Vintage 1912 Valentine's Day Greeting Card

The card reads 'To My Valentine' in ornate script, but what's actually happening is a determined toddler dressed head-to-toe in matching red coat and shorts has turned her back entirely on the viewer to focus on what truly matters: pressing her tiny hands into a heart nearly the size of her entire torso. The enormous white hat with its pink ribbon bow suggests she dressed for a special occasion, and that occasion is apparently physically manhandling a disembodied organ. John Winsch copyrighted this masterpiece in 1912, because yes, someone looked at a child aggressively pawing a giant red heart — face averted, stance resolute — and thought 'romance.' The ornate lettering tries desperately to class it up, but no amount of decorative flourishes can disguise the fact that this child is not giving the heart — she's claiming it, like a Victorian toddler filing a lien.