Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1895 — Love Tokens. [ARTICLE]

Love Tokens.

Sailors, who are said to be the most superstitious of men, and oftenest away from Poll or Sue, are great at love tokens. They wear a charm on a silken string around their necks; they tattoo their manly arms with two hearts transfixed by a single arrow, and marked respectively “Jack" and “Molly,” and they believe, or pretend to believe, In the magic power of such symbolical unions to'keep their affections true to their loves against all the allurements of alien beauty. Moreover, the keepsake, besides containing as often as possible the hair of the beloved object, Is almost always made of precious metals or precious stones. There is a common though Indefinite feeling that It ought to be something rather useless In gold or silver. It remains remotely true, in fact, to its amulet origin. Gold and silver and precious stones are of immense antiquity. Something to hang around your neck on a string; something to wear on your watch chain [ or, falling these, something in the way of necklet, bracelet, brooch, ear-ring—that is the ordinary ideal of the keepsake. The ideal. In short, descends from a time when clothing was scanty, personal ornament was a matter of high importance, barbaric decoration alone known, and goods and chattels were few and simple. We seldom think of giving as a keepsake anything that cannot be worn about the person.