More Vintage Valentines

ANTIQUE CHILDHOOD VALENTINES
~ ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS ~

Unique Gilded Age Valentine
from the childhood favorites of my Grandmother
Rovilla Heideman Lindsey (1891 - 1966)
[please see previous post]

The boardering shades of monochromatic pink,
are in keeping with Valentines Day,
yet completely unlike all of the other
multi - colored cards that Rovilla saved over the years.

The gray tones of the little illustration are unusual,
as well as the subject matter -- a humble shepherd child,
instead of the more typical elaborately dressed children
and adults, highly decorated with fans, flowers . . .

Like this one:

Opening up the pink / gray Valentine,
I found it rather endearing that the sender,
who remains unknown, as the card is unsigned,
has managed to include two misspellings,
adding a "u" and an extra "i"

thus R-o-u-v-i-l-l-i-a
instead of R-o-v-i-l-l-a

Yet, it has survived as a multi - generational treasure!
Rovilla kept it all of her life, passed it on to
her daughter (my mother) who passed it on to me.

And now, for some even older Valentines,
see Rovilla's note below:

Rovilla's parents / my great - grandparents:
Anna Mary Miller & William Michael Heideman,
on their Wedding Day ~ March 9, 1886.

Too bad Cupid's head is missing from this one,
but that's a structural hazard of these delicate cards,
especially after 135 years, no matter how expensive!

Notice the use of Anna's married name on the back,
so it must be sometime after 1886.
Notice also the price of this elaborate card:
~ 35 cents in 1900 = $12 in 2022 ~

**************

"Even memory is not necessary for love.
There is a land of the living and a land of the dead
and the bridge is love,
the only survival, the only meaning."

~ Thornton Wilder ~
from the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey

**************

“We have a few old mouth-to-mouth tales; we exhume from old trunks and boxes and drawers letters without salutation or signature, in which men and women who once lived and breathed are now merely initials or nicknames out of some now incomprehensible affection which sound to us like Sanskrit or Chocktaw; we see dimly people, the people in whose living blood and seed we ourselves lay dormant and waiting, in this shadowy attenuation of time possessing now heroic proportions, performing their acts of simple passion and simple violence, impervious to time and inexplicable.”

~ William Faulkner ~
from the novel Absalom, Absalom!
Next Fortnightly Post
Monday, March 14th

Between now and then, read
THE QUOTIDIAN KIT ~ Old - Time Valentines
my shorter, almost daily blog posts
www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com

Looking for a good book? Try
KITTI'S LIST
my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogsppot.com

Valentines of Yore

ANTIQUE CHILDHOOD VALENTINES
~ ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS ~

Above, adult handwriting of my Grandmother
Rovilla Heideman Lindsey (1891- 1966):
"My first Valentine after starting
to school." [c. 1896]

Below, perhaps written by
the mother of Rovilla's classmate
"To Rovilla from Sarah Grimes"

And, written by Rovilla as an adult:
"Sarah was dearest little friend I
ever had. Lived in Lyons, Kans."

~ Valentine Coincidence ~
I came across Rovilla's late 1890s childhood Valentines a few years ago and filed them carefully away for future reference. I knew they might come in handy one day for the creation of a blogpost such as this one.

This next Valentine, however, is a more recent discovery, but it also comes to me courtesy of Rovilla. A week ago, I was thumbing through her 1965 diary, which has been sitting on my desk, along with some other memorabilia, since my mother -- Rovilla's daughter -- died in May 2020. I have not read it cover to cover, but every now and then I pick it up and read a section. When I did so last week, on February 10, this little paper Valentine fluttered to the floor. Somehow, it had been wedged so safely in the diary that I had never before noticed or dislodged it.

As luck would have it, the timing was perfect -- barely a week before Valentine's Day! Rovilla was my "Grandma Lindsey." But this 100 - year - old Valentine is addressed to another "Grandma Linsdey" -- Rovilla's mother-in-law, the mother of her husband (my mother's father / my grandfather Paul J.Lindsey).

"To: Grandma Lindsey
[My great - grandmother
Sarah Hartman Lindsey (1856 - 1937)]

From: May Smith
[My first cousin, once removed (1917 - 1981);
she was the daughter of Paul's sister,
my great aunt Beatrice (1891 - 1921)]

As you can see from the inside, this sweet, simple Valentine
was cut from a wallpaper sample / advertisement.
I wish the text indicated a specific year!
We'll just have to guess, based on May's handwriting.
She was 5 in 1922, so it depends on when she learned cursive.

How heartwarming it is to think of May preparing this cut - out heart for her grandmother or to read Rovilla's reminiscence of exchanging Valentines with the dearest little friend she ever had. How lucky we are to have been raised within a tradition of lace hearts and grade - school Valentines. When I went to my favorite greeting card website a few days ago to download a few e - Valentines, I was baffled to encounter this informative little disclaimer:

"One of the numerous differences between the “two nations divided by a common language” as Churchill described us, is that here in the UK, Valentine’s Day tends to be strictly about romantic relationships, whereas in America, it seems people send Valentine’s Day cards to pretty much anyone! This can lead to unfortunate transatlantic misunderstandings."

"Unfortunate"? Really? Could it be all that bad to receive a Valentine card? This is the first time I've come across the Valentine warning, even though I've been sending Jacquie Lawson e - cards for 20 years. She elaborates further on the cultural dis - connection:

"Here in the UK, Valentine’s Day is predominantly a matter of romance between couples. So when we first set up JL back in 2002, we were amazed to receive requests from American fans for Valentine’s Day ecards suitable for their mothers, or grandmothers, or indeed almost anyone!

Over the years we’ve learnt to provide a wide selection of Valentines ecards, suitable for all your loved ones – romantic, platonic, or whatever."

Whatever! No Valentine boxes stuffed with silly cards from your classmates? No Valentines to or from the teacher? Nothing for Grandma? Nothing from Aunt Alice for her little niece and nephew? That would be too sad.

Rovilla with her younger brother Melville in 1910

**************

Some closing connections
for the naysayers amongst us:

Lemony Snicket singles out the day on "A Series of Unfortunate Events Calendar": "February is midwinter, and February 14th is mid - February, so Valentine's Day is mid-midwinter, the bleakest day of the year. Also, love is celebrated."

&
Margaret Atwood explains the tradition of getting down on one knee to say "I love you": "What do you think all that kneeling's about down among the crinolines, on the Persian carpet? Or at least say it. When all else is lacking, verbalization can be enough. Love. There, you can stand up now, it didn't kill you. Did it?

Next Fortnightly Post ~ More Vintage Valentines
Monday, February 28th

Between now and then, read
THE QUOTIDIAN KIT ~ Valentines From Friends & Ellie
my shorter, almost daily blog posts
www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com

Looking for a good book? Try
KITTI'S LIST
my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogsppot.com