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Show J - -M i i EL A LAST CENTURY VALENTINE I " -J) R "Emily present this little trlllo to K ono who she regards." Moro than M Boventy-flve years ago Emily took up H her "Mill pen and In dainty characters H wrote tho dedication on tho fly leaf of "Friendship's Offering." In spite of her bad grammar a glance at the fad- d and dellcato writing with Its quaint fourlshes and aristocratic angles Is enough to provo that Emily was a Ine young lady and that sho really I meant at least a ltttlo more than sho I amid. I Poor Emily! Her lilies and roses I are long withered, nlorg with tho I other flowers which bloomed In the I reign of King George IV., to whoso I "Most Excellent Majesty" tho little I Morocco bound volume Is dedicated. I And "one who she regards" has cone also with tho rest. Woro they ' married one day Emily and "ono who she regards"? Or did Em'.ly die -early of a broken heart, perhaps? Her handwriting looks as If sho Btight have easily fallen a victim to aomo such old fashioned malady. Ard did "ono who sho regards" leave Emily behind and come to the States to soek bis fortune? Cirtalnly In some way the book which mlly gavo htm as a . valentine In 1S2G found Its nay to t Jiv' ! country and, passing from hand ' ) ( hand, finally turned up on tho stalls ' of a llttlo second-hand hook shop In the French quarter of old Now Orleans. Or-leans. The llttlo book Is srottod with brown and yellow now; Its morocco eovt is badly marked and torn. But for t sake of the unknown but dear aad dainty Emily as well as for Its ewn it shall bo cherished hereafter and given such care as Emily herself wight wish for "the llttlo trlllo" wh ch lerhaps told a tender secret to the unnamed man who was Its original ewn$r. "Friendship's Offering" Is -a fat and turdy little book of nearly 4C0 pages. It was handsomely and well bound, as Is proven by tho fact that even to day K makes a gay show with the gold rosebuds nnd scrolls stamped on It? back. It wa? ono of that great crop f nnniials which pcoplo of good con dlUon were wont to scrd to tholr , friends on the recurrence of New Tear's ard St. Valentino's days. Wo do such things differently now Instead of a volumo of 400 pases stuffed with stilted verses and traslc talcs written by ns many lords and Ladles nothing less than Esquires being admitted under any clrcum stances we send to our friends a gay card stamped out of colored paper b Sa machine And wo pick, up th s old J volume of "Friendship's Offering" and laugh as wo look over tho table ol ' contents. But poor Emily's lorg forgottor love affair Is not tho only ancient memory rovlvcd by a glance at tho llttlo book. Burled In Its table of con tents nro the namc3 of twenty people peo-ple who In their day wore tamous as 1 literary lights, but who have long I since flickered out Into oblivion. Who remembers Mona, Eliza. Caroline Caro-line and tho rest, whose Legondary Stomas," "Romantic Tales," and "Lines to a Wreath of Dead Flowers" moved Emily and her sisters of the 18Ms to toars? Who romombers Bernard Ber-nard Barton, tho Quaker poet and friend of Lamb? Least of all, what modern reader would follow nlm as for half a dozen pagc3 or moro he "Treads with slow and mournful steps the lovod ard lonely shore?" Lord Byron died less than two years before this volume of "Friendship's Offer-tng" Offer-tng" was printed, and It Is protty full ef newly found verses' by his Lordship. Lord-ship. Mr. Washington Irving sends some versos by his lato Lordship, I "extracted by that gentleman from tho I album of Captain Mcdwln," and It I only needs a glanco at tho first lino I "Be It so we part forever" to recog- I nlze tho true Byronlc flavor. 1 . Lady Caroline I ami), who had been I 6 separated from her husband tho year I - before, nnd whoso Intrigues with Lord I Byron were still familiar, "oxtracted 1 from her album" another set of verses I by his late Lordship, tho perusal of I which at this dato Is likely to provoke I a smllo of amuBonient they aro so ' typical of the strained and grand Ho- ' e.uent poot. I ' In all tho emphasis and oxtrava- gance of Italics and capital letters, I Lord Byron Implores Lady Caroline to I let blm go and, Lady Carollno appar-I appar-I ently takes a malicious pleasure In I printing tho verses by way of showing I that tho poot was much In love with I her, I aim (till the vulture tenrs my heart Let mo tnl ngony endure, Not thee O! dement ns thou artl la mercy, Ciura, let us parti H Who is writing poetry of this kind H now? And If such poetry were writ- H ton, who would read It? There Is ono paper in "Friendship's v H Offerlrg" which might well furnish a H text for some ono wm Is anxious to H accuse Dr. Conan Doylo of plagiarism H. In tho creation of Sherlock Holmes. H The paper Is by tho lato "Richard Lo- J ell Edgoworth Esq.," father of tho HJ bottor known Maria Edgoworth. It HJ Is callod "Stage Coach Physlognom- HJ Ists" and rotates how one of tho pas- HJ songcrs wns able to tell tho full llfo HJ history of all his fellows by simply Hk noticing such bits of gesture, man- -v RJl nor or apparel as liavo slnco guided jj tho famous detective In his amazlug H discoveries. Sherlock at his best was H never more observing or moro aston- HJ iBhing than this casual coach parson- H ger who traveled tho samo way more HJ ' than fifty yon is beforo him. HJ I E. L. Lotitia Ellrnuoth London B whoso pon nnmo Is moro familiar HJ then her writings, was then la her early twenties, and contributed halt a dozen sets of verses In heroic style. Nor was "Friendship's Offering" without with-out names which aro well known oven now. Miss Mltford has a sketch, "The Lady of Boachgrovo." full of old-fashioned soatlment and ladyllko mystery. Perhaps tho host remembered things about Miss Mltford Is tho fact that when she was only tea years old Bho drow a prlxe of $1C0C00 in a lottery, and that after her father I ad squandered squan-dered her money she supported him for j cars by the earnings of her pen. Robert Southcy, then In nls prime, has a lorg poo-n In the fat, llttlo book, and J'lss Jane Porter, whoso "Scottish Chiefs" and "Tnaddeus oi Warsaw." had already bean printed, Is represented represent-ed by a melancholy tile. Wri. Orlo mourns through a couplo of "Fpltaphs for Friends," nnd modest mod-est T. Hcod Fsq., has an ode on autumn, qu te llko tho simiinr efforts of your-; roots before nnd slnco his time. T. Hood Esq. was not ot thirty vcars old whon "Frlerdshlp's Offering" Offer-ing" was rrlntod. Ho had recently loft the engraver's trado for literature and lad h-rdly besun as yei to make a name for himself In his now lino. Diuhtless If tho "Present Editor" could have foreseen that his modest contributor was to write "The Song ot tho Sh'rt" and "Tho Bridge of sighs " nnd tho other rooms which hnvo mado Mm fmious, "T. Hood Esq." wruld lnvo ben given moro prrimlroico In the table of content". But the "Present Editor" Is not receptacles nnd gifts qulto out of the old simple spirit of tho day. A fashionable shopkeeper Insists that tho vogtto of vnlcnttno gifts Is largely a. matter of evolution, and that for sovcral years thoy liavo been growing grow-ing moro general, moro personal and moro expensive. A young man who usually Is satisfied with sending tho object of his admiration flowers, bonbons bon-bons or books, now selects a g ft that will show relations of a moro Intimate raturel I' lances, especially, let their Imagination and their purso-strlngs run riot. flBatfJefiBIIKHBIIMeUMHBIHJHl P . i ? siBBiyriMiu'usjAi "LOVE'S WHISPERS" Bouguereau. tho only man who has mado such a mistake. Plentifully sprinkled In among the. professional poets and literary men and womon nro my Lords and Ladies. Not for n momont does the "Present Editor" forget that ho Is cd ting n volumo of tho "gentry and nobility," to whom his work Is dedicated. Tho Rt Hon., My1 Lord Dillon, has somo bad vorses on "Spain" in tho yronic manner, and My Lord Dorchester Is glvon several pages for a sad and silly apostrophe to an "Astrologer." "Friendship's Offering" Is Illustrated Illustrat-ed with threo or four ancient steel engravings, representing such classic scenos as 'VEncas nnd Dido," vlows of Ispahan In Persia, and Illustrations for tho "Laughing Horseman." All In all, Emily's was a Valentino well worth having. Since sho wroto her quaint dedication on Its flyleaf two English kings nnd ono queen havo dlod, and tho fourth monarch Is now on tho throno. What Valentino of tho present year will bo as well worth looking over In 1975? |
