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Show LONG KNOWN AS THE DAY OF HEARTS AND LAG E "For this was on seynt Valentines day, Whau evei-y bird conieth tlier to chose his mate." Chaucer. The old notion was that birds began be-gan to choose their mates in February. Febru-ary. Then Marcus Aureliuij Flavins Claudius had a bishop of the church put to death on 14 February, seventeen hundred and fifty-two years ago. The bishop became a martyr and n saint and because lus name was Valentinus-February Valentinus-February 14 became bis day, St. Valentine's Val-entine's day. It is easy to find some satirical significance sig-nificance in the superposition on the calendar of these days, the bishop's and the bird's. It takes something of '.he courage of u Christian martyr to publicly choose n mate. They used to draw lots on St. Valentine's eve. the vonng men and the young women gathered together, making merry. And it Is safe to suppose that when a young man was not pleased with his lot, he mad? sarcastic remarks, until it occurred to him to transfer his bitterness bit-terness into drawings which exaggerated exag-gerated the ciossed eyes or the straight hair or the ugly expression of the unloved one. Having vented 1,1s own wrath, be couid then show it to her, thus spoiling the evening for both of them, but possibly satisfying the "grmich" that at some soiisous afflicts af-flicts even lovers. It's a fortunate thing that the poople who start customs which are to last until the planet cools, have no notion of what they are starting. Fancy poor old Valentine's dismay as he ascended in the stake, if he bad realized that his name would he taken in vain by every young man making amorous advances (o a young woman along In the early spring "I am yonr vnlontino," not knowing that whnt he was really say-lag say-lag was. "I am your martyr." And those Chaucerian boys and girls, meeting meet-ing to choose Valentines fancy the Irrit.-.led or.e with a talent for drawing draw-ing suddenly seeing himself at the head of a long line of nngallant youths. Lis effort at satire the forerunner of all the ugly comics that ever made a maiden blush or a matron lose her temper. But It n.igh have made the sweet-souled sweet-souled youth a bit smug when he enclosed en-closed his undying affection In gilt and lace and wrapped it in a sweet-scented sweet-scented fern, to look down the years e.hood of him nl the true!; loads, the car loads, the factories built to produce pro-duce just such lace and gilt and silver concrete tokens of an instinct no less beautiful because It frequently Is evanescent |