An ice skater kicks out one leg and holds a cigarette and a "prize medal." The sender suggests that the recipient deserves a kick in the rear instead of a medal. The border features a woman embracing a man; the pair resemble Commedia dell'arte characters. At the bottom is a pack of matches marked "Lucifer's matches.", Text: With your kicks and your capers, / You are very small papers-- / The prize-medal you've taken, I find; / I'm in great doubt, whether / A medal of leather, / Wouldn't suit you far better behind-- / If you think it would suit, / From the toe of a boot, / You can have it, whenever your mind., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The valentine shows an elephant ice skating (and smoking). He wears a blue jacket and green pants and carries a walking stick. The sender rejects the recipient because of his weight., Text: I've heard fat men singing, / I'm told of their swimming, / I've seen them in various states -- / I've known of their dancing, / And ogling and glancing, / But ne'er have I seen one on skates. / I always am laughing, / When fat men I'm chaffing, / Who think that it will be my fate -- / It sets me tee-heeing, / A Valentine being, / To an elephant trying to skate., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
An ice skating man jumps. He has a tail and holds a walking stick. The border shows cupids and hearts; one cupid shoots a heart out of a thimble cannon labeled "Love"; another cupid travels with a heart in a hot-air balloon; and another cupid hammers at a cracked heart below a heart on a fishhook labeled "Caught.", Text: Art spirit of health, or goblin dam'd? / Or dry goods shopman, by butcher boy lamm'd; / Kangaroo, agile Gibbon, or bearded Saki -- / Or perhaps one of Barnum's "What can they be?' / The C.P. Commission won't stand it, I say-- / To let such a guy on the ice slide about, / While the mothers of children prospective are out., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man wearing ice skates has multiple pairs of legs, which indicate that they are moving quickly. Four men observe him. "Monkey shines" means monkey-like antics., Text: Brisk as a flea, as lightning flashes, / Quickly you make the grasshopper dashes-- / Hic, presto, change! now here, now there; / We cannot find you anywhere-- / But know a fool is in the middle, / And thus I solve your icy riddle. / From those that cut up monkey shines, / We do not choose our Valentines., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man ice skates surrounded by a cloud of a smoke from his pipe., Text: 'Twould be a rather serious joke, / And break the heart so fondly thine, / If all your vows should end in SMOKE, / 'Twere made on ice, my Valentine., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman ice skates. She has a headdress and curls along her forehead that resemble Ancient Greek styles., Text: When ancient damsels take to ice, / The fire of youth no longer shines, / And they should quit this poor device / For catching cold and Valentines., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man on ice skates has one foot off the ground. His hat has fallen off. The border shows cupids and hearts; one cupid shoots a heart out of a thimble cannon labeled "Love"; another cupid travels with a heart in a hot-air balloon; and another cupid hammers at a cracked heart below a heart on a fishhook labeled "Caught.", Text: Dame nature thus has well decreed, / "Fools go where wise men fear to tread;" / You've lost your hat-- and dropp'd your weed, / Go home before you lose your head. / A head which though 'tis not much used, / Except to hang a hat, or nod; / By mortal should not be abused, / E'en cabbage-heads are works of God., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A ice skating woman with her legs turned in flails her arms to regain her balance. Her skirt billows up to reveal her legs. The border features a woman embracing a man; the pair resemble Commedia dell'arte characters. At the bottom is a pack of matches marked "Lucifer's matches.", Text: Though puggy of nose and void of grace, / Lanky of limb -- in feature wan; / The thought with each must have a place, / That something you are like the swan. / Ask not of me the reason why, / 'Tis breathed upon the chilly wind; / 'Tis echo'd by the skater's cry, / "A Swan! see, down on her behind!", Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man lies on his back with his arms and legs up and bottom facing towards the viewer. He wears ice skates, and the ice around him has cracked. Likening him to a coin, the sender rejects the recipient for landing with his tail up., Text: A game of chance, played with a nickel, / Suggested is by your pickle; / Head or tail! -- I'll watch and see, / If I your Valentine shall be. / The Tail is up! -- the Head is down! / Your doom is sealed, your fate is known -- / Heads lose -- Tails win-- the game is mine, / Go seek another Valentine., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man with a hog's head ice skates. He carries a walking stick and wears fashionable clothes, suggesting that he is a dandy. The word "cove" is slang for fellow, and the expression "hog on ice" suggests lack of grace and control. The border features a woman embracing a man; the pair resemble Commedia dell'arte characters. At the bottom is a pack of matches marked "Lucifer's matches.", Text: I love to lie in the shady grove, / In the arms of him whose heart I prize; / Or 'neath the skimm'ring moon to rove, / And gaze into his lustrous eyes. / O'er the frozen pool to glide I love, / With him whose love is past all price; / Get out, Pork-Chops! you're not the cove, / 'Tis not with you, you Hog on Ice!, Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man skates with his back faced toward the viewer. The seat of his pants is torn., Text: Oh! don't you think yourself a smarty, / Making fun of everybody; / But could you see your own profile, / You scarce would risk another smile. / Ha! ha! -- you cut a pretty shine, / With streamer floating from behind, / You are, indeed, a dandy fellow, / With colors hoisted --white and yellow., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man wearing ice skates has multiple pairs of legs, which indicate that they are moving quickly. Four men observe him. "Monkey shines" means monkey-like antics., Text: Brisk as a flea, as lightning flashes, / Quickly you make grasshopper dashes-- / Hic, presto, change! Now here, now there; / We cannot find you anywhere-- / But know a fool is in the middle, / And thus I solve your icy riddle. / From those that cut up monkey shines, / We do not choose our Valentines., Cf. Valentine 8.36, Provenance: Helfand, William H..
A woman in a long dress is standing by an icy pond. She crosses her arms and looks down at the ground. The sender citicizes the recipeint for lacking warmth and being overly concerned with propriety., Text: You’re very nice though somewhat old, / And I should say you’re rather cold, / Your looks a penny ice would freeze, / Or cause an Esquimaux to sneeze., Provenance: Helfand, William H..
A woman ice skates, and the wind blows up her skirt to reveal her ankles., Text: The naughty breeze! I mean no evil, / With female skirts does raise the devil -- / All pretty girls must skating go, / But do not like their legs to show-- / That is-- and here the dart most rankles, / If they, like you, have crooked ancles [i.e. ankles]. / What is revealed, makes me decline / To be to you a Valentine., Cf. Valentine 13.5., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman ice skates, and the wind blows up her skirt to reveal her ankles., Text: The naughty breeze! I mean no evil, With female skirts does raise the devil -- / All pretty girls must skating go, But do not like their legs to show-- / That is-- and here the dart most rankles, If they, like you, have crooked ankles. / What is revealed, makes me decline To be to you a Valentine., Cf. Valentine 13.4., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
While ice skating, a woman hikes up her skirt to reveal her thin legs., Text: Like broom-sticks shrunk, or small hat-pegs / One cannot call your's matchless legs; / For as the wind reveals by snatches, / One sees they're quite as thin as matches. / Vile wind that tells the story sad, / That she who skates, must also pad; / Go whisper to this lady fine, / She cannot be my Valentine., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man on ice skates has long mutton chops and holds a walking stick, suggesting that he is a dandy. The valentine encourages enlistment in the Union army and mocks the recipient's unmanly interest in dress and ice skating., Text: Faint-hearted youth! you talk of skating, / And call the sport quite animating; / You say there's nothing half so bracing; / There's naught the manly form so gracing, / As through the icy maze to twine. / But hark! your country's voice is calling, / Treason all her hopes is thralling; / 'Tis manlier games men now delight in, / For God and Liberty they're fighting; / From these I'll seek my Valentine., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A German American woman ice skates, and a small figure in the background has fallen down., Text: You come all de way from Hoboken, / Mit a schmile upon your nose, / An', I dinks you is a fraulein, / A seeking for-- I knows! / So shust don't skate any more as dat. / But schlip like scheese away, / Un go mit me to de schustice mit de peace, / Und I'll make you mine vrow right away. / Never skates any more, den, bewitching fraulein, / If you would save from de colic your own Valentine., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Having fallen while ice skating, a woman sits on the ice with her crinoline and petticoats revealed. She gestures toward a sign which reads "ice cream." The punning text misconstrues her interest in ice cream as a statement regarding her predicament on the ice. The border shows cupids and hearts; one cupid shoots a heart out of a thimble cannon labeled "Love"; another cupid travels with a heart in a hot-air balloon; and another cupid hammers at a cracked heart below a heart on a fishhook labeled "Caught.", Text: You shiver and howl-- to move you dread, / You're game for all deriders, / Your balance gone and your thin legs spread, / Like a pair of drunk dividers. / "I scream!" you shriek in anguish'd tone, / A more summary plan you require; / Take off your skates and stay at home, / Knit stockings in front of the fire., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man ice skates. He has a monocle around his neck and holds a walking stick, suggesting that he is a dandy., Text: You lightly glide in sportive mood, / And to the backward outer-edge; / While flowing now a sea of blood, / To keep a nation's sacred pledge. / Squirm on, poor fool! knock-knees! turn out, / And while distorted shapes you twine; / Hear loud the jeering chorus shout-- / A coward finds no Valentine., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
