Pictorial Love Letters.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7798, 14 April 1905, Page 4

Pictorial Love Letters.

|j It is impossible to say, when, in his methods of wooing, man first, fc" - sought a vent to his affectionate £., emotion by a resort to his pictorial jjp.- .* .art. Human nature is very old, awl ft bus Changed wonderfully littlfe. B,' From the beginning of things it R, 1 waofcHwm to at tom® hav« only, to & be won in two waya-toy foree of ip 11 , ifilgkt, or die force of a Bg; judickyds use of tender nothings, i» W-'i - Which own, rccagniaittg their, potoitjai. cy, have teen ewer adept, It canSJ-" not~tW" said, perhaps, that ttw; formic er plan ever had much to recommend fc. it in the way of affection, To stalk iroSuta qpfjone would a wild <ut muk appear as really the least ineligible of any method of wooing. Uwugh it is said that the Indies of jjp *- the Cast-end ef our ' v civ,ilisod Metro-. pqlfc. ar« still wooed and won after K-""" bome such fashion. The less barbarE, BUS «ieth«d—for to win a heart even Pv.hr breaking a head must, even il \ successful, be deemed a queer way g■_ of demonstrating affection*—has alsuccussfuT.' and, of course, Rjjpr out of all proportion to thj merits W," of the wooer or Ms wooing. Since ng£iil!U iaioot, always ijivcn to a man to ba gifted with the ability to \vlusper „ aweet nothings, however consuming gjfc Jn^ipassion or ovidertt his dtesire— Slji'finort men will here ackfiqwledgc a By'' abort-Cowing, and perhaps curse the ,, short-coming, and perhaps curse

ttieir plentiful «. lack, of inventiveness—"lf W palp<U>lo that, the less have had to lean on the rnofe gifted, J." , palapable that many wog have been won by thu less n gntW"«>i» the whispered nothings of i the more gifted. ' Mrj££pling has set forth in verso tho "reputation and profit that accru%ied 'to the primitive poot ; his a''t

brought him many devotees and S£. 7,l<MMtsre comforts without arduous ISV v, .work ; one is not ijuite sure that 4* habdt, eve* in early times, had not otßer compensations. Nor can. ak/ . one brieve that the ladies (ayre did &j7 ni»t materially benefit. Of the untile "sqity of inscribing lines to a mis- ' rite's eyebrow there is the amplest evidence. Solouion said, vMy ,be- %<, ~ loved ia untOj mo as a cluster of f ' campttre in th® vineyards of Enge- ' di." U.Kefe satyr: for the lover to approach the fair with flatteries §», beoW'ilully ( expressed, since the fair Br' ntfgEt not always* divine they were W' not his own ; and with some conli- &• Aa»ce it he brought in hjs hands ft «otoe proof of the sincerity' of his Ww read ithat Abraham, when fcs- be dispatched his servant to Laban ' or - a for Isaac, Bent for Hcbcg|r fcah a_ golden earring of half a sheikd weignt, and two bracelets for her pjpi ; liands of ten shekels weight of gold. Present-making is as wld as kissing. Jacob Kissed Itachel when he first Bp-JBet her at the well; the world is but the ways of the wooer are f&'j youpg as- over. Where of old, §£ "V* 'over _picionally decollated his bjJtets with cupids and flowers to to** demonstrate his undying constancy, nowadays a photograph does just as ggi - ,wdl, and if npt so pretty is very f ! s a' commercial age. Kb Wheft Edwin and Angelina pose to Z•' ~ e »oas'de photographer the result l v "SJfe; fietortal 'lbver-kttcr, de»onp,<- Btrating all - whonr It may conown that there are—--9 • 2 solea with but a single thawt ' -Charts whiclr beot'' as I.' Hj2^ Bec 9* st * tu^s a very power-, ful Mducement to the wooer to acI a practical value Jjy- ..py.tortftl. love-tetter entirtfy

ir*', . ,'^ wre Wfl s at least some poetry in lUt* pictorial ; love-letter, for Ev- 1 , cojwse there was never a time £t „ Men Wve-lettera were not largely tg^de .°.P ot All the great -' *Pwt» hiave lojt themselves te the. wr 'ting kyve messages ta 5?" UBe ® » others' love-letters, even £?v-" CJiaueer and Sljakespeare. The poet dijeit ia 1440, and m ' JTayton wrote many' charming* "valS?? 8 '! S l ® Buke Charips of Pfe- ;«± ' who was taken at the bath's" « W , A £»"coui fc was a. well-known Rtf- S®®P os * r of theso poetical amorous (Sf, - ~ 7 r ! Un ff From this old-timo pracsj " CQurting favour by appropriS> «t«v noncyed compliments in rhvine. ! j accompanied by gifts, evolved * the BwdSTO pictorial low-letter, a gor- . gpoua, arrangement of rice-pa [*;» and . pefiumtd satin, lately so popii'inr, but though somewhat to 0 sentimenfor the (resent age, which is so iiS*. severely ,6ij>ii»essJ)ike. It was cuir, &/. send these elaborate con-i-g'n fections on. Bt. Valentine's Day, in "V-lfonipHaoce witb the very ancient boit* s , k<sr,Xbqt the Saint > Day was tha most auspicious in the calendar for * betrothal, on the charming as- '• sumption that tha birds mated in p*/ • i '6hTtJjflty*y.4 Vai«itine, fts these pictorial *»e-tatterß .came to i>o called, quick- £?-'» ,v oraate stage quite un- *£ sampled in the history of the Itvej,, letter. Firms arose wh«se sole busi£„V. Oess was to manufacture costly trig.which lovers Were .expected to -ft. thems.-lvea of, and which un- - »o«tK«My, from their exceeding po- - ««■« very acceptable ? Q V ;; fair recipients, K ram a few r !■' JfciLlimgs, which no fover co' ,' n0 r _KTUdgC. lor -a daintly arr- joaest -r" flowwa and tace paper " ,lu rr, cai sentiment thro-- angement of entine". went'? \ • vith a pocti- *' pounds. A s w ,vn thc '' Vjl " i", tiirifat, anil • »n. • J*k« to several tTjxie ' ..ilful design of beads, ' , flowers, extoilbHeil in iy-'-■ pif i'ark cost £lO, in the.colonics £25 was not at "J>- - ' ,i mi uncommon price for "valetitines."- From the height U> which . she Valentino " attained to costli- ' nebs, |t was to be. expected that de"f-~ r geiieraticMt would set in ; ladies couM fif not acoopt" two-shilling » sentimenlala" where art oreated sucli ex(i guisila creations at a price generally _ pcohibitivei. It was a return to the eumptuoas <iays when James 11. gave a "jewel Worth £BOO to his valentine," the Duchess of IlichA- tnond, and, as in the previous day, - could not be, expected to last. Then * arose the comic valentine, and the B-- " pictoriai_.love4etter was gradually > laughod out of the field.; The de--3® . «pse of the rpictofiul lovo-lettcr, as | it Was regardwi in the Victorian era, Das toee^' to. np.. such disastrous consequences as were once k foartxl wheiv -the ancient habit of it choosing lovers for a year - was | threalened with extinction. Tht world goes oiv marrying and giving in marraige; wooers fcoftt/niio to woo aifter gjf the old fas Won', "writing poetry or !§- _ - making ox«erpts froiij others who fe; ba*re writteq, and making presents. & . - Buf in the days of decadence •we BPety- hear a great deal of what in the tjimes of the pictorial lovi.'-latler . .were seldom mentioiu|d— the breach, i ' ol promise. In thc ideal state we &?/?■ have missed they could never oc- •' cur.—Giabe.