The Arizona champion., 1891-05-09
THE LOVELY VIOLET.
Facts and Fancies About the
 Little Flower.
sHAxEspEARE's REFERENCE TO vIQLETs
The Poets Know More Than the Soien.
 lists of Such Things.

dull sort Of folk, however. and who love to hide their ignorance. behind long names of learned sound, tho violet is a genus of exogenous herbs of the order Violacnp and Is a 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 To and changed her into heifer, deeming that common grass and flowers were no tit 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 To died violets sprang from her body Shakespeare alludes to this old tradition when he says;
 Lay her r the earth
 And from het fair and unpoIlutsd iesa
 May ylolets spring .-..a
 The Greek name for violet was Ion, and possibly because that suggested Ionia, whence the Athenians were fabled to have sprung, tlse~ flower was agreat fa. vorite with the Athenians. who adopted 1t as their badge and loved to weave it into the chaplets which they wore al 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 Alcaus' ode to Sapphs 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 violets!''
 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 10 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.
 THE 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 barls of other climes, bade the wealthy and naughty learn humility from this lowiy wayside preacher It was a favor. ite flower with Mohammed, and hence has acquired peculiar sanctity in Mos lem countries "As my religion is above others" quoth the prophet, "so is the ex. cellence of the odor of violets above other odors. It Is as warmth in winter and coolness in midsummer
 It Is likely that it was from some long foreground of popular homage. that the violet became the badge of the. medi@val niinstrels. aS in the poetlcal contests Of Toulouse. where the prize wiis golden violet. Ciemence Isaure places the vio- let among the flowers with which victors in the gai science were. crowned.
 The superstition. still survives in widely scattered countries that to dream of the violet is good luck. In Brandenburg and Silesia t's held a specific against the ague la Thuringia 1t is a charm against the black art In many parts of rural Germany the custom is still ob 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 ss among the Greeks
 No one, indeed, names tho flower but to praise it; no one uses 1t but for some pretty. useful or poetical purpose. Its popularity is highly creditable to human nature. Except that in some regions of the east 1t has been used to flavor sher. bets. and that in Scotland It has been mistakenly used ss cosmetic, it has been universally cherished only for it's modesty and its beauty and it's delicate fragrance .. CORPORAL LA vIoLErTE.
 In modern France the flower has been adopted as the emblem of the Bonaparte family Corporal la Violette" or Papa la Violette" was the title bestowed by his partisans upon the first Napoleon after his punishment to Elba--significative of their confidence that ho would return again in the spring.
 Early in January. 1915. number of colored engravings made their appear ance in Paris representing violet in full bloom. with the leaves so arranged as to forn, the profile of Napoleon. Un- derneath Was this significant motto, I'll reviendra avea le printemps." The phrase became an imperial toast, and the flower and color were worn as party. .distinc- tion And, in fact, the sentiment was realized When March 20, 1915, saw Ma poieon enter the Tuiileries. after his escape from Elba. he found the grand staircase filled 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 tho petals pro- files of the members of the Bonaparte family each profile forming the outer edge oi il,r petal 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 Herald.
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 Thomas W. Phillips, of New Castle. Pa, who has been elected to congress, onco lost A fortune of nearly S1 900 GOO