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Show LOVERS' OWN DAY February 14 Has Through the Ages Been Dedicated to the Heartsick of All Ages. Take all the pearls are in the brine, Sift heaven for stars; earth's flower entwine But be her heart my vaientine. Thomas Nelson Page. CUSTOM, more potent than any other authority known to man, has decreed that on St. Valentine's Val-entine's day . which. In tha Roman and Anglican calendar, falls on February 14, young folks of both sexes, and older ones, too, should exchange ex-change missives and epistles, whether comic or sentimental, in which the foibles of the receiver or the love of the sender, are set forth in prose. In verse, and In emblematic picture. Now, the reason for sending these amatory, derogatory, or even scurrilous messages cannot be found In the life of the good saint who Is made to Indorse In-dorse the custom with his name. He wrote no love songs, nor can any one accuse him of sending sweet couplets to Roman maidens. He was a bishop or pope of Rome, who stood steadfast in the faith during the Claudian persecutions perse-cutions and was cast Into jail, beaten with clubs, and finally beheaded. Biographers Bi-ographers have made more or less Intelligent In-telligent guesses as to the reason for naming this day for the martyred saint. With a theory that as "V" and "G" were frequently Interchangeable In popular speech, and as a notable instance in-stance produces the words gallant and valiant, both springing from the Latin "valens," ergo, the Norman word gal-antln, gal-antln, a lover of the fair sex, was frequently fre-quently pronounced valentan or valentine. val-entine. From these premises, the etymologist ety-mologist concludes that by a natural confusion of names Bishop Valentine was established as the patron saint of lovers. Francis Douce suggests that St. Valentine's Val-entine's day is the Christianized form of the classic Lubercalia, which were the feasts held In Rome during the month of February In honor of Pan and Juno. Butler, Mission, Lydgate and a host of writers pay tribute to the custom In one form or another, so let us say with Ophelia : "Good morrow, 'tis St. Valentine's day, All In the morn betlme. And I a maid at your window. To be your valentine." |