Valentine Treasures of Yesteryear

Valentine Treasures of Yesteryear Valentine Treasures of Yesteryear

FEBRUARY . . and thoughts [and hearts] turn to LOVE . . . and to VALENTINES!

In visiting yet another box of my mama’s beloved and saved mementos, I found a small tissue-thin and time-worn-to-tan envelope protecting a collection of Valentines, belonging not to her but to one of her two sisters. The earliest Valentine dates to 1922 and the others to a few years thereafter—a time when her sister would have been around ten-to-twelve years old. The sweetness of these treasured keepsakes reaches through a century to open their hidden sentiments of love to all who value the Valentine’s Day tradition.

With their sprinklings of roses and posies, their doilies and doves and garlands and hearts, and their scenes and sketches of early twentieth-century boys, girls, and lovely ladies, they share a variety of expressions and emotions. One that opens fanlike into a tiny windmill of rose-colored expectations, touts a bit of intrigue: “This Valentine is sent to you, so guess who’s your lover true?” Another, when opened, reflects rather tentatively, “I saw a pretty little bird a-sitting on a vine, He said he thought that you would like to be my Valentine.” One with a bonneted young lady on the front seems hopeful and determined with its inside message: “I’ll want a friend who’ll some day be, A great deal more than a ‘friend’ to me. Some one whose heart is big and true, Some one as sweet, my dear, as you.” However, one Valentine plays on the heart strings, perhaps feigning disappointment in hopes of a change of heart: the picture is of a little boy rubbing a tear from his eye; a red heart broken in two lying on the ground; and a little girl sitting in her white wicker chair, closely clutching her brown teddy bear and casting an “Oh, My” look in her sideways glance at the boy! Oh, my, indeed! All these Valentine treasures of yesteryear my mama saved; all these heart-held secrets of love lost, love anticipated, and love celebrated continue through the centuries as the tell-tale emotions of our own hearts. I hope that your love unrequited will instead be returned, your love anticipated will be fulfilled, and all the love in your lives celebrated. Happy Valentine’s Day 2022!

Jean Nosser Biglane is the copy editor and an occasional contributing writer for Bluffs & Bayous. In addition, she continues in her profession, at varying times over the decades, as high school, junior college, and university English teacher.