! All. 1 Mm 1 w xiiril. vv.v. "1 l HE newest valentine for this year taKes ths form of a much enlarged postage stamp, with a Cupid In the middle and the Inscription " Loveland Postage " overhead. It Is express ive of the Idea of a love message sent by mall the u.iunl mode of conveying such expressions of regard on the holiday dedicated to ths pa tron saint of nil true lovers. There Is, Indeed, a large Increase In the amount of mall muter handled by the postofflce department at the period ? claimed by the good St. Valentine, and during the last three or four years the number of valentines exchanged has been i far greater than ever before. The pretty ctiHtom has become ' fashionable, and not only young men and women but the J older folks as well send these pretty tokens to each other and i to their friends In much the same way as they distribute f ranis at Christmas and Easter. To a certain extent, in fact, ' the valentine has come to resemble the Easter or Christmas rani In character, though distinguished from the latter by the love idea. I One of the most amusing of the new valentines Is orna- i mented with a miniature dustpan of brass.'Just like a real j cue, brmath which are the lines: " If you can furnish the dust for me, '( You and I might married be. f You get the dust, I've got a pan; I'll spend what you earn as fast as I can." j New Comic Valentines Not Harsh. Now, tills Is the wholly harmless kind of fun that per- l va.i'X the spirit of all the up to date comlo valentines. Long : ago the old style comics, which sell for a cent apiece, de- I Rtnrmtid into the abusive and disgusting,- being designed npp.irently to furnish a ready means for gratifying ths petty j malice of the senders. But the new ones, some of which ars not less elaborate because of their humorous character, ars S pure and Innocent nonsense. J As for the pretty ones, which compose the great majority, they are In many Instances beautiful and costly. In respect j of taste they aro vastly superior to the old fashioned sentl- j mental valentines, with their crude designs and elaborate paper lace. The paper lace specimens have not entirely gone i out, however, for the apparent reason that, for association's j sake, they gratify the eye and special demand of elder folks, recalling memories of tender and Joyous youth. One of the novelties this year Is a really up to date Cupid on skis those snowshoe like contrivances iised for sport on the snow In Canada. As might be expected, the little fellow with wings carries a large letter addressed "To my Valen tine." I'tterly sentimental and decidedly cunning Is a basket trimmed with blue forget me nots and labeled on the outside, ' A Basketful of Love for My Valentine." The address at tached Is " 100 Kissing avenue." When the basket Is opened three Cupids emerge, with a whole shower of heart. Cupid Appears as Chauffeur. That Cupid should ride in a motor car like every one else In these days gees without saying. Ho appears as a chauffeur In many of this year's valentines usually propelling a flower ornamented vehicle with a young lady of agreeable aspect In- un me rront or one of these automobiles is Inscribed era rm - - xk ... . , XViiynliiw, 4 V we . iti tO Us A Us v its j-----,' " wzJtm rfXove Ml k It- 'Ait v V Bid the lines " Love shall ever be our guide, vn lth you, dearest, by my side.' r Another pretty design' for a valentine Is a fan made of vv--;f .fear, -it ;- I t-i-..m-i a 9 to. . tm?v . volentme fan lilies or tulips with a Cupid emtrnlng from the heart of each flower. On each of the sticks of the fan (which are made to counterfeit green leaves) Is something sentimental in verse. A pretty girl, In yet another design, carries a bouquet of flowers In her right hand, while under her left arm Is a large and very red heart, inscribed with the words, " My Valentine, I am heart whole and fancy free." This Is calculated to soothe any feelings of discomfort and doubt on the subject which may have agitated the breast of the recipient. But. of course, the chief purpose of valen tines Is to amuse, and some of the less sentimental and more humorous ones are highly Interesting In their way. Two pussy cats, for Instance, are peeping over a frame Bet upon an easel, and within the frame Is Inscribed: I am no artist gTand, and yet Your picture's In my heart, my pet. 'Twas ' ensel-y ' painted, for, you see, I love you, dear. Do you love me?" The Jingle'iaek Is Here Too. The valentine Jlnglejack has come to stay apparently. Some of them were for sale last year, and this year there are a good many more. One of them Is a clown, with a heart on his chest and a fine grin. You pull a string, and ho Jfts his legs and arms In true Jlnglf Jack fashion. Also, there are absurd colored persons of the vaudeville type. Some of the funniest of the comics are paper figures with reversible heads. When the heads are turned upside down the whiskers become hair and the alteration in other re spects is startling. But the simplest and one of the oddest of all tho valen tines this year Is one made In Imitation of an ordinary ship ping tag. On one side is to bo written the address of the person to whom It Is to be sent, and on the other Is the sug gestive Inscription, " You've been tagging after me long 1 ri si u. enough. Rene Bachb. " -1 a AO rA grawavx Z-J Jewel TV ? i i S. Ik r) re ,ir... ."r Y-'nir p'u Kiri . a.jd vol - i.wt'n!.' I ' fV voii, d-.r k 'jiA ' ! mm J f I UK vn I I'aV s iiP uidQy Volenti CSSSSSSSSSCSSSSS9SSOS909 oessssssssss ssessssscs fearly Uwice as Many -Divorced Women as Divorced Jfflen. 4' 4 iN the thirty-seven cities of the United States which in 10(H) had populations exceeding 100,000 there were 8,017 mpre divorced women than divorced men, while Indianapolis, Ind., led the whole list In divorced women and came within one place of first in the number of its divorced men. Fifty-two divorced women in every 1,000 of Its population Is the unique record of the Indiana capital, followed at some distance by Kansas City. Mo., with Its 40.9 grass widows In the 1,000. while Jersey City, N. J., trails In at the extreme foot of the list with only 3.8 divorced women on the snme population basis. St. Joseph, Mo., leads with a record breaking 84.5 grass widowers In the 1,000, and, as if this were not enough, it shows that more men than women are divorced and living there against all the ratios and traditions of the United States census bureau. If a city of 100,000 population and more has to exceed 13.5 divorced women and 8.5 divorced men to each 1,000 inhab itants It Is outdoing Itself. In tho thirty-seven cities consid ered In this article there are totals of 18.008 grass widows and 10,801 grass widowers out of the population of 13,029.739 cf all ages arid conditions. Where Are the Divorced Men? Looking over the tabulations of legal widowhood as shown by the census the reader Is struck by the apparent Inconsistency of the figures showing the divorced women and the numbers of divorced men. The proportion for the popu lation total for the thirty-seven cities Is 13,"i divorced women to 85 divorced men In every 10,000 people, a difference of more than one-third In favor of the men. At a glance one is disposed to remark that there should be a grass widower for every grass widow suggested by the census reports. But there are at least two good reasons for the condition. Abandonment is the one chief cause of divorce In the United States. It la such a rial cause that out of its reality It has come to be a sham cause as well until Judges on the bench have uttered protest against the ease at which collusion be tween a husband and wife results In divorce. An absence of ' two years on the part of the husband is proved and the com plaining wife gets her decree. To abandon a wife after collusion at divorce, the husband needs to leave his home In order that successful proof may be brought to court. Naturally a man ta less inclined to admit grass widowerhood In a stranue city than his wife may be to admit it in her own home, m here she Is known perhaps even to the census taktr. Then, too, most divorced men who are conniving parties to the divorce decne are quick to marry again, and with tbs marriage the necessity for contributing to the divorce sta tistics of his native land is gone glimmering. Not infre quently the man In arranging for divorce from one wife has the other wife singled out before the court decree can be written up. Under any circumstances it will be unchallenged that the divorced man has better opportunities for a second marriage than has the divorced woman, and there are Ind' catlons that he is availing himself of his opportunities In that line. It is In this possibility of remarriage that the grass wid ower In Louisville, Ky., comes out into the limelight with a celerity not equaled anywhere when contrasted with the 33.4 women in every 1,000 population. By the time the official canvasser had counted the 83.4 women on ttia Louisville list and turned her attention to the grass widowers of the town nil but 5.5 of them had remarried or disappeared somewhere. Disappearance is not easily accounted for in the list, for the reason that only St Joseph, Mo., has more widowers than widows of the grass variety, and It has by no mttans enough more of these to account for any sort of a migration to cities of the 100,000 class. With 3.12 grass widowers and 327 graM widows In St. Joseph the unaccounted 8.000 and more widow ers for the group of thirty-seven cities under observation are overwhelmingly In favor of the remarriage speculation. Sympathy Is With Crass Widower., There have been speculations aa to whether or not the man who has gone through the divorce mills has not an added Interest for a wide circle of femininity. Notwithstanding the position of man) married women upon the question of equal suffrage and woman's rights, the sympathy of most women Is distinctly with the grass widower In the divorce proceed ings. Even If he has whipped the wife occasionally the opinion frequently is that she has deserved, it. A widower of the sod variety under nearly all circumstances has a han dicap when it comes to a new edition of love's young dream. With even a third edition of a court decree, without alimony, the widower of the grass variety suggests even piquancy to a fourth romance. Just why Jersey City has such a small proportion of divorced men and women Is open to question, with the lean ing probability that the Juxtaposition of New York and the ferry boat accommodations are responsible. At the same time New York's own figures for either sex are so far below the general averages as to have no meaning. Chicago Far in Lead of New York. Compared with the fh leu go figures from the divorce mills the figures for greater New York appear to have he n unpadded, to a startling extent. The figures for the eastern metropolis are 00 divorced women and 32 divorced men In every 10,000 population, while the figures for the western metropolis are 140 grass widows snd 110 grass widowers Yet, considering the amount of matter that has been printed a: the expense of Chicago as a divorce resort, the city his a long list of neighbors who are a good dial more so. For years the Kansas City grass widow has had a distinct place In the small talk of the Amalgamated Order of Mar riage License Clerks of America, as well as having her own Illustrated corner In some of the comic papers. She is second only to the Indianapolis variety In numbers as compiled for the bureau of public printing at Washington, D. C. Four hundred snd nine of them In every 10,000 residents of the city by the Kaw Is n striking piece of statistics, approached only .by Los Angeles with Its even 400 in the same grouping A good many years ago a Kansas City litterateur spent some time, some gray matter, and considerable wit and humor In the consideration of the Kansas City grass widow as an esjiecial attraction for the average lovelorn Kansa City youth. He painted the lady as she never dared paint herself for the delectation of her youthful admirer She was pictured ns having the experience, tact, vim, ardor, direct ness, and all the other qualifications which a bashful man probably lacks, even In Kansas City, and it was floured that out of her experience and In the happy circumstance of catching her second choice exceedingly young she ought to be able to mold him to her liking beyond the possibility of her first venture In matrimony. Indianapolis Leads Them All. But according to the official figures for the cities of the 100,000 classification, the Kansas City grass widow has yield ed place to the grass widow of Indianapolis. The Indianapo lis grass widow still has to Identify herself in fact, humor, und fiction, but now that the fact has been pointed that shu leads the new world in numbers the Indiana litterateur may U' anticipated as rising quickly to the opportunity which she (.Iters to Indiana letters. Only a few weeks ago an Indlan aKlls paper attempted to steer the local literary talent away from the vital fact in the following summary of local condi tions: " Indiana vital statistics for the last three years show that deaths have kept pace with the Increase In population, while the marriages and births have fallen behind. Indicating that there Is a tendency to celibacy and race sulelds." But all this is beside the mark. The startling feature of all Indianapolis life is the Indianapolis grass widow, C24 strong In every 10.000 population, 53 of them in every l.ooo, and 5.2 of them in every 100 of city residents. The Indian apolis grass widow has become a national Issue, ami a re proach upon the time " When Knighthood Was in Flower." As a social problem she is " up " to the Indiana literati. Divorced Women. Allegheny, Pa 143 Baltimore, Md 632 Boston, Mass 781' Bnllalo.N.Y 298 Chicago, 111 . 2,468 Cincinnati, O M Cleveland, O 670 Columbus, O ,. SIS Denver, Colo 418 Detroit, Mich 6S Fall River, Mass 71 Indianapolis, lnd . 879 Jersey City, N. J 78 Kansas City, Mo 672 Los Angeles, Cal 406 Louisville, Ky 66S Memphis, Tenn 295 Milwaukee, Wis 664 Minneapolis, Minn 468 Newark, N. J 166 New Haven, Conn 169 New Orleans, La 630 New York, N. Y 2,061 Omaha, Neb ... 236 Paterson, N. J 83 Philadelphia, Pa 1,027 Pittsburg, Pa 237 Providence, R. I 669 Rochester, N. Y 168 St. Joseph, Mo 327 St. Louis. Mo 9S St. Paul, Minn 181 San Francisco, Cal , 1,011 Scranton, Pa 84 Syracuse, N. Y 114 Toledo, O 272 Worcester, Mass 143 Divorced Men. 84 356 423 197 1.873 289 388 243 237 264 39 S12 43 432 269 113 123 293 312 116 78 279 1,190 249 38 743 144 286 92 352 601 162 749 46 90 159 84 18.908 10.891 Total Population. 129.896 608.957 560,892 352.387 1,698.575 325.902 381,768 125.560 132,859 285.704 104.863 169,164 206,433 163.752 102,479 204,731 102.320 283.315 202.718 246.070 108.027 287.104 3,437,202 102.555 105.171 1.293.697 321.616 175.597 162,608 102,979 575,238 163.065 342.782 102,026 108.374 131.822 118,421 13,929.739 Divorces to 1.000 women. 11.0 12.4 14.0 8.3 14.0 17.0 17.5 27.2 31.2. 12.7 6.7 62.0 3.8 40.9 40.0 33.4 29.0 19.8 22.5 6.7 13.8 18.5 6.0 23.1 7.9 8.0 7.4 32.5 10.4 32.0 17.3 11.1 29.5 8.2 10.5 20.6 12.1 13.6 Men. 6.5 7.0 7.6 5.6 11.0 8.1 40.1 19.4 18.0 9.2 3.7 30.3 2.0 26.3 26.3 5.5 12.0 10.0 15.3 4.7 7.2 9.7 3.2 24.4 3.6 5.7 4.4 16-3 6.7 34.5 10.4 9.9 21.8 4.5 8.3 12.0 7.1 8.3 V I