HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Once upon a time, there was a custom that is no longer in vogue. Few indeed are the visitors to this blog who indulged in this charming but long forgotten annual rite. Each Valentine's day, after we had all received our valentines from that big red and white box in our classrooms, we went home and that evening, we addressed another collection of those treasured cards and walked the neighborhood to distribute them. We walked to his or her front door, slipped the valentine under the door, rang the bell and ran away. Why am I the only old guy who remembers that old custom? Was it unique to my Hartley Avenue neighborhood?

1990: REMEMBERING MY MANY VALENTINE'S DAY GIRLFRIENDS

Anyone who went to school in the early to mid 20th century will remember that big red and white box with the slot in the top where we dropped our valentines. I reposed on a table up in front of our classroom, usually next to the teacher's desk. It was a serious annual custm. Would SHE like that mushy one I sent to her? Will SHE send me one? Will anybody send me one? Hey, if you didn't get to experience the classroom Valentines Day box opening ceremony, you haven't lived!

SJBill said...

After you put your HEART into cutting the red construction paper heart, and personally inscribing the message to HER, you made it official by either folding the heart in half (to keep the message a secret), or by gluing the heat onto a paper doily - the bigger the better. This completed your third grader vision of life.

There was a transition period that we all went through. First, all official school gluing was done with LePage's Mucilage, with the rubber squeege head that got really gummy after time.

At some time in the 50s or 60s, the world quickly changed to Elmer's Glue-All.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Tom Glover said...

We didn't have those rubber tipped mucilage bottles back in my day, Joe. The war effort demanded that all rubber products be rationed. We had white wheat paste (mmmm it tasted good) along with a wooden doctor type stick to spread on the paper to be glued.

Tom Glover

Saturday, February 11, 2012

1930's: HERE COMES VALENTINES DAY!

"When Valentines day is all over,
and lovers have all had their say,
I'll still go on loving you sweetheart,
a little bit more every day.."

Yep, I sent a valentine with that message on it to one of my very early teen age girlfriends, Millie Long. Millie was a sweetheart, and when people ask me how I remember all these very obscure things of many many years ago, I have to confess that it is a gift passed on to me to my brother Bud and me, and directly related to our inheriting Mom Glover's incredible memory which we both agree is a gift from God.
Now for a bit of trivia:
Trivia 1: Am I the only one who grew up in an era where we would go to the local "corner store," buy valentines for a penny each, take them home, address them and HAND DELIVER them to our neighborhood friends? We would slip them under the door and knock. (Few doorbells in our neighborhood). That custom is as extinct as the Passenger Pigeon.
Trivia 2: The "Valentine Box" in grammar school. We took a large cardboard carton, closed it up, wrapped it in white paper, cut a slot in it, pasted a big RED valentine on all 4 sides, sat back and waited for that special, or those special valentines from that special girl, or those special girls. (Ahhh; the memories!)