Mar 10, 2017
It’s time for a comic valentine edition of Fishy Friday! This valentine, titled Vain Old Fool, mocks the idea of an older man (portrayed as a bird) pursuing the love of a much younger woman (portrayed as a fish). The last two verses read: The ladies laugh at your ogling eyes, / And shut their ears to your pumped up sighs.
Comic valentines were popular in the United States beginning in the early 1840s. Using caricatures and verse, they typically poke fun at various occupations, ethnicities, human frailties, romantic aspirations, habits, pastimes, political activities, and even participation in the American Civil War. It seems no one was spared from ridicule!
Vain Old Fool. [S.l. : s.n.] [between 1840 and 1880?]
