Show valentine customs and superstitions of old there were certain superstitions during early times which now seem entirely to have passed away for instance if a young gat on the eve of st valentine day went alone and waited until midnight on the porch of a church then started for home scattering hempseed on the way it wil was 9 believed she would see her own true love in a winding sheet raking tho the behind tier why he was supposed to be seen in a winding sheet has not been explained another superstition was most interesting te it if a young girl got five bay leaves and pinned one on each of the four corners of her pillow the remaining one to be placed in the center and if that night her sweetheart appeared in her dreams they would be married before the end of the th year it is written of one young lady of those times t ines that she confessed in order to make the charm more potent to having boiled tin an egg perfectly hard removed the yolk filled the vacant place with salt and upon going to bed eaten the entire egg salt shell and all without drinking or speaking to any one after she had finished the eating of it but the really truly way to find out the name of your own true love was to write the name of all your admirers upon bits of paper roll thern them up in clay put them in a vessel of water and the first one to rise to the surface was surely the ones one the practice of sending comic valentines Is a much later one these caricatures which poked fun at peoples personal appearance their clothes and even the work in which they were engaged had their greatest popularity perhaps 40 or ZO 50 years ago F fortunately they now seem to have lost their vogue there Is no doubt that many friendships were severed and enemies made because of these frequently offensive missives bellig being sent with malice aforethought meanwhile the pretty valentines all hearts paper lace and cupido cupids beom to grow liner finer each year beautiful hand painted cards and painted and beautifully decorated boxes for con coa factions are sold in great numbers not the least interesting of the pres ent day valentines are the various and numerous assortments of packages filled with all the paraphernalia ready to be assembled into covely valentines tines which children love to prepare tor for their teachers friends and family As it has now become mor a day for children than for grownups grown ups these packages afford much pleasure to the sender and to the reci recipient plent |