Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-07-21
THE LOVELY VIOLET.
FACTS AND FANClES ABOUT THE
BEAUTIFUL LITTLE FLOWER.

Medieval Times.
According to the scientists, who are a
dull sort of folk, however, and who love
to hide their ignorance behind long
names of learned sound, the violet is a
genus of exogenous herbs of the order
Violacoe and is native of the northern
temperate zone But the poets know a
great deal more than the scientists, for
they were born before them and will
survive them, and the poets tell us all
about the creation of this fragrant flower.
When Jupiter was in love with 10 and
changed her into heifer, deeming that
common grass and flowers were no fit
diet for a sweetheart of the king of gods,
he created the violet that she might feed
upon its dainty petals. And, it is added,
when 10 died violets sprang from her
body. Shakespeare alludes to this old
tradition when he says:
Lay her i the earth
And from her fair anf anooiluted flesh
May violets spring.
The Greek name for violet was Ion, and
possibly because that suggested Ionia,
whence the Athenians were tabled to
have sprung, the flower was great ia
vorite with the Athenians, who adopted
1t as their badge and loved to weave it
into the chaplets which they wore at
banquets, thinking, indeed, that it was a
guardian against drunkenness.
Alcibiades went to Agathos crowned
with ivy and violets. The only lines
that have survived from AIcaus' ode to
Sappho begin by addressing her as
"Violet crowned, pure, sweetly smiling
Sappho." The Athenian orators, when
striving to win the favor and attention
of the people, were wont to address them
} as "Athenians, crowned with violetsl"
Among the Romans also the violet was
highly esteemed. Ovid, in speaking of
/ the ancient sacrifices and contrasting
their noble simplicity with the garish
display Of more degenerate times, says
that ''if there was any one who could
add violets to the chaplets wrought from
flowers of the meadow he was a rich
man" And Virgil, to emphasize the
desolation of nature mourning the death
of Daphnis, speaks Of the violet as re-
placed by the thistle.
TIE VIOLET IN THE EAST.
In the east the violet had great repu-
tation among those races whose religions
were rather emotional than mystical
The Arabian poets, like their brother
bards of other climes, babe the wealthy
and naughty learn humility from this
lowly wayside preacher. 1t was favor
tie flower with MDhammed, and hence
has acquired peculiar sanctity in Mos
lem countries. "As my religion is above
Others" quoth the prophet, 80 is the ex-
cellence Of the odor of violets above
other odors. II is Us warmth in winter
and GOODNESS III midsummer"
1t is likely that it was from some long
foreground of popular homage that the
violet became the badge of the medieval
Ministries, as in the poetical contests of
Toulouse where the prize was golden
violet. Clemence Isaure places the vio-
let among the flowers with which victors
in the gal science were crowned.
The superstition still survives in widely
scattered countries that to dream of the
violet is good luck. In Brandenburg
and Silesia it is held specific against
the ague. In Thuringia it is charm
against the black art. In many parts Of
rural Germany the custom is still OBJ
served of decking the bridal bed and The
cradles of young girls with this flower,
a custom known to have been in use
among the Kelts as well as among the
Greeks.
No one, indeed, names the flower but
to praise it; no one uses it but for some
pretty, useful or poetical purpose. Its
popularity is highly creditable to human
nature. Except that in some regions of
the east it has been used to flavor sher-
bets, and that in Scotland it has been
mistakenly used as cosmetic, it has
been universally cherished only for its
modesty and its beauty and its delicate
fragrance.
CORPORAL La vIOLETTE.
In modern France the flower has been
adopted as the emblem of the Bonaparte
family. Corporal la Violette" or Papa
la Fiolette" was the title bestowed by his
partisans upon the first Napoleon after
his Punishment to Elba-significative of
their confidence that he would return
again in the spring.
Early in January, 1915, number of
colored engravings made their appear
ance in Paris representing a violet in
full bloom, with the leaves so arranged
as to form the profile Of Napoleon. IN
derneath was this significant motto, 81
reviendra evea lie printemps." The phrase
became an imperial toast, and the flower
and color were worn as party distinc
ton. And, in fact, the sentiment was
realized. When March 20. 1915, saw Ma |
poleon enter the Tuilleries, after his escape
from Elba, he found the grand staircase
flied with ladies, who nearly smothered |
him with violets.
On the death Of the king of Rome very
pretty devices in violets were made, /
showing on the edge of the petals pro-
files of the members of the Bonaparte /
family, 'acn profile forming the outer
edge of TIC FETAL looking at the flower
and leaving the face white.
On the death of Napoleon III, also, the .
visitors TO Chiselhurst wore or carried .
there punches OF violets. New York I.
Herald.