8-Year-Old Schoolboy Works Hard to Get His Whole Year a Valentine’s Gift

8-Year-Old Schoolboy Works Hard to Get His Whole Year a Valentine’s Gift
(Shutterstock)
Simon Veazey
2/14/2019
Updated:
2/14/2019

An 8-year-old schoolboy has been working hard to save up enough money for a special Valentine’s present—for each and every one of the 68 girls in his year

But Callum Drew isn’t hedging his bets. He already has a girlfriend.

“I just wanted to get some flowers for the girls in year four as I don’t want them to feel let down on Valentine’s Day,” he told Lincolnshire Live.

“I will go around every class and give them their present,” he said.

Callum has been doing the same for the last four years at his school in Lincolnshire, England.

But those flowers are no ordinary flowers. Callum is giving his lucky classmates a silk rose, which lasts forever.

A silk rose. (Pixabay)
A silk rose. (Pixabay)

“The girls jump on me and scream because they are happy,” he said.

This year he has been washing cars to earn the money to pay for the flowers.

In previous years he made his money by working at the florist shop with his Grandma, who passed away this year.

Callum’s mum, Stacey said she is incredibly proud.

“He has washed about ten cars and has a couple more booked in. He was outside from 9.30 a.m. until 4.30 p.m. and even then I had to drag him in as it was getting dark.”

“He hates the attention from the girls. Last year when he gave them the roses they all started screaming and piled on him,” she said.

This year is different for Callum because for the first time, he has a girlfriend. He said that she is happy about his treating the other girls, but, sensibly, he has reserved for her the biggest present.

With a huge commercial industry built up around Feb. 14, and the average American spending over $130 on the occasion, the less romantically included often suggest the whole celebration is something of a modern con trick.

But, while the feast of St. Valentine originally carried little weight, the romantic associations of St. Valentine started to appear over 400 years ago.

The First Ever Valentine’s Message

The feast of St. Valentine has been associated with love between a man and woman since the Middle Ages, according to Sarah Peverley, professor of English at Liverpool University.

“Back then, Valentine was one of many saints honored in the Christian calendar alongside major religious festivals, such as Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost,” she wrote in an article. The oldest known Valentine’s message is over 540 years old, written by Margery Brews to her fiancé John Paston in February 1477.

In the letter, she describes him  as “right well-beloved valentine,” and tells him she is “not in good health of body nor of heart, nor shall I be till I hear from you.”

She explains that her mother has been trying to persuade her father to increase her wedding dowry—so far in vain.  “But if you love me, as I trust verily that you do, you will not leave me therefore.”

The tale has a happy ending, according to Peverley. “The couple married shortly after, so Margery’s heartfelt letters clearly appealed to her beloved.”

The familiar idea of bestowing gifts on one’s Valentine appeared around a hundred years later in Tudor Times, according to Peverley. But she said that 540-year-old-letter “best captures the essence of how the saint’s day transformed from being a lesser-known feast on the medieval liturgical calendar to one of the most important days of the year for hopeful and hopeless romantics.”

Simon Veazey is a UK-based journalist who has reported for The Epoch Times since 2006 on various beats, from in-depth coverage of British and European politics to web-based writing on breaking news.
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