her benevolent and placid exist

ence.

When the valentine was finished came the task of selecting a 'posie,' a legend, a rhyme of true love, which had to be written round and round inwards until it centred finally in a bleeding heart transfixed by the dart of Love. Let the blasé reader try to imagine the ineffable tenderness that welled out in such pathetic words as

The rose is red, the violet blue,
Carnations sweet, and so are you;
And so are they that sent you this;
And when we meet we'll have a kiss ——
A kiss on the cheek and a kiss on the chin,
And when we meet we'll kiss again.'

To this astounding length did our proposals go. Whether they were ever carried out, the present deponent is in no position to say. Another of these poems began with the linos

'As I lay sleeping on my bed,

I saw a rose and it was red;'

the first of which the philosophical inquirer into valentine literature will be interested in comparing with

the

'Quant je suy couchió en mon llt, which commences one of the numerous valentines of Charles Duke of Orleans, a personage with whom we are inclined to wish our space enabled us to make the reader a trifle better acquainted.

mere

In those days, and in that locality, -which, we may inform the reader, in confidence, was in the neighbourhood of the thriving emporium and fashionable watering-place of Dawswe urchins, wise in our generation according to our lights, passed by the temptations of the penny-post and delivered our lovemissives in person. After this manner. When the shades of evening had fully closed in upon the face of nature, and a row of blinded and curtained lights streamed out fitfully upon the straggling street, the adventurous youth arose and sallied forth. His elegant declaration-possibly he would be Don Juan enough to fortify himself with more than one--being duly directed in the best disguise his hand

writing could assume, was laid tenderly, silently, and with trepidation of heart against some door behind which his inamorata was very likely lurking expectant. One good heavy knock and a scamper of feet in fearful flight; the opening of the door, sometimes all too prompt; the groping for the valentine on the part of the lovée and her jealous sisters-these were the circumstances that made illustrious the delivery of each. So far the youngster had proceeded in good faith; but now, after having cooled a little from the fever of doubt as to whether he had been discovered, and as to how his devotion had been received by the idol of his soul, he was at liberty to make fun of the fair to whose charms he was indifferent. His next exploit would be a practical joke. A piece of paper folded up in some form proper to the occasion, and promising as much as if it were veritably sick of love, would be perforated for a piece of string. The sham valentine is laid, as before, on the doorstep; the knocker is thumped as emphatically as before; the retirement as speedy as before, but not to so remote a distance. The operator has only retreated to the further extremity of the string, of which the other end secures the traitorously-folded sheet, when, as before, the door opens. Anxious fingers grope until, in the semi-darkness, they pounce at length upon-the bare, cold ground or the vacant stone. The valentine itself has moved about six inches. "Twas but the wind.' The eluded fingers try and try again, whilst again and again the wind delights to frustrate their intention of taking possession. Then comes the climax of the joke. Whenever a grab has been made at the valentine lying on the ground, a judicious pull from the observing youth has attracted it in his own direction; until the mortified maiden, either at length fairly baffled or fully enlightened, gives up in despair or bridles up in wrath, and closes the door with a bang to a chorus of unmannerly laughter from the associates of her tormentor. A variety of this joke was to draw the 'counterfeit presentment' of a valentine

in crayon; in other words, to chalk a parallelogram on the ground before the door. But this was a comparatively tame affair, as there could of course be only one disappointment and one triumph before the mean trick was exploded. I think I have heard of pins being introduced into the valentines to which strings were attached; but this was getting far beyond the pale of fun into that of mischief, if not of wantonness and malice. For myself I will not, because I cannot, confess to a malpractice of this kind; but of all the others I thank a certain Venus of eleven years old-at that time, of course; she is now a Juno and a matron-I have had my share. To-day, alas! concerning valentines I must profess actum est, so far, that is, as the sending of them is concerned. But no man can bar his door against the dulcet appeal of a double knock; and if the valentines I have had the happiness to receive for the last three years from, I believe, the same faithful and devoted angel, were sent by any one who reads this tattle of mine, there is still time for her to know that I am looking forward to my annual compliment, and that I am open to a declaration which shall not be anonymous. After this candid advertisement of the state of my affections I shall know, if the post-office is negligent towards me on the morning of the impending festival, that my fair one is faithless and that I am forlorn. May I be spared the tears and dejection of so chilly a conviction; yet let me rather be neglected than scorned. I would not choose to appear, even to myself, depicted with the ears of Midas, or with the sometime head-dress of 'sweet bully Bottom,' the weaver. So much, kind reader, have I been permitted to say of myself; but I have a few stray jottings to lay before you with reference to our dear old St. Valentine and his world-respected day.

The peripatetic delivery of valentines by the principals, to which I have alluded, presents features analogous to the proceedings which, according to the author of Rambles in an Old City,' characterize the eve of St. Valentine at Norwich. The

streets,' says Madder, 'swarm with carriers, and baskets laden with treasures; bang, bang, bang go the knockers, and away rushes the banger, depositing first upon the doorstep some packages from the basket of stores; again and again at intervals, at every door to which a missive is addressed, is the same repeated, till the baskets are empty. Anonymously St. Valentine presents his gifts, labelled only "With St. Valentine's love," and "Good-morrow, Valentine." Then within the houses of destination, the screams, the shouts, the rushings to catch the bang-bangs; the flushed faces, sparkling eyes, rushing feet to pick up the fairy gifts; inscriptions to be interpreted, mysteries to be unravelled, hoaxes to be found out; great hampers, heavy, and ticketed "With care, this side upwards," to be unpacked, out of which jump little live boys, with St. Valentine's love to the little ladies fair; the sham bang-bangs, which bring nothing but noise and fun, the mock parcels that vanish from the doorstep by invisible strings when the door opens; monster parcels, that dwindle to thread-papers denuded of their multiplied envelopes, with fitting mottoes, all tending to the final consummation of good counsel, "Happy is he who expects nothing, and he will not be disappointed." It is a glorious night; marvel not that we would perpetuate so joyous a festivity.'

In Devonshire the peasants believe that if they go to the porch of a church, and wait there till halfpast twelve o'clock on the eve of St. Valentine's day, with a quantity of hempseed in their hands, and at the time above mentioned, 'scatter the seed on either side, repeating these lines

'Hempseed I sow, hempseed I mow,

She (or he) that will my true love be, Come rake the hempseed after me,' his or her true love will appear behind, in the act of raking up the seed just sown, in a winding-sheet. In some parts of Norfolk this superstition appears modified in time and purpose. It is there a part of the practices on the eve of St. Mark (April 25) to sow the hempseed in

the expectation that it will be mown by the sheeted ghosts of those who are to die that year, marching in grisly array to the parish church. And the rake of the Devonshire spectre is replaced by the scythe of the ghostly Norfolkman. A more pleasant and a more strictly valentine use is made of a variety of the same ceremonial at Ashborne, in Devonshire. There, if a young woman wishes to divine who her future husband is to be, she enters the church at midnight, and, just as the clock strikes twelve, begins to run round the building, repeating, without break or intermission, the following formula:

'I sow hempseed, hempseed I sow,
He that loves me best,
Come after me and mow."

And when the young lady has thus performed the circuit of the building a dozen times without stopping, the figure of her lover is supposed to answer to the gentle invocation, and follow her.

These are Old World superstitions, and we are not to look for them in the New. But in America St. Valentine is popular, and would seem to be turned to a direct practical advantage in the way of initiating the process of courtship and of facilitating the process of matrimony. Of course, in a great country that licks creation, and is just now reposing and recuperating' after licking itself; where marriages are cooked up in a short railway trip, and performed by some zealous and opportune clergyman in transitu; where railway companies attach bridal chambers' to excursion trains as a part of their regular furniture; and where enterprising couples plight their troth and endow each other with all their worldly goods in a balloon-in such a country it is no great marvel if there should be some truth in the hymeneal puff of an advertisement like the following, culled from a 'Worster Democrat' issued in early February a few years ago:

"The great increase in marriages throughout Wayne Co. during the past year is said to be occasioned by the superior excellence of the

VALENTINES

Indeed,

sold by George Howard. so complete was his success in this line, that Cupid has again commissioned him as the "Great High Priest" of Love, Courtship, and Marriage, and has supplied George with the most complete and perfect assortment of " Love's Armor" ever before offered to the citizens of Wayne County. During the past year the "Blind God" has centred his thoughts on producing something in the line far surpassing anything he has heretofore issued. And it is with "feelinks" of the greatest joy that he is able to announce that he has succeeded.

'HOWARD HAS GOT THEM!

To those susceptible persons whose hearts were captured during the past year, George refers, and advises others to call on them, and find them on their way rejoicing, shouting praises to the name of Howard. The "blessings" descend unto even the third and fourth generations, and it is probable that the business will go on increasing year upon year, until Howard's valentines will be a "household word" throughout the land. The children on the house-tops will call to the passers-by, shouting

"HOWARD'S VALENTINES!" while the cry is echoed from the ground, and swelling over hill and vale, reverberates the country through.

'Remember that the only regularly-authorized dispenser of Cupid's goods is

GEORGE HOWARD,

two doors East of the American House, Worster, O.

Orders by mail promptly attended to. Prices range from six cents to five dollars.

'VALENTINES!!

'A large and splendid assortment of valentines, together with all the necessary fixings, for sale wholesale and retail, at the New Column Building.

J. H. BAUMGARTEN & CO. 'Worster, Feb. 3, 1853.