by Lina Beard
It is easy enough to tell you about the saint, but what he had to do with the popular observances of the day dedicated to him is a matter for conjecture.
Saint Valentine, they say, was a grave and earnest bishop, who was put to death in Rome on the fourteenth day of February, about the year 270 A.D., for his too zealous efforts in converting the heathen. When he was canonized, the day of the month on which he died was dedicated to him.
The customs of Saint Valentine’s Day are, no doubt, derived from those practised at some of the Pagan festivals, for they are of very ancient origin. In olden times, in England, it was kept as a great gala day, and all the houses were decked with evergreen in honor of it. Ben Jonson says:
“Get some fresh hay, then, to lay under foot,
Some holly and ivy to make fine the posts;
Is’t not Saint Valentine’s Day?”
The principal feature of the ceremonies was always the choice of a valentine for the ensuing year. The cavalier was expected to wait upon his lady, execute all of her commands, and act as her escort at all social gatherings.
The choice of a valentine was generally left to chance, one of the methods being that the first unmarried member of the opposite sex a person saw on Saint Valentine’s morning should be his or her valentine.
Of course you have all had some experience in sending and receiving valentines, and perhaps consider that the only way of celebrating the day; but don’t you think it would be a good idea to invite some friends to your house and have a
Valentine-Party?
We will give several suggestions upon what to do at a valentine-party, that you may have some idea how the affair should be conducted.
In the first place, let each guest, upon his or her arrival, deposit a valentine in a large bag placed in the hall for that purpose. The valentines must be addressed to no particular person, but the girls should write on theirs, “To my cavalier,” and the boys address the ones they send, “To my lady.” On one corner of each valentine (not the envelope) the sender’s name must be written.
When all the guests have assembled, someone disguised as Saint Valentine, in a skull-cap, long white beard, made of cotton or wool, and long cloak, should enter the parlor, carrying on his back the sack of valentines. He must stand in the centre of the room and auction off each valentine as he takes it from his pack.
All sorts of bids can be made, such as the promise of a dance, a necktie, her share of ice-cream at supper, by a girl. A compliment, the first favor asked of him, a paper of bonbons, by a boy. To make fun the bids should be as ridiculous as possible. Saint Valentine is to be at liberty to accept whatever bid he chooses. The payment of the debt must be rigidly exacted by the sender of a valentine, whose identity is revealed when the valentine is opened.
Fig. 379.—Cupid’s Bow and Arrow.
If unable to comply immediately with the demand, the debtor must give the creditor a card or slip of paper on which is written “I O U a favor,” or whatever it may be that is owed. This I O U entitles the creditor to claim payment of the debt at any time during the year.
Another feature of the party should be Cupid’s bow and arrow, which must be suspended from the chandelier or placed in some prominent position. The device is to be used for delivering such valentines as may be addressed to particular persons. The valentine must be stuck onto the point of the arrow, and no one may remove it save the person to whom it is addressed. At any time during the evening the arrow may be found to bear a missive, and we would advise the hostess to provide a valentine, to be delivered in this way, for each of her guests, that none may feel neglected. The rest of the party can, to be sure, send as many valentines as they like.
Fig. 380.—Notch in End of Feather.
Make Cupid’s bow and arrow of heavy pasteboard, like Fig. 379. Let the bow measure about sixteen inches from tip to tip. Make the arrow twelve inches long, with a point or head three inches, and the feathers two inches, in length on the outside edge. Cut a notch in the feathered end, as shown in Fig. 380. Strengthen the arrow by gluing a thin stick of wood along it to within one inch of the point. Gild both the bow and arrow, tie a silk cord to the tips of the bow, leaving it slack, and force the head of a worsted-needle into the point of the arrow (Fig. 381). Adjust the arrow by fitting the cord in the notch and pulling it back until the cord is taut; then fasten it to the bow by taking a few stitches with yellow silk through the bow and over the arrow. Fig. 382 shows how it should appear when in place.
Fig. 381.—Manner of fastening Needle in Arrow-head.
To determine how the guests shall be paired off for supper, place the names of all the girls, written on slips of paper, in a bag; then let each boy in turn take out a slip, and the girl whose name it bears he shall escort to the supper-room and serve like a true cavalier.
At a valentine-party the valentines should, if possible, all be original, or at least contain appropriate quotations. The more absurd the rhyme, the more fun it will create, and when one is unable to make a rhyme a bit of prose can be made to serve. As funny as you please let the valentines be, but remember to omit anything that is in the least rude, or calculated to hurt another’s feelings.
Fig. 382. —Cupid’s Bow with Arrow in Position.
With Saint Valentine’s Day ends our vacation-calendar and with it we also bring this book to a close, for a whole year of holidays, sports, and entertainments are now contained within its covers. If we may hope that our work has not been without profit, as well as entertainment, if we have been successful in opening any new avenues of enterprise and enjoyment for you, we are satisfied. If we have done more, and with any of our suggestions have prompted the thought of adding to the comfort and happiness of others, we have achieved a success, and the mission of the AMERICAN GIRL’S HANDY BOOK is accomplished.
INDEX.
The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below
A
Album, an
All-Hallow-Eve; see Halloween
Appliqué designs
April, first of
April-fool’s Day party
games
B
Back-stitching
Ball, soft
Balls, lawn-tennis
Basket, May
birch-bark, ib.
cardboard, ib.
crab-net
Basting
Bedstead
Beech-nuts
Biographical nonsense
Bladder telephone
Blind, taught modelling
Blind-man’s singing-school
Blind-man’s stocking
Bombs
Bonbon box
Bookcase
Book-covers, home-made
Book-mark
Book-shelves, marine
Booths at a fair
tables for, ib.
flowers for
arrangement of
Botany as applied to art
conventionalizing plant forms, ib.
the peony-leaf
a bunch of turnips
decorative lines
cross-section plant designs
flower-sprays
changing color and form
burs, ib.
water-lily conventionalized
fern-leaf
Bouquets, to preserve fresh
Brackets
Bradford, Governor William
Bran pie
Brushes for oil-colors
for chinapainting
Bubble-blowing
Buckeye Portière
“Bunching eggs”
Burgoos
Butter-Scotch
Butternuts
Button, how to sew on a
Button-holes
Bureau transformed into a bookcase
C
Candlestick, mar
ine
Candy, home-made
Canvas for painting
Cards, Easter
Cards, living Christmas
Chair
how to reseat
Chestnuts
China - painting
materials
China
monochrome painting, ib.
tinting
new method of decorating china
tracing
mottled ground
snow landscape, ib.
head-painting
sea-weed, fish, etc.
mixing colors
painting royal Worcester ware
Chocolate-caramels
Chocolate-creams
Christmas festivities
customs
Clay, for modelling
how to manage
how to preserve
Clover, four-leaved
Color painting
Conventionalized plant forms
Court, for lawn-tennis
Cross-section plant designs
Crystallizing flowers
Curtain fixtures, marine
D
Dancers, fairy
Darning and mending
Declaration of Independence
Decoration, seaside cottage
Decorations, natural
of autumn wild flowers
buckeye portière
of horse-chestnuts, ib.
of corn
ornamental gourds
Decorative language
how to make a design in
Dolls, corn-husk
with crab-apple heads
flower
Drapery of small scraps
Draw, how to
Drawing plant forms
Drawn work
Dressing-table
E
Easel
Easter
how celebrated in England, ib.
in Russia, ib.
in Ireland
in Germany
in Washington, D. C., ib.
Easter cards
Easter eggs
games with
dolls made of
toys formed of
maple wax eggs
bonbon box, ib.
Enchanted girl, pantomime of
Exercising, best time for
balancing weights on the head
broom-handle exercise
F
Fairy dancers
Fan, how to make a
butterfly fan
Mikado fan
daisy fan
card-board fan
Felling
Ferns for decoration
Fid
Five minutes’ conversation
Fish-painting on china
Floral vocabulary
Flowers, wild
transplanting, ib.
how to keep cut
sending by mail
preserving, in sand
pressed
herbariums of
for decoration, ib.
color of, changed, ib.
waxed
to freshen cut, ib.
crystallized
frosted, ib.
perfume of, preserved, ib.
spring flowers in winter
preserving, in alcohol
in an empty bottle, ib.
under glass, ib.
to keep bouquets fresh
to keep flowers or fruit fresh for a year, ib.
painting, in water-colors
Fortune-telling, by melted lead
by nutshell boats
by “three luggies”
by roasting nuts, ib.
Kaling
by the magic mirror, ib.
by three tin cups, by the ring cake
Fortune’s wheel
“Fore-shortening”
Fourth of July, celebration, interior decoration for
indoor illumination
outdoor decoration and illumination
fireworks for girls parachute
thunderbolts, ib.
whirls
winged fancies, ib.
pin-wheels
bombs
lawn party
declaration of independence, ib.
game of toss
jackstraws
progressive mining, ib.
Frames for pictures
designs for
decorated
cork frame
Furniture, old and new
G
Game of headless turkey
Game and fish stew
Games, quiet, for hot weather
doorstep party
five minutes’ conversation
blind-man’s singing-school
game of noted men, ib.
what will you take to the picnic?
assumed characters
shadow verbs, ib.
Halloween games 196 et seq.
Games for Christmas holidays, bubble-bowling
biographical nonsense
comic historical tableaux
living Christmas cards
Gathering
Glass, stained, imitated
Glove pen-wiper
Glove, to mend a kid
Gold, mat
pure, ib.
Gourds, ornamental
Grab-bags
Ground glass, imitation of
Gymnasium, home
H
Hall seat
Halloween
origin of, ib.
party
fortune-telling on, 190 et seq.
games, 196 et seq.
Hammock, how to make a
materials required
barrel hammock
Hat-rack, seaside
Hazel-nuts
Headless turkey, game of
Hemming
Heraldry
field of
the points, ib.
divisions
Herbariums
Herring-bone stitch
Hickory-nuts
Historical tableaux
Home gymnasium
Home-made candy
Horseshoe crab-bag
“Huli Fool”
I
Impression album, how to make an
tools required
printing from leaves
from flowers
landscapes
other uses for botanical impressions
J
Jackstraws, Fourth of July
Julklapp
K
Kaling
Key-rack
L
Lace
Lady of the Lake
Landscape painting in water-colors
Language, a decorative
Lantern
Lawn, painting on
Lawn party
Lawn-tennis
lawn-tennis suits
how to make a lawn-tennis net
materials for, ib.
court
rules for the game
Leap-year party
Leaves and ferns for decoration
Light
M
Mailing parcels, directions for
Mantle-cloth
Mantle-piece
Maple-wax Easter eggs
Marsh-mallow paste
toasted
Mat colors
May Day
sports
May baskets
May-pole
May-pole dance
Midsummer Eve
the games of 85 et seq.
Mirror tableau
Mirror, the
Model, arrangement of, in water-color painting
Modelling in clay and wax
value of
much can be learned without a teacher, ib.
materials, ib.
clay
general directions
Modelling wax
Modelling stand
Molasses candy
Monochrom
e painting
Music-roll, a
N
Nancy, Miss
Nature’s types
Needle, hammock
Needle-work
Net, lawn-tennis
New Year’s Day
New Year’s parties
Noah’s ark peep-show
Nutting parties
rules for
O
Overhanding
Oil-cups
Oils for china-painting
Overcasting
P
Paint-box
Painting in water-colors
materials for, ib.
flower-painting
model
landscapes
general directions
painting from notes
Painting in oil-colors
materials, ib.
the light
setting the palette
Painting on lawn
Painting window-panes
Paints, for china-painting
Palette
setting the
Palette-knife
of horn
Panel decorations
Panel of field-corn
Pantomime of an enchanted girl
Paper-weight
Parachute
Party, First of April
Fourth of July
door-step
Halloween
nutting
Paste, how to make
Patch, how to
Peanut-candy
Peanuts
Perfumes, to prepare from flowers
Picnics, burgoos and corn-roasts
how to make a burgoo stew
a corn-roast
Picture-frames
Pilgrims, landing of, tableau, 305 et seq.
Pin-wheels
Plain sewing
overhanding, ib.
overcasting
hemming, ib.
running
basting, ib.
gathering, ib.
stitching
back-stitching, ib.
felling, ib.
button-holes, ib.
herringbone, or cat’s-tooth stitch
Plantain test
Plaster casts
to harden
to color, ib.
“Poisson d’Avril”
Pop-corn balls
Portières, designs for
buckeye
Postal regulations for packages
Progressive mining
R
Rag-balls
Ribbon embroideries
Ribbon curtain
Rooster, a lively
Rosewater, recipe for
Rubbish, what to do with
Running
S
Sachet
Saint Valentine’s Day
Scrap-bag
Scrap drapery
Scrap-book
Screen, marine
Louis Quinze
