A Valentine of hearts and lace,
Forget-me-nots and cherub face;
The words, “ I love you” done in gold;
A valentine full threescore old!
Her patchwork now is wet with tears:
“No valentine for sixty years! ”
No valentine? Now think awhile, --
The work-stained hands, the cheery smile;
The wood box that he fills each night
To keep her kitchen warm and bright;
The lilac planted by the gate;
The Sharon rose that blossoms late;
The new step for the cellar stair ---
She need no longer stumble there;
The green sod on the little mound,
Where sleeping peacefully and sound,
Their first-born unforgotten lies,
He waters it with tender sighs,
With valentines her life runs o’er,
What woman’s heart could ask for more?
His service –more than words could say –
Gives valentines from day to day.
She needs no letter done in gold:
His deeds speak messages untold.
in The Farmer’s Wife
The Farmer's Wife was first published in 1893, and had a circulation of 3,000 a month. In 1897, the Webb Publishing Company in St. Paul, Minnesota bought this magazine, and from that point they raised the circulation rate through the early 20th century decades to 1,100,000 a year. In mid-1939 The Farmer's Wife was bought by Farm Journal, and became a subsection in the back of this magazine.
