The Washington times., 1901-08-11
MARGARBTS or HISTORY.
Many Famous Women Have Borne
That Stately Name.
Its Poetic Origin Is Credited TO the
Greeks and Persians. to Whom the
AppcIlatiyc Meant 'Chiid of Lifrht''
with Is II SuEfscstsa Dnisy.

Greeks and Persians, to Whom tn,
AppcIIatiyc Meant ".Chiid of Light
with Is 1t SuE;.cstsa Daisy
1t is not merely in modern slang tina
she who bears the stately name Of Mar
garet has been told she is a daisy"
When La Haye. q courtly publisher
living in the days when publishers hat
to be coartly, brought CT In the yea,
;5i7 the poems of Margaret of Navarro
he gave them the title "Margucrites d,
Ia Marguerite DIES Princesses." The pur
was already old. Perhaps, however, h
meant the prettier compliment, pearls
of the pearl of princesses. for in Persian
and Greek the name meant a pearl long
before it was applied to the snowy white
flower Of the fields
Margaret, says the philadelphia
Pr. IS, b" is name fine and famous, full of
poetic associations, name borne by
saints. heroines, and queens but despite
all this it has never been popular in its
entirety. 1t has seemed too much of a
mcuthful, and since most Of its English
contractions sound harsh and vulgar in
our fastidious latter-day ears it has
somewhat dropped the popularity it had
in the days when a girl didn't mind being
"Maggied'' and ''Peggied." or even
''Megged' and "Pegged." Among The
peasantry she even survived being call ID
GRITTY" while the Notwithstanding
Meta. very popular in the early nire
teenth century among elegant novel
writers and their elegant readers, drifted
into English via the German.
Gretchen" has become universal as the
German contraction only since Goethe
wrote Faust" Before that the peasant
lassie whose name stood "Margarethe'
on the parish register was almost in
yariably 'Grethel," as shown in the folk
tales collected by Grimm, from which
the opera "Hansel and Gretel' takes its
theme. "Mete' (whence ''Mebe') and
''Gref' are two more fantastic German
forms, while the French "telescoped"
Marguerite, made popular by their
many queens of that name. into "Margot,"
'Margoton." Cotton" and "Gogo."
Rita" which today occupies the place
held by Meta" century ago, comes
from the Italian, which has also Mar
gherita" and "Ghita." ''Margherita" was
always prime fayorite in Italy even be-
fore popularized by the present beloved
eX-queen. 1t, too. has a saint of Mar
gherite of Cortona, once a sinner, whose
repentance made her so famous she was
oanonized. Danish Margarets are called
''Mette,' "Maret," and "Milletel,' while
a weird Polish form Of the name is NAL
gorzata."
Majorie" and "MargeIy" now almost
regarded as separate names, hail from
Scotland, where Margaret is more used
than in any other country Robert Bruce
had daughter Marjorie or "Maisie."
There never was anything prettier than
the egend from which Margaret takes
its being as a name. 'AIurvand.' mean
ing child of light is the poetic title
bestowed by Greeks and Persians on the
pearl. which, according to their legends
was formed by deWdrops CONCEALED by the
into the lustrous jewel which
has always been the symbol of purity. \
St. Margaret. martyred at Antioch was
widely honored in the fifth century, A.
D. Her remains were buried at Oremona,
and by the eleventh century she had three
Hungarian successors in the calendar of
saints, one of them the good Queen of
Scotland, who popularized the name in
the land of tie thistle.
Margaret by the way has always
been rather literary parsonage. In our
time and country We had Margaret Fuller.
he Marguerite des Princesses'' already
referred TO, sister of the magnificent
Francis of France and ruler of Navarro,
wrote the "Heptameron.' a collection of
tales in imitation of the -Decameron" of
Boccacio which still occupies a certain
place in literature. She was quite gen.
erous patron of learning So was the
OF Beaufort. mother OF
Henry VII of England. who found time in
he intervals of marrying three husbands
let US hope there were interVals) to en-
low two oxford colleges, Christ and St
ohn 5. and to found the Lady Margaret
lIvlnlty professorship at both Oxford and ,
Cambridge.
1t was in the household of Duchess Mar
garet OF burgundy. sister of Edward ~, /
nat the famous printer, CaXton, learned /
rs art Margaret of Scotland. dauphin- /
IS OF France, scrubbed rondeaux in /
lay ui56l when TO write was TO he a |
writer. Margaret Of Nalois, wife of the I
white plumed king, Henry of Navarro. /
vas friend to science and literature, and I
vrote Memories. which were published
Not all the Margarets have been pen
i've saints ana blue-stockings however.
hey have been especially unfortunate
Il bringing about wars. The poor little
ably Queen OF Scotland. usually known
IS The Maid Of Norway, was one of
hese. Her dcaJh on the rough voyage
om OF Scotland-which was more than
ran BARN, scarcely three years old.
ould endure-is one of the dramatic and
inforSiNable episodes OF history for il
recipitatod the bloody civil contest be-
ween The families of Bruce and BallioI !
or the throne. The War of the Roses
vas brought about by the struggle for
ne regency Of England of Margaret of /
.nJou, Queen Of Henry VI, first in war
nd first in peace" Among Margarets,
owever, was the able and coura geous
queen of the three Scandinavian King
oms in 1871. who was called e"1he Sem
ramis Of the North" With her armies
he defeated a King albert of Mechlen-
ure) and held him captive seven years
ne planned the "Kalmar Union" which
,as practically splendid northern en-
ire, and showed herself a rare combina- |
ION OF the acute statesman and the fas- |
mating woman Doubtless she made the |
wo Characters play into one another's |
amos The ability to do this is not en- !
rGy confined TO persons of the name |
( Margaret