Seven Hundred Men of Harvard To Burn Wires Today With Saccharine Last-Minute Valentines

Seven hundred men of Harvard will glance at the calendar today, hesitate, and then dash for the nearest telephone or telegraph station.

That telegraph officials say, the same number of forgetful Harvard men do every time St. Valentine's day rolls around. Armed with machine-made sentiments of varying saccharinity, printed on special blanks, the telegraph people are prepared to welcome the onslaught. The absent-minded swain need only choose between such lightsome ditties as, "At miles between us we can laugh, our hearts entwined by telegraph" and the more Victorian, "Cupid's arrows swift and true wing my love its way to you."

It was estimated by Harvard Square merchants that at least 10,000 Valentines have been sold in Cambridge during the last few days, men and women coming for them in equal numbers.

"The lace-frill motif in valentines is decidedly on its way out," one stationer said. "That type is apparently joining the old comic valentine which disappeared several years ago. The modern valentine is becoming clean-cut and the ones with a touch of humor are the most popular.

"Not many people know it, but this is an epoch-making Valentine Day. It is the last time that one will have the choice of fantastic shapes and sizes. Next year, the dimensions of the cards will be set by the valentine manufacturer's code and there will probably be only four or five standard sizes.

"I'm laying in a stock of the old ones this year for my personal use. I figure that all the cards under the code will probably be square. Personally, I like the silhouettes with arms that wiggle."

Telegraph officials denied that they would make their telegrams conform to the rules laid down by the valentine manufacturers in their code.

To one stationery store executive, the trend of the modern valentine brought dismay. He looked at the heaps of vari-colored pasteboard ruefully.