The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-20
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sleep bringing poppy, by the plough
man late,
Not without causes to Ceres consecrate.
Fairest Proserpine was rapt away,
And she in plain the night. in tears the
days,
Had long time spent when no high power
could give her
Any redress, the poppy did relieve her,
For eating of the seeds, they sleep pro-
And so beguiled those griefs she long en-
dured."
Such was Grecian recipe for sorrows
What to her was counted as righteous
ness is not even mildest virtue now
Rather as vice does ii rank so great is
the gulf between the then and the now
An opium eater is distinctly a term of
reproach, and only De Quincey's Confess
sons are accepted because of their ex-
quisite lightness of style, combined with
fantastic conception. The vagares of an
opium-laden brain are therein exposed
TO the world, and the world in natural
curiosity loves and admires the OCCASION
al eccentric
But to the Greeks. stepped in artistic
sense and supreme in the "ftness of
things" poppy sleep was right. and so
Hyprios (sleep), Thanatos death and
Nyx (nighD were apparently crowned
with poppies.
The Poppy In Art.
The pre-Raphaelite School of Art has
revived for us many conceptions of ear
lier days. and so the poppy has come
back again into a pride of place on can
vas and stained glass window
In "Dante's Dream" painted by Ros-
setu, and 20 be seen in the Walker Gla-
lery, Liverpool, the floor seems carpeted
with peoples. In the same spirit a fine
bronze tablet was recently erected in
Glasgow Cathedral to the memory of
brave Highlanders killed in the Soudanese
campaigns
Not heather. but peoples in low relief
cover the bronze plate which is again en-
closed as If in a frame by a border of
the flowers chased and engraved
Amidst the leaves and blossoms one
reads the names of heroes who have
crossed the portals of oblivion. Their Tow
al service is ended; lifes task is done :
the burden and heat of their day was
bravely borne, whilst one more tent peg
of the empire was securely driven home
The peoples of sleep droop over weary,
aching heads forever at rest and. like
soothing balm, such thoughts bring peace
to the mourners left behind
The Grecian mother found comfort In
oblivion; our women find solace in rem
iniscences of the strength of purpose and
nobility of those who have passed away.
Thus we blend Hebraism with our new
ly restored Hellenism, and. whilst cleav-
ing to the one, can also find sentiment and
comfort in the beauteous conceptions of
the other, and thereby comes Sweetness
and light" into our daily lives
But we do not yet send wreaths Of pom
pies to garland the brows of our dead.
as did the Romans.
The Opium Poppy.
Even che fragile white poppy is too close
ly associated with worldly things 10 be
brought into touch with aught concern
ing spirit land
The curious blending Of the exuberant
joyousness Of life with the minor plant
of death which we find in Greek and
Roman custom is most Inc eresting to us
who would be at all times consistent
Love, as well as death, claimed the non
by, and youths and maidens, in test of
each others sincerity and fidelity clan
ped the poppy petals, much as we clap tea
leaves in Jest. When the petal snapped
with a sharp sound then love was true.
as well as kind otherwise false would
prove Hero or Leander, though COWS
might sound most fair.
Italy and Switzerland inherit and still