The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-03-31


nothing more"
Thus wrote that great flower lover,
Wordsworth, in telling about the lack
of sentiment in one of his characters.
But neither that man nor any of his
kind were in Australia when the first
English primrose emigrated to that
new land. An enormous nugget of gold
could not have created more excite
ment. Rugged, restless men wept over
the plants with their pale modest bios
SONS. They were fragrantly eloquent
messages from home, but despite its
unaSsuming manner the primrose has
linked with its history a tale of po-
litiCal hOnOTs. 1t is an heraldic flower,
giving name to q noble Scottish house
on whose shield it is craven with Il
motto, that translated. reads: Early
youth is charming" Besides this, il
was taken as the symbol of a political
career more bold, brilliant and strange
than any other of its time. The states
man was Lord BeacOnsfieid, and in
connection with him, there was estab-
lished in England a new festival called
Primrose day.
Mythology, as well as history, claims
the humble little flower, and tells a
tale of its origin. The story is that a
beautiful youth named PaTalisOs died
of grief over the loss of his love and
was metamorphOsed into the primrose,
which i'm its early days bore his name.
x x
The fair spring blossoms that Mother
Earth sent forth to herald the coming
of Easter. have been Sossipping about
each other. The tales they tell about
the tulip, that bright faVorite of ORR
entail lands besides being highly ro-
mantle, verge on the sensational Its
notorious career has been freely dis
cussed among the less brilliant flowers
Of af.a, in s,FF
gentle dispositions, resent the tulips
regal bearing and cOurtly airs. Few
people have ever heard the stories
they tell. for in this busy, hustling age
only poets and occasional other unprac-
teal folk find time to trace the fami-
~ trees and history of flowers. But
the tulip, as we'll as the other blossoms
that are talked about, will probably be
welcomed even more cordially than of
old into the churches and the homes of
the best families after its strange and
wonderful past becomes known. The
gay-petaled blossom gets its name
from a similarity to the Turkish head
dress, and one of the chief national
festivals in the Sultans land is known
as the feast of tulips. But the proud
flower has done something more than
please the Turks with its beauty. Once
upon a time it held just as great an
influence over the financial affairs of
some families as Wall street has had
over those of others. This all hap
pene1 something more than 600 years
ago when the tulip was first taken to
western Europe. 1t was Immediately
enthroned as ear of the floral king
dom, and so great was the rage for il
In Holland and France that many fam
flies famed for wealth were bankrupt
ed by il. The newcomers beauty made
even the wise, s$aid Dutch florists mad
L..
a terrible gambling mania among them
4 rare specimen often won a prize as
high as that paid for a housekeeping
race horse or a fine diamond. Fortunes
changed hand daily in bets over the
final outcome of almost priceless seed
ling bulbs. The gambling reached such
height that the government finally
had TO issue a proclamation to sup
press it. During three years tulips
yielded to the city of Harlem the
snug little sum Of S5O,0O0,0 600 The
finest bulbs are still brought from that
Holland town. and are descendants of
those famous tulips.
While this financial career of the
tulip is most interesting in specializing
circles. the poets love best the tale that
tells how the young Persian always
makes il the emblem of his declara ton
of love. The turbaned swain sends to
the lady of his dream the most brilliant
tulip he can find. The message it bears
is that like the flower his countenance
is all on fire and his heart has been re-
duced to a coal by the intense warmth
of his love.
The Well-belOved violet is another
gentle little flower that has been a
prominent figure in history When the
first Napoleon was in exile il was
adopted as his emblem by his follow
ers- A bunch of violets worn by a
Frenchman. or seen in his home. was a
secret message that he was loyal to the
exiled chieftain's cause Any flower
less sweet and tinid would have become
quite conceited over the wealth of le-
gends entWined with its history. Ion
was the name bestowed upon it by the
imaginative Greek, who loved to peo-
pie the petals of every blossom and
the ripples of every rill with fair crea-
lions of their fancy. According TO
their mythology, the name was derived
from Ia the daughter of Midas and
the betrothed of Atys. The story runs
that Diana, desiring to conceal the
maid from Apollo, transformed her
into a violet. Another myth about the
birth of the flower says that Jupiter
caused the first sweet violets to spring
from the earth as food for the perse-
cuted Ia while she was hiding in the
form of a white heifer from the fury
OF Juno.
The versemakers have a special
fcndness for the tiny flower and love
to translate the messages that it is
trying to tell TO the rest of creation. II
is a singular fact that some flowers
suggest pensiveness and even melan-
choly. while in form, color and bearing
others speak only of gladness. While
the personality of the flower may be
somewhat responsible for its effect on
the human moods. more perhaps is due
10 the strain of poets songs. Most of
the Easter flowers seem to be message
bearers of joy and hope. lifting their
sweet faces to the blue skies in happy
worship rather than in sadness II
seems to be natural for poets to give
names and human attributes TO plants,
but the beauty-loving Greeks went far
Their along the path of fancy. They IN
vented human originals for their IA
vorite flowers. and made beautiful le-
gends 70 account for the transforma-
ton The lovely narcissus, according