Valentines

DateLate 1800s

Terms

Valentines
Paper

Dimensions27.92 × 27.92 cm (11 × 11 in.)

Object numberPER1193.0001

DescriptionChromolithograph on cardstock; original envelope (?) addressed "For Mrs Charles Prescott." Card "Pops-up" in 3-D, cupid in chariot, festooned in flowers, in front of a house. "To my Valentine." Original poem, manuscript on paper, attached with gold stars to the back, "She is no modern girl whose charms I'd celebrate/ With manner bold and slang vocabulary/ With knowing air and skirts abbreviate/ Who feels respect for age is quite unnecessary/ Gentle and sweet's the maid I sing/ With pretty face and smoothly parted hair/ Calm and soft voiced, and no least thing/ Neglected for her loved one's care./ Oh, sweet Victorian maid keep e'er the same/ True heart - true wife, true mother and true friend -/ Your house a Home, you make no claim/ to wider fields. The happiness of those you love your end./ Mind filled with sweet thoughts, sould without guile,/ For whom all flowers bloom, all faces smile!"