Show Tactics > of 9 fchCit Little P l O o HOUGH tho little pagan god who nearly always accompanies A ac-companies St Valentino on February 14 has tho same purpose wherever ho goes yet ho does not wr everywhere employ the same methods for Its accomplishment ac-complishment His tactics tac-tics differ In different places Ho Is as versatile as ho Is capricious In Now York city ho still finds a way to myladys heart by going to her In a dainty bit of pasteboard tlssuo paper tinsel and paint all tucked way In a scented envelope In Berlin ho has recently re-cently found a now means of wounding wound-ing his victims In tho cooing postals which are so constructed that when squeezed they will ImItate tho plaintive plain-tive note of a dovo In moro prosaic London cupid has abandoned the postman post-man for the telephone and tho upto date London lover no longer sends his sweetheart an ardent message by letter let-ter but recites It over the wire Into her very ear Whether or not he discloses dis-closes his Identity depends on tho reply re-ply ho gets Yet tho most picturesque St Valentino Valen-tino day customs aro not to bo found In the big cities but In out of tlme way regions where human nature retaIns re-tains much of Its oldtime simplicity In somo of the rural villages of England Eng-land for example tho season Is observed ob-served in much tho same way as In the time of Queen Elizabeth and many a quaint supcrsltlon still survives In remote villages of Derbyshire the custom still prevails of maidens lookIng look-Ing out of their windows In the early morn of St Valentines day to learn who their lovers may be Every girl who wants to get married Is supposed to Jump out of bed Just at daybreak and dressing hastily open a wondow facing the street There she must wait until somo man passes by who tips his hat and says to her Good morrow tis St Valentines day In reply she says Gooamorrow sir Ill bo your valentine As a usual thing however tho passerby Is not a stranger A Derbyshire girl usually keeps tho shutters closed until through some crevice in them she espies tho man she wants Of all observances however the tnost popular in England Is that best I known as sweeping the girls If a girl Is not kissed by an admirer before be-fore nine oclock on St Valentines morning she is said to bo dusty Accordingly Ac-cordingly all the young men of the neighborhood on learning that somo young woman has remained unklssed past tho fatal hour make an attack on her house with brooms and after sweeping her thoroughly each of her callers kisses her Ire French province of Lorraine has a custom somewhat similar which Is called beating the ladles It dates back to tho sixteenth century On St Valentines morning every marriageable mar-riageable daughter Is expected to arise at daybreak and bake a heartshaped cake for the first young man who may come for It If she should oversleep however and her lover should call to find her all unmindful of him and the occasion which brought him to her door then his rivals aro privileged to punish her In tho following fashion Armed with wisps of hay they may invade in-vade her room and compelling her to get up they may administer a not es peclally ungentle thrashing In the county of Norfolk England there still survives a custom which recalls the times when St Valentines day was observed throughout Great Britain and tho continent by the pro bcntatton of substantial gifts In thIs way not only lovers remembered their mistresses but parents their children husbands their wives and In the merry mer-ry days of Charles II husbands gavo presents to other mens wives Among the young women of Devonshire Devon-shire tho belief still lingers that they are able to learn who their future husbands hus-bands will bo It they go through a certain peculiar formula shortly aftertime after-time midnight that ushers In St Valen tines day Each maiden should go alone to the porch of tho vlllaga church and there wait until 1230 a m Then as the bell strikes tho halt hour she should return home scattering hempseed In her path and repeating Hempseed I sow hempseed I mow Ho that will my true love beCome be-Come rake this hempseed after me And It she Is going to bo married In tho next year she will Indeed sea her lover behind her clad In a winding wind-ing sheet and raking up tho hempseed In many parts of Germany the chll dren find St Valentines day a special occasion to obtain charity from young women who cannot refuse them without with-out being threatened with the fate of becoming old maids In certain villages vil-lages of Saxony little boys and girls go from house to house singing a song which has been translated as follows into English rhyme God bless the baker If youll be the giver Ill be the taker 1Ma h j r L 4 e7i mndffi 3roR8nk rt L |