• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

St. Valentine’s Day [17 February 1923]

14 February 2023 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This letter, regarding Valentine’s Day, was published in the “Our notebook” section of The Saturday Journal (Adelaide, SA), 17 February 1923.]

St. Valentine’s Day.

Last Wednesday was St. Valentine’s Day, and although the observances for years have been obsolete, it has still the power to call up many old recollections from memory’s crowded store (writes “Heath.”) I well remember the time when, as a callow youth, I eagerly looked out for that day, and felt keenly disappointed if I were not the recipient of several valentines.

The sending of these missives was a quaint custom, and survived for many years. Originally it was introduced as a purely complimentary exchange between sentimental lovers, or as a tribute to a much-admired friend of the opposite sex, but several factors served to sound the deathknell of the custom.

The “ugly” valentine made its undesirable appearance, and was as often as not of a highly objectionable character, with grotesque caricatures and offensive verses. These were frequently sent, not in harmless jest, but with the intention of wounding the susceptibilities of the receiver. Often the verses were supplemented with objectionable sentences added by the sender. The recipient making a perhaps erroneous guess at the sender, would dispatch something equally objectionable, and thus was stimulated that detestable bane — the anonymous letter. Some shopkeepers noting this, declined eventually to do any trade in the ugly variety, and patrons were sometimes annoyed in consequence. All this served to make the valentine less popular; then came the picture postcard craze, which finally displaced the valentine, and even to a large extent the Christmas card, and now in its own turn has almost run its course.

But there is a better side too. I have before me, as I write, the first valentine I ever received. It is of chaste filagree design with bold embossing, on a lace-like foundation, with dainty floral work inside, and tiny scent satchel concealed in the folds — a type much in vogue one time. As I gaze in reverence at this treasured relic of the past, my memory travels back through the years to the time when I was a youngster ill in bed, with some childish ailment. Between several spells of deliriousness I heard that it was Valentine’s Day, and several elder brothers and sisters showed me the gay little packages they had received. Child-like, I was bitterly disappointed that I had not got any. However, the very next postal delivery brought to me the pretty valentine I have described. I did not know, of course, who sent it, nor did I care. But as I now trace my name in the faded ink written nearly 50 years ago, I recognised the cherished handwriting of the best and truest friend I ever had — my mother.



Source:
The Saturday Journal (Adelaide, SA), 17 February 1923, p. 12 (Night Edition)

Editor’s notes:
filagree = an alternative spelling of “filigree”: delicate, fine, and intricate ornamental works made from metal wire (usually gold or silver), with the wire being twisted into designs, patterns, or shapes; to decorate an object with delicate, fine, and intricate ornamentation made from twisted metal wire; a design which resembles such ornamental works

gay = happy, joyous, carefree; well-decorated, bright, attractive (in modern times it may especially refer to a homosexual, especially a male homosexual; can also refer to something which is no good, pathetic, useless)

valentine = a Valentine’s Day card; a greeting card, gift, message, or token (anonymous or signed) which expresses affection, attraction, or love, which is sent to a lover, sweetheart, or the object of one’s affection on the occasion of Saint Valentine’s Day (14th February); someone who is the recipient or sender of a Valentine’s Day card, gift, message, or token; one’s lover or sweetheart

[Editor: Changed “obselete” to “obsolete”.]

[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]

Filed Under: letters to the editor Tagged With: 500x500, letter to the editor, SourceTrove, Valentine’s Day, year1923

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • To Australia [poem by Ruby Jean Stephenson, 18 November 1943]
  • [General news items] [4 April 1912]
  • [Australia has had more than its share of shipping disasters of late] [4 April 1912]
  • [Probably Professor Marshall Hall was right] [4 April 1912]
  • Gold-seekers of the Fifties [1 July 1899]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Australian slang
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The Foundations of Culture in Australia: An Essay towards National Self-Respect [by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]
  • Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
  • Surely God was a Lover [poem by John Shaw Neilson]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • IAC on How M’Ginnis Went Missing [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Stephen on How M’Ginnis Went Missing [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • IAC on The late Louisa Lawson [by George Black, 2 October 1920]
  • Percy Delouche on Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
  • Phil on The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in