VALENTINE 



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VALENTINIAN 



Suggestions for Valen- 

 tine Observance 



Valentine's Day affords the teacher 

 or mother an excellent opportunity 

 to impress upon the children the 

 lessons of friendship, unselfishm-ss 

 and loving good will. The senti- 

 mental idea may easily be kept in 

 the background. For days or even 

 weeks beforehand the "busy work" 

 for the little hands may consist of 

 valentine making, and much of this 

 may be correlated with school sub- 

 jects. Nothing can be prettier than 

 bird valentines, and the na- 

 ture-study class may well 

 employ itself in coloring 

 birds, which may then be cut 

 out and pasted on the valentines. 

 Flowers may be treated in the same 

 way, and in both instances care 

 should be taken to have the color- 

 ing "true to life." 



The sewing class may make 

 heart-shaped satchets, pin cushions, 

 penwipers or even scrapbooks ; the 

 manual training class may fashion 

 simple wooden toys, and the cook- 

 ing class will delight in heart- 

 shaped biscuits, candies or cookies. 

 Even the very little children can 

 make valentines that will be a de- 

 light to father or mother or teacher. 

 They may cut from red paper ten 

 or a dozen hearts, print on each one. 

 "Good for a half hour of work," 

 and seal them in an envelope. The 

 work done in response to these 

 "promissory notes" will probably be 

 the most cheerful ever performed by 

 the little valentine makers. Blot- 

 ting pads of red, ornamented with 

 white hearts, bookmarks, and nap- 

 kin rings similarly decorated are all 

 very simple of construction. Par- 

 ents or teachers to whom such 

 tokens are given should take care 

 to make use of them, as nothing so 

 pleases a child as to believe that 

 he has made something which 

 someone could not get along with- 

 out. 



On the afternoon of Valentine's 

 Day, after the legend has been 

 discussed and the doing-for-others 

 idea emphasized, the teacher may 

 arrange an exhibit of valentines. 

 each child contributing his best 

 work. 



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himself in the contest with the Goths which 

 railed so fiercely during his reign. 



.The first struggle (367-369) closed with a 

 treaty which made the Danube the boundary 

 between Gothic and Roman territory, but in 

 376 Valens permitted the Goths, who wriv 

 driven by the Huns, to cross the Danube and 

 settle in Moesia and Thrace. So many of them 

 came that Valens became alarmed, and his gen- 

 erals treated the newcomers in such a way as to 

 precipitate open war. On August 9, 378, the 

 two armies met near Adrianople, and the Goths 

 gained a complete victoiy, Valens and about 

 two-thirds of his soldiers perishing on the field. 



VALENTINE, SAINT, a Roman Catholic 

 bishop who was martyred in Rome in A. D. 270, 

 on the fourteenth of February. This day has 

 long been celebrated in a manner not at all 

 serious, by Catholics and Protestants alike. 

 Several explanations are given for the familiar 

 custom of sending anonymous love tokens, can 1< 

 of greeting and the like to one's favorites, and 

 for the various social activities connected with 

 that day. Some say that Saint Valentine was 

 accustomed to go around from house to house, 

 leaving food on the doorsteps of the poor, and 

 that the custom of sending Valentine greetings 

 anonymously developed from that. Another 

 explanation connects the modern celebration of 

 the day with the observance of the Roman 

 festival Lupercalia, which occurred on February 

 15. At this time, so the story goes, each of 

 the young men celebrating the festival drew 

 from a box the name of a lady, to whom lie 

 was to be faithful for the ensuing year. It is 

 supposed that this custom is the origin of some 

 of the sentimental features of Saint Valentine's 

 Day. 



Valentine Day Suggestions. The observance 

 of the fourteenth of February can be made very 

 attractive to the children, and they can also 

 ^ain much good thereby. The suggestions here 

 given are especially for mothers and teachers. 



VALENTIN 'I AN, the name borne by three 

 Roman emperors of the West, only two of 

 whom are of importance historically. 



Valentinian I (321-375) was of humble birth, 

 but won distinction in the army, and on the 

 death of Jovian, in 364, was chosen emperor. 

 He divided the empire into two parts, surren- 

 dering the East to his brother Valens and keep- 

 ing for himself Italy, Spain, Gaul, Britain and 

 Africa. Throughout the reign of Valentinian 

 the German tribes to the north were very- 

 active, ravaging the frontiers, while in Africa 

 risings among the desert tribes were frequent. 



