Show tactics of attle fagan ged HOUGH the little pagan god who nearly always accompanies st valentine on february 14 has the same purpose wherever ho he goes yet he does not everywhere employ the same methods for its accomplishment his tactics differ in different places ho he la Is as versatile as he Is capricious in new york city he still finds a way to io ray Iny ladys heart by going to tier her in a dainty bit of pasteboard tissue paper tinsel and paint all tucked way in a scented envelope in derlin berlin he has recently found a new means of wounding his victims in the cooing portals po which are so constructed that when squeezed they will imitate the plaintive note ot of a dove in more prosale prosaic london cupid has abandoned the postman for the telephone and the up to date london lover no longer sends his sweetheart an ardent message by letter hut but recites it over the wire into her ber very ear yet the most picturesque st valentine day customs are not to be found in the big cities but in out of the way regions where human nature retains much of its old time simplicity in some of the rural villages of england for example the season is observed in much the same way as in the time of queen elizabeth and many a quaint superstition still survives in remote villages of derbyshire the custom still prevails ot or maidens looking 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 bondow facing the street there she must wait until some man passersby pas pass sesby eCby who tips his hia hat and says to her good morrow itis st valentines day in reply she bays says good morrow sir ill be your valentine As a usual thing however the passerby Is not a st stranger A derbyshire girl usually keeps the shutters closed until through some crevice la in them she espies the man she wants of all observances however the most popular in england Is that best known as sweeping the girls it a girl la Is not kissed by an admirer before nine on st valentines morning she Is said to be dusty accordingly all the young men of the neighborhood on learning that somo some young woman has remained past tile the fatal hour make an attack on her house with brooms and after sweeping her thoroughly each of her callers kisses her tiie the french province of lorraine Lorr alno has a cus custom torn somewhat similar which is called beating the ladles ladies it dates back to the sixteenth century an t ln st valentines morning every marriageable daughter Is expected to arise at daybreak and bake babe a heart shaped cake for the first young man who may come for it it if she should oversleep however and her lover should call to fand her all unmindful of him and the occasion which brought him to her door then his rivals are privileged to punish her in the following fashion armed with wisps of hay they may invade her room and compelling her to get et up they may adm administer inister a riot especially eci ally 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 arltain and the continent by the presentation sen tation of substantial gifts in this way not only lovers remembered their mi stresses but parents their children husbands their wives and in the merry days of charles 11 II husbands gave presents to other mens wives f r er 1 I f amk ff A |