The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 11, 1900, Page 4

(Copyrighted, 1900.) VERYBODY knows that St. Valentine's day falls on February 14, but probably very few can glve any accurate and intelligent account of its origin or are aware of the fact that the good St. Val- entine, from whom it is named, never either directly or indirectly bore any relation whatever to its observances. When Christianity began to shed its first luminous. rays over Pagan Rome one of the chiet difficulties encountered in the conversion of their deeply rooted attachment to and customs which they had so long thelr many deities. The early t h found it ‘mpossible to detach them from these ceremonfes. Despairing at length of being able to 4o so, they sought to 50 modify the form of these heathen observances as to give them a religious charac- , thereby transmogrifying them into Christian cere- held upon the ¥y centuri : Christ the Romans had »d to hold great feasts in honor of Pan ing February, from which month the latter ed her additional names of Februata, Feb- d Februlla fvities were known as continuance, among blets bearing the a g wome in a box and drawn out by the young men after the manner of a lot- Each person drawing was in honor bound to be the faithful attendant of her whom he had drawn until twelve months had rolled around and brought another alla and a new drawing. though it not unfre- y happened that long before that time the caused thi a real one. The princip: the ancient held their g lottery festiviues r wer lines of liber- upon his d rize, but th w! ‘ well known that the only reas : = It is now > observ: the common 10 which they hz therefore, of abol Lupercalia, they give it a religious cl of particular saints t the names of mer is derjved the custo: Catholic count for the ng ye entine. But t} amusement Ir drs eaints soon relapsed each other rural districts of on the eve of of both sexes draw from while the !a the men. it valentines, he y more strongly bound t than to the one who happens, a young man : oman should cach chance to draw the other it is regarded lutely ce: re destined to wed, not under any circumstances permit their attention or affection to cen- ter elsewhere. During the reign of Charles II, as we learn from that most Interesting and curlous record of the domestic life of that per for us in the diary of Mr. Pepys, married people were equally, eligible with single ople men THE SUNDAY CALL ones for the lottery of St. Valentine's eve, and any one chosen as a valentine was in honor bound to give a present to the person choosing him or her. On Bt. Val- entine’s day, 1067, Mr. Pepys writes: “This morning came up to my wife's bedside (I being up dressing my- self) little Will Mercer to be her valentine, and brought her name written upon blue paper in gold letters, done by himself, very pretty; and we were both well pleased with it. But I am also my wife's valentine, and it will cost me £5; but that I must have lald cut if we had not lentines.” On February 16 of the same yéar—two days later—he again writes; “I find that Mrs. Plerce's little girl is my valentine, she having drawn me, which [ was not sorry for, it easing me of something more that T must have given to others. But here I do first observe the fashion of drawing mottoes as well as names, so that Mercer, who drew my wife, did draw also a motto, and this girl drew another for me. What mine was 1 forget, but my wife’s was ‘most courteous and most fair, which, as it may be used, or an anagram upon each me, might be very pretty.” Again, alluding to the ob- ation resting upon a chosen valentine to give a pres- ent to the person choosing, he writes of the celebrated Miss Stuart. afterward Duchess of Richmond: ‘“The Duhe of York, being once her valentine, did give her a jewel of about £300.” In February, 1658, he makes the following entry: “This evening my wife did with great pleasure show me her stock of jewels, increased by the ring she hath made lately, as my valentine's gift this year, a Turkey stone set with diamonds. With this snd what she had she reckoned that she hath above one bundred and fifty pocunds’ worth of jewels of ona kind or er; and T am giad of it, for it is fit the wretch should have something to content herself with.” Good Mr. Fepys here uses the word wretch as an endearing terin will remember t 1 Smith, had | seautiful Ca hauberk tc these words: Love's darts Cleat: Through m il shirts, In many parts of England and Scotland it is still cus- nturies, for young alentine the first r cyes behold on s been for many c to regard as their osite sex w Valentine' d valentir ound to stance or v kind. J ““The beautifully describes the manner in which the peerless Catherine Glover thus claimed the hold armorer, Hanry Smith, as her valentine after he Lad saved her from dishonor by his great valor and strength on St. Valenting's eve. The English poet Gay also alludes to this custom as follows: Last Valentine, the day when birds of kind Their paramours’ with mutual chirpings find, 1 early rose just at the break of day, ton me r ind wome pers n of the c rning of § a th Afield T went amid the morning dew Before the sun had chased the stars away. ‘To milk my kine (for so should housewives do). Thee first I spled—and the first swain we see In spite of fortune shall our true love be. Shakespeare also alludes to this custom in “Hamlet," where poor Ophelia sings: To-morrow is St. Valentine's day All in the morning betime, And I a maid at your window To be your valentine. In a series of quaint essays published in 1754-56 one who signs herself “A Forward Miss"” thus writes on some of the observances of the occasion: “Last Friday was Valentine's day, and the night before I got five bay leaves and pinned four of them to the four corners of my pillow and the fifth to the middle, and then if I dreamt of my sweetheart, Betty sald, we should be mar- ried before the year was out. But to make it more sure I bolled an egg hard and took out the yolk and filled it with salt, and when I went to bed ate it, shell and all, without speaking or drinking after it. We also wrote our lovers’ names upon bits of paper and rolled them up and put them into water, and the first that rose up was to be our valentine. Would you think 1t? Mr. Blossom was my man. I lay abed and shut my eyes all the morning till he came to our house, for I would not have seen another man befcre him for all the world.” The custom of exchanging amatory addresses be- tween valentines upon St. Valentine's day, to which I have already alluded, is a very old one. Chaucer has left some very quaint models of this style of composition, as has also the poet Lydgate, who dled in 1440. A famous writer of these valentines was Charles, Duke of Orleans, who was taken pris- oner at the battle of Agincourt. Drayton, a poet of Shake- speare’s time, whose works, though now almost forgotten, abound In passages of rare beauty, writes thus charm- ingly of hs valen- tine: My lips T1l softly lay Upon her heavenly cheek, Dyed Iike the dawning ay, polished _tvory sleek And in her ear I'll say, ©Oh, though ~ bright Morning Star! "Tis I that come so far My valentine to seek. Each little bird this tide Doth choose her loved peer, ‘Which constantly abide In wedlock all the year, As nature is their guide; 8o may we two be true Thbis year, nor change for new, As turtles coupled were, In comparison with such verses as these the poetry of the so-called sentimental valentines sold in our stationers’ shops must pale its inef- fectual fire. One of the best possible descriptions of the latter is given by Dick- ens in his “Pickwick Papers,” where he tells how Sam Wel- ler, on gazing into a stationer’ window on St. Valentine's ev beheld ‘“a highly colored repre- sentation of a couple of human hearts skewered together with an ar- row cooking before a cheerful fire W a male and female cannibal it modern attire were approaching the mea with hungry eyes up a serpentine gravel path leading thereunto. A decidedly indelt cate young gentleman in a pair of wing and nothing else was depicted as superintend- ing the cooking. A representation of the spire ol the church in Langham place appeared in the dis tance, and the whole formed a yalentine.” AMY F. STOCKTON. ——————— Spoon crazes and monogram fan epidemics have been succeededed by a rational and useful mania, and that is that each one has her own especial hobby, the more useful and practical the better. One person has chosen plates for her specialty, and plates of all sizes and shapes will soon adorn her rooms. Each place on her travels will be remembered by a plate, while all frienc relatives have been notified that plates will be most acceptable for birthday and Christmas 3 10ther lady has the unique idea of collecting anniversary cups and saucers. Whenever her ng day rolls around she adds a cup and saucer. o fair maiden, a bride-to-be, is making a collection of fine towcls, and they are beautles, all embroidered with the colors of the rooms In which they are to be en in red, a dozen in blue, and so on. s makes a charming collection and it Is how quickly the pjeces accumulate, A lady home is exquisitely ddinty confessed that she saved her dimes most religiously and then waited for a at she was wanting. The handker- to have struck the city very hard this nd fine hem-stitching has become the rage. A colection of dainty ‘‘mouchoirs” is the pride of every girl’s heart hie: parties are quite the thing. Ea rl brings her work; it is such a fine op- port show off one’s dainty thimble and gor- with its scissors and other workbox Sewing is rapidly coming to the front as and taking its long vacant place in the many ents of the nineteenth century maidens. An apron craze is also evident, from the sheer gauzy affairs to big practical colored aprons for kitchen use. ‘A collection of aprons is a most acceptable gift to a young housekeeper. A very intellectual girl regards books as her fad. Each one is duly inscribed, and she points proudly to the caze filled with them, each one a souvenir of some city, time or memorable occasion. Still another collec- tion is being made of Chinese and Japanese articles of all descriptions. This Is a most interesting study and the case {s filled with everything from a fine . 7tique vase to a hidegus idol.