| Show CUPIDS CARNIVAL copyright by T 1 everybody knows that st bt valen tite day falls on february but probably very few can give an accurate and intelligent account of its origin or are aware abart of the fact that the good st valentine for whom it is named never either directly or indirectly bore any relation whatever to its observances when christianity began to shed abed its first luminous rays over the hearts of rome borne one of the chief difficulties encountered in the jeon conversion version of those old heathens athens he was their deep rooted attachment to the many festivals and customs which they had haa so long observed in honor of their duties the early fathers of the church found it impossible to detach them from those ceremonies despair ing at length of being able to do so they sought bought to so modify the form of these heathen observations as an to give them a religious rt character thereby transmogrifying transmogrify ing them into christian ceremonials held upon tile the same lates dates from many centuries wore belore carlat the romans had been accustomed to hold bold great feasts in honor of pan and duio during february from which month the he latter deity derived her additional names of fob feb and ferrulla Fe brulla brulls these festivities were known as the Lupe realia and during their continuance among a great many other ceremonies small tablets bearing the names of young women were placed in a box and drawn out by the young men after the man er of a lottery each person drawing was in honor bound to be the faithful attendant of her who had bad fallen to his bis lot from that time until twelve months had rolled around and brought another Luper calla and a now new draw ing though it not happened that long before that time the constant association thus engendered had caused this sham engagement to terminate in a real one for those heathen festivities of the Lupe roalia the early fathers substituted those of st valentine Pd day thus retaining the date of the ancient festival it 19 has eon een stated that it was fro from the fact that bat st bl valentine waa renowned for his universal love and charity that the custom of ob Losing upon lits birthday and calling them by his name took its rise but bui the iconoclasts who have long aluce deprived columbus of the honor of having discovered america who have taken away little hat chetaud who have overthrown and destroyed Ies Oes troyed count countless itse other long wor shipped idols of our fi resides and marketplaces market places have fully demonstrated the fallacy of this idea the only reason why the chriatian ted was observed on st day was simply to have it fall upon a sacred occasion of approximate date and to connect it with christianity through a great saint who suffered martyrdom in the third century batug first beaten with clubs and then be headed while a rome borne where his remains now rest in the church of st praxades Prax odes and where a gate now known as the porta del ade formerly called in his bis honors honor the ports porta valent ne the good churchman modified the corpa of the matrimonial lottery of the Luper calla by substituting the names 4 particular VIar saints to be drawn a valentines instead of the names of men and women prom froin this ancient biage is ia derived the custom still occasionally casio nally observed in some catholic countries of selecting on st bt Vali valentine rutine day for the ensuing year a patron saint who to is called a valentine but the young men and maidens finding little amusement in drawing out the names of dead and gone saints soon relapsed into their old custom of drawing each other and even at the present time in many of the rural districts of england and scotland it is customary on the eye eve of st 8 valon valen tine tines s day for the y 0 u ag people of both i to draw lots for a valentines valent ineas tho men draw from a bag containing the names 0 of the maids while from one containing the names of the men it generally happens tuat that each pernon has two valentines but the YOU young PS men regard themselves much mure more strongly bu baad ad to the valentine they have drawn than to the ono one who has drawn them if as sometimes ImOs bapPe bap pene 40 a young man MAD and woman should each eto draw the other it is regarded as absolutely certain that they are destined to weal wed and must not under any circumstances permit their attention or affection to center elsewhere the custom ot of exchanging amatory addresses addre esea in poetry or prose between lovers oust valentines valentine a day is a very old one dating back to the old roman Luper calla w when hen instead of a shoot sheet of elegant note paper a gold pen and violet ink the gallant young citizens of rome incited ther valentines by means of waxen tablets and a stylus some of the early english poets devoted much attention to the mm composition position of these love sonnets appropriate to st valentines day and owed their reputation largely to such works prominent among such was charles duke of or leans who was taken prisoner at the battle ot of Agin dagincourt agincourt court and Dray drayton tonj a poet of Shake time whose now almost forgotten works abound in pas sages of rare beauty but written valentines long since ceased to be the fashion the printed and painted productions of the station era shops er supplanted them years ago and the latter continue to grow more and mure elaborate artistic and ex pensive as aa time rolls on an excellent description of such a valentine to la given by dickens in his big pipers papers where he tells how sam weller on gazing into a stationery station erps window on st Valent valentines ineYs eve beheld a highly colored representation of a couple of human hearts skewered together by an arrow cooking before a cheerful fire while a male and female cannibal in modest attire the gentleman being clad in a blue cost coat and white trousers and the lady in a deep red pelisse with a parasol ot of the same were approaching the meal with hungry eyes up a serpent serpentine lue gravel path leading thero thereunto unto A decidedly indelicate young gentleman gent lenan in a pair of wings and nothing else was deplot depict ed as super superintend superintending intending inK the cooking A representation of the spire of the church in Laugh laugham jm place appeared in the distance distan cov and the whole formed ft a valentine 1 the application of toe the term valen tinel tine to the highly colored penny wood cuts of a humorous and sometimes indecent character having a few 1 I lines ines of coarse of often tea scurrilous di gerel printed beneath them Is IB an entire 4 misuse of the word which can only ace properly applied to amatory addresses passing between lovers and sweethearts hearts of late years however these comic valentines valentine 12 as they are called seem even more popular than those of a sentimental obar character acter and we all know how the stationery win down are crowded with them at this season eaon of the year there is a very old superstition that even the birds ehouse their mates on st Valent valentines iness day this tradition has been handed d 1 wn from the very earliest institution of the roman Luper calla which st valentines day replaced shakespeare areal alludes ludee to this belief when he makes theseus say in A midsummer dream act iv scene 1 I st valentine la is past begin these wood birds but to couple now herrick has written in his bis clesper ides idea oft have I 1 heard both youth and virgins say bay birds choose their mates and couple too this day but by their flight I 1 never can divine when I 1 shall couple with my valentine charles the duke of orleans already alluded to as a famous writer of valentines also alao refers to this bird mating in the Jo following howing dainty moree zu look how bow my dear the feathered kind by mutual caresses joined wit bill and seem to teach us two what we to love and custom owe shall only you vou and I 1 forbear to meet and make a happy pair ah ill we alone delay to live this day an age of bliss may give an old writer defines a valentine to ue be ye firste ot manky nde that a moyde shalle see on ye daynte Valen valentines tynes daye or yo ye firste mayde that a man eballe see on daynte Valen morne A custom many centuries old and one still observed in amny parts of england bugland and Suot scotland land gives the person thus seeing his or her valentine the right to claim him or her with a kiss which the said eaid valentine has no right to resist or reject bur buds Is in honor buol buni to freely abord admirers of sir walter scott will remember rem embur his beautiful description of how catherine olover chover jH over the fair made of perth thus claimed on st valentines mr morning ning the valiant henry Smith who had bad saved her from dishonor by his great strength th aud courage 0 st valentines sove eve hakea bake peare speare refers to this old custom when he akes poor ophelia lia sing ing in hamlet tomorrow is st valentines day all in the morning bedtime and I 1 a maid at your window to be your valentine in some of the rural districts of england there are observed on valentines day aay many quaint folk customs which suggest those of the christmas season among these is that of children golrig about in merry groups group from house to house a nging at every door the following rhyme st valentine st valentine curl your locks as I 1 do mine bour one before and two behin good morning to you valentine the good housewives at whose doors they sing reward them with broad bread aneese ofie ese beer and half pence in our own time and country the only usage of st valentine day that to ie retained u the sending bending of the printed and painted valentine of the station ers era shops and even this custom perhaps er nape after all more honored in the breach than the observance seems to be fast dying out postmasters all over this country testify that the nu number in of these missives passing through the maila mail has steadily diminished for several years past this falling off on begun began with the introduction of christmas new year and easter easier cards the number of which transmitted by post baa increased just in proportion to the diminution in valentines I 1 the he reason is obvious A sentimental valen valentine tite the only one for which the word la Is not a misnomer can only have its ite proper sig when it passes between per lions of opposite sex A christmas new your year or easter card on the contrary Is universal in its it is equally appropriate ite and acceptable from mother to daughter from sister to sister from lover over to sweetheart from friend to friend good wishes on any of the festal occasions named christmas new years or easter may very gracefully and appropriately be sent by anybody to any body and the popularity of these aree classes of cards bids fair to finally extinguish even the lost last remaining american observance of the day devoted to the honor of good st valentine one of the usages in connection with that occasion is the giving of gifts in the lottery of st valentines s day the persons drawn as valentines are under a direct obligation to make a valentine present to those who have drawn them in the days when even royalty and nobil nobility ty used to participate in this drawing of valentines some of these presents were ot of the most expensive and magnificent character the first valentine present received by nell gwynn from charles 11 II to is said to have been a necklace or diamonds and pearls valued at while sir walter raleigh on one occasion appeared at curt wearing worth of diamonds and other jewels consisting largely of valentine gifts arm fr m queen elizabeth and other lady admirers GEOFFREY WILLISTON CHRISTINE |
