Awaiting the postman on Saint Valentine’s Day details
Notes:
St. Valentine’s day, the 14th of February (US: February 14)
“Where can the postman be, I say?
He ought to fly—on such a day!Of all days in the year, you know,
It’s monstrous rude to be so slow:
The fellow’s so exceeding stupid—
Hark!—there he is!—oh! the dear Cupid!” (p. 215)
The woodcut (signed S.W. and T.W., probably artist and engraver respectively) shows a man wearing a top hat and riding a horse, blowing a bugle or trumpet; he is arriving a a house with an open door and window, out of which several ladies anxiously peer. A boy dances outside the house; at left a young man gazes on in earnest hope from around the corner; two birds (pigeons?) fly past, gazing at one another. A scene of love and romance, of angst and worry, of hopes and fears!
