“Will you mail these Valentines for me please, Billy?” asked Big
Sister.
“Sure,” said Billy. “Gee, that reminds me, we’re going to have a
Valentine box at school and I better get some to give Bob White,
and Pete and Jack--what a bunch of them you’re sending--do you
send Valentines to all the people you know?”
“No, indeed,” said Big Sister, “only to those whom I know best
and care most about.”
“It’s a funny custom,” said Billy, “who ever started it any how?”
“I think it’s a splendid custom--a friendly, cheerful way to say
‘Hello, I’m thinking about you,’” said Big Sister, “and I’m much
obliged to old St. Valentine for beginning it.”
“Did _he_ start it?” asked the boy named Billy in surprise, “you
wouldn’t think a _saint_ would be bothering his head about such
things as _Valentines_.”
“As a matter of fact,” said Somebody, “St. Valentine had nothing
to do with it. He was a most pious man who went about his
business with no thought of any thing frivolous I’m sure. He very
likely did not know that he had been chosen as the patron saint
of the day.
[Illustration: He was a pious Man with no Thought of anything frivolous]
“It was the custom in ancient Rome to celebrate the feasts of
Lupercalia through the month of February in honor of Pan and Juno
and these feasts were very gay, indeed. There was a custom of the
young Pagans by means of which they chose their dancing partners
for the day, of writing the name of a young man and a young
woman and having a drawing. The young man keeping the young lady
whose name he had drawn, as his partner for the day.
“The Christian Pastors of the churches objected to this fun
making and so they put the names of Priests in the boxes to be
drawn in place of the young women, and St. Valentine’s name came
out as the guardian or saint of the day.
“He was accepted as such, but the young people went on
celebrating the day in the way to which they were accustomed and
out of that grew the idea of Valentine’s day.”
“That was a jolly way for it to start, wasn’t it?” exclaimed the
boy named Billy.
“When did people begin sending Valentine messages to each other?”
asked Big Sister.
“In early times in England and very likely also in other parts
of the world,” said Somebody, “it was the custom to send a gift
to the one who had been chosen as a young man’s Valentine. This
custom grew more popular year by year, until, as the gifts must
be worth while, it very likely grew burdensome, and the sending
of gifts was in a manner discontinued. Then some bright person
hit upon the plan of sending dainty creations made of lace paper
with bright and witty verses written on them. Even that custom
was about worn out when some one in England sent a lacy affair to
Miss Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts, who saw in it
a way to make some money; so she started making Valentines for
sale, and succeeded so well that the making of them and the sale
of them has grown to be a very great and important industry.”
“So poor old St. Valentine just had the day _wished_ on him,”
said the boy named Billy. “What ever did become of him?”
“He offended someone,” said Somebody, “and was beheaded.”
“Playful, weren’t they?” said the boy named Billy, as he gathered
up the Valentines.