Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-09-04
FLOWERS AS EMBLEMs.
A Form Of Heraldry Whose Mys-
teries Are Past Finding Out
Love- Historical and Romantic, Regarding
tho Various Floral Badges Told of In
Ancient and Modern Myths,
Traditions and Theories.

tno various Floral Badges Told of In
Ancient and Modern Myths,
Traditions and Theories.
"a good symbol" it was the opinion Of
Emerson, sis the best argument, and is q
missionary to persuade thousands. There
Is no more welcome gift to men than q new
symbol" This, says tho London Standard,
may possibly account for the rise, popular.
ity and persistence Of floral symbols.
Yet 1t seems difficult to explain why
Wales should have chosen the leek for its
cognizance, though the Cymric poets have
good deal to say about the broom. The
Scottish thistle is more to the point Yet
the northeen botanists are by no means at
one In assigning that heraldic plant to any
known species, or even in agreeing that il
u Card~{s at all. The plant with which
doiyrooa > deckod on festive days Is usual.
~ the cotton thistle, which Is certainly not
wild plant In North Br tain The rose has.
OF course, romantic tale to explain its
choice as the emblem OF old England,
though. like the ajority Of such tales, this
legend may belong to the myths of the
post hoc, proptsr hoe order. The feur.de-lls
o. France Is still less easy Of explanation.
For, though 1t Is conventionally regarded AZ
q lily, tho heraldic painters have so effectu.
ally disguised it that it Is now . mere
matter OF choice TO say what it is. As early
40 the year 16l1 Givillin (who was in those
days considered a cunning finder ont of
hidden things) regarded the device on the
Bourbon nag IS "three toads," and it n
affirmed that 1t was in alfusion to these sup
posed symbols Of their country that the
popular nickname Of 'Jean Crapardsn was
bestowed on the French people. Still more
recently, owing to certain ornaments re-
sembling bees having been found in the
tomb OF Childeric, father Of Clovis, it has
been thought that perhaps these insects.
and not lilies or toads, are represented on
the white flag.
1t would certainly be difficult for any one
to explain why Florence adopted the "giglio
blanco," Prussia the lime, Saxony the mig.
nonette, or Ireland the shamrock. unless.
indeed, we are to accept without question
the legend Of st. Patrick and his demonstra-
ton through it Of the mystery Of the Trim
lty. Nor is it much easier for any one who
Is critical anent popular myths to account
for the white lily being the badge of the
Ghibellines, and the red of the Guelphs, any
more than it is explicable why the Yorkists
took the white rose and the Lancastrians
the red, or why the heartsease was the EN-.
blem OF the ''yiolet>crowned" city of Athens.
Again, why was Apollo supposed to love
the laurel and the cornell cherry, Pluto the
cypress and the maiden hair-a moisture
loving fern. which we may take for grant
ed could not be very plentiful in his chosen
realm-Luna the dittany, Ceres the daffo-
dill, Jupiter the oak, Minerva the olive.
Bacchus the vine, and Venus the myrtle
shaded
Why, again, is the Canterbury-bell the
flower Of st. Augustinea Why is the Gro
Gus the emblem of st. Valentine-unless it
happens to appear about his festival time
the cardamine of the Virgin Mary, or the
st. John's-wort of the beloved apostlel Mr..
CONNIE may, perhaps, hint at these flowers
having been 1'totems,n and POSSIBLY the
flowers were actually favorites with those
whose cognizance they became after their
death or were borne on their shields as
heraldic emblems during life. But still.
the endless floral badges of the highland
clans are left in the regions of airy myth.
like the betony which was apportiolied to
st. Ffraed as symbol of the double share
OF grace with which he was endowed. or
the lily of st. Thomas A'Beckett, or the
convallarla, which, according to hagioloe-
ical myth, sprang up from the blood of the
dragon which st. Leonard slew in a wood
standing on the site now occupied by the
suburb OF Hastings bearing his name.
It Is scarce ly less puzzling to give a rea-
sonable explanation of why certain flowers
are assigned to, or have been appropriated
by, certain individuals.
The Napoleonic violet is a case in point.
Inc modest plant which once made all
faris fragrant on the Bonapartist fete day
was never an object of concern to the ssIit-
md Nva1vx
pie now swallow the romantic legend of his
telling his adherents, when banished to
Elba, that he would ''come back with the
The story was an invention Of
after times.
Nor has any one to our knowledge rome
into the origin Of the scarlet carnation a.
the chosen flower of the Stuarts. Jacob
itism-the Jacobitism of the Pretender and
OF the gallant gentlemen who mounted the
white cockade and lost their heads for their
p2ins-is now q vanished faith. Yet to
this day mysterious hands yearly deposit
Wreaths OF carnations ON the tombs OF
Cardinal York and other members OF tia
hapless line of James II. O -
Later floral emblems are less difficult 10
explain. In truth, except for the problem
which individual tastes must always re-
main, there Is no great puzzle in the mat
ter. The old Kaiser Wilhelm, of GERMANY.
who in spite Of his military reputation and
general drill sergeantry, was wonder
fully spffused with the Teutonic seliti-
mentality which perVaded Germany in his
boyhaod, was fond of the earn.aower, and
he went, In his later days at least.
the whole country side blossomed forth in
blue in his honor. The old Emperor's de-
votion to the memory of his mother
amounted to 'scult," and one of his earliest
recollections of her was that when she and
her boys werc fugitives from Berlin on the
occasion OF one of Napoleon's invasions, she
rested for 2 moment by corp-feld, and
amused them by plncking the blue corn.
howers and making them wreaths and nose
gays.
The present Kaiser Is said to affect the
yiplet, fancy HhieA mag clash with that OF
the Renapartists, should the adherents af
the s'democratic empire" again come to the
front In France. A flower was, Of course,
necessary to the Boulangists, and, with
instinct for effect, the par
tisans of the national and honest re-
public" have chosen the carnation, Never
tlsiess, the Origin of the sympos does not
matter, except frafa q historical point'1l
view. The mysteries Of this form OF
are generally beyond finding out.
and not infrequently are better left unex-
plored, If the result Of antiquarian search
Is as depressing as that which afirms that
Lhs wnrd shamrock is derived from the
Arabic shamrookh, . club or shiilelah, and
! nat this weapon is, In truth, the true badge
os the Hibernian race.
= fapeoc.eqs ssaoF.
A iive-yeaF-old child in Monsen, Ne, IL
said to speak three languages.