The valentine shows a woman pulling a sheet over a bed. She smiles and wears a dress and apron. There is a bucket by her foot. The text quotes an old proverb to suggest a literal meaning for the figurative expression., Text: What pleases you so? you have caught a new beau, / I know by the glance of your eye! / I hope you'll not rue it, but you know it is true, / "As you make your bed so you must lie.", Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A child's nurse holds an infant, and a young boy stands next to her and waves. She wears an apron, bonnet, and dress, and she sticks out her tongue., Text: A gay jolly soldier I always delight in, / He's ready for dancing, or singing, or fighting; / But when ladies essay it, I firmly decline, / As I see you have joined the infant-ry line., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The housemaid looks in the mirror and ties her bonnet. Her crinoline is visible through the skirt she wears, and a broom rests against a bureau. The maid probably wears her mistress's clothing. The valentine satirizes the house maid's vanity., Text: O, my missus! don't I beat her? / Ain't the pink upon me sweeter? / I should sit upon the sophy, / And Missus Jones should make the coffee., Cf. 2.13., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The house-maid blacks a boot in a kitchen, where the tea pot and kettle have faces. "To have one's swing" means "to allow oneself every freedom." The valentine possibly accuses the maid of having more energy for playing with sweethearts than for her work., Text: Dirty, ugly, vulgar, pert, / So begrimed with grease and dirt, / I vow that I should afraid of, / Seeing what that MAID is MADE of / Tho' call'd MAID OF ALL WORK! they / Say you're often MADE OF PLAY. / And when sweethearts you've your swing / The MAID is quite a different thing., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The angry woman beats her philandering lover with a broom as he lies across her lap. A speech bubble by her head reads " HOW DARE YOU PLAY WITH THE SERVANT?" as he cries, "Oh! Oh!" The positioning suggests both that he is a child, and she is domineering. The man is contorted, and the woman appears larger than him., Text: It's evident, my angry fair, / Whate'er your wrongs, how much you (bare) bear, / Tho' I would rather not be sharing / My lot with on who's so for-bareing: / Such wives as thee who ever's got 'em, / Will find they're very hard at BOTTOM! / So I for my part would decline / Such a very striking Valentine., Cf. 1.20., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Her crinoline pulls up the fabric of the Irish domestic's dress as she leans forward and reveals her legs and behind. The verse shames the biddy for her immodesty and does not blame the men watching., Text: An! biddy, dear, do cease to scrub, / And mount a box, bench, chair or tub, / For while you're dusting off the blind, / The boys are peeping up behind., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
An Irish woman wears a cap and has bucked yellow teeth. She holds a toaster rack as if it were a harp. Above her is written "Harp of Erin," which is a symbol for Ireland. The text suggests that after she sings, the rack/harp will take on new symbolism as a body, and she'll grill meat on its "buzzum" [i.e., bosom]., Text: Sweet harp of me counthry, in sadness I touch thee, / To strains that are plainitive, though ould as the hills, / And bime by when me song is sung out, I will clutch thee, / And brile on thy buzzum some beautiful grills!, Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.