wero trying to tlx up a conifortablo roost. Ecatly Valentine Writers. in the latter pari, of the eighteenth century, and to a lesser extent before that time, tho market- was Hooded with little books tilled with verses calculated to melt the hardest maiden's toughest ventricle. 'J'hcso little books bore various vari-ous titles, such as "Everybody ills Own Valentino Writer," "Valentines for Ten Cents; Why I'ay More?" "Jf You Don't Know What 'You Want to Say, Use Fllrtem's Heady Valentino Compiler." Pertinent extracts, swearing undying affection and devotion without time limit, were copied from these books and tinnscribed to honic-mado valentines, usually of the design of a heart, cut with a dull pair of scissors from a piece of wrapping paper smoothed out by Insertion Inser-tion between the. leaves of tho lilble. Tho ragged edges of these valentines were supposed to bo slgnltlcant. In the ilrst place, they wero alleged to bo artistic, like, a piece of soap box painted with varnish aud crlsu-orosscd with a graln- Ing tool I3 Biippqscd to he the acmo of somo school of art or other; they were supposed to show that most people's hearts that enter Into tho turmoils of love's turbulences usually como . out ragged. The latter Idea Is substantiated by tho later Cupid, who shoots darts through your heart, bigger than a ratholo. leaving leav-ing great streams of blood gushing therefrom. there-from. Whon you gel stung by one of these Jagged javelins of Cupid you are supposed to bo In love and excruciatingly happy, which no duobt you are. Valentines by the Trusts. The valentine was not always anonymous. anony-mous. Tho ones that used to bo writ-ton writ-ton by the swain himself had the name of the swain aforesaid prominently attached, at-tached, with a flourish that would make the signature of a bank cashier look like plain, vortical writing. These swains, however, used to get called down so much by the fathers and mothers of the girls who got the effusions effu-sions that the anonymity practice began, and It continues to this day. It is saTo. sane and sound, especially seeing that the girl knows intuitively who the valentine val-entine Is from, anyway. The passing of the "Valentino Writer's Friend" began In 1S00, whon tho manufactured manu-factured valentine appeared on tho market. mar-ket. These at ilrst wero merely printed p:iper,. highly colored and containing plc-mrns plc-mrns of Cupid and his arrows In vurl- ous postures, and somollmcs with doves carrying melllng messages In their beaks. Nowadays valentines, the higher-priced ones, at least, have commercial value which Is belltting In this commercial age and are In tho shape of cravat-holders, out of which you never can get a necktie, neck-tie, without pulling out the whole blamed ounch, or glove boxes, or other things like that. Tho valentine mostly runs to" celluloid, nlthough there arc somo Into tho manufacture of which real Ivory enters. Poetry arid Such. No less than ten hundred million vcr?os of poetry of uniform disability have been written about Valentino day and what it menus, and telling about how the wrltor feds, or. bettor perhaps, how ho thinks lie would feel If lie wore writing them on Ills own account instead of at 10 cents a column. A sensible sample of the verso that was handwritten in the days when everybody wrote their own valentine poetry is found in a private collection In New York. The valentlno was sent to Pcrmlllla A. Wainwrlght in 175.". nnd this Is what tho sender said to Pcrmlllla: "Round Is tho ring that has no end; So Is my love to you. my friend." Tho Transition to Cupid. Martha Martin, writing In tho Canadian Canadi-an Magazine, has told why and how St. Valentino was supplanted by Cupid. Martha bursts Into song about tha 11 transition in this wise: St, Valentino was an old locksmith by trad Who lived In 'a district near Rome. mmW He owned a small shop, to which, cai mm after year. mmmm The youths of the vlllao would comi. Umm I'ov liorti in thla shop Jump for all who Mmu would buy. Strings of wonderful magical keys mmM With power to unlock any fair maiden's UmM hcnrl. mm The youth It would happen to pleas. Mmm But only onco yearly wero thesa key for sale, So, he who a maiden would wed. bMMm .Must nucds on tho Fourteenth of Feb- ruary go Wm To purchase- from St. Valentine; mmm And thousands of keys on that morning mmm wero sold. As each ardent youth thltlior flocked, Affections wero plighted, and love pledse mmm made. mW While hearLs all re?pouslvo unlocked. Mmm But theso days aro over, the- dear saint Is dead, Sweet maids aro not readily won. Um A raco of winged Cupids to cirth. hx mmt conic down. IH And lovo'a work Is differently done- MWM A bow and a qulvor of arrows they bear, mMMm These swift snortlvo boys at Uielr side. And fiercely they aim at each tendor mmm young heart. Their shaft.-? flylntr oft far and wide. Mmm They wound, hut tney kindle, tho ilame JWM of true lovo: fma. No arrow o'er pierces In vain; HH Alas! that no. heart can bo conquered UH those days, OH Without some infliction of pain. KH Saniivel Wcller's Valentino. Our dear old friend. Samlvc! Wellcr. mmm who constitutes a great portion of Ihf HB lifo and joy of Dickens's "Pickwick Papers." onco sent a valentine to his HH heart's dolre. This is tho way Saniivel ll went at II: HH "Lowly erect uv. afore I sec you, I fmwM thought all women was alike, but I now iH find what a reg'lar Hofthoadcd, Inkrcd'- Ions turnip I 'must ha' been, for there mm iln't nobody like you. " Kxeept of mwM in Ilary. my dear, as your valentine." mmm Mr. Wellor IId not rosort to poolry. Jmmm nut he H'l'l ov(rylhlng that is to bo told lH In a Valentino. mmm Tho postmaster general of today, as ImmU was the postmaster general of ye olden Lime in noim( is pervcrso. Ho has issued flH jfclors lo his minions that they shall not IH lo-opt for transmission through tho mall3 IHH ;ilcnllne witli spangles aud fuzr.y stuft IH m ihem that's likely to come off. unless HH llioy nrc seuled In a tight envelope. This ll involves the paying of the first -class Wmmm |