THE VIOLET BOOK
THE VIOLET BOOK
But who hath breathed the scent of violets,
And not that moment been a lover glad?
—ARLO BATES.
Go, modest little violets, and lie upon her breast;
Your eyes will tell her something—perhaps she’ll guess the rest!
THE VIOLET BOOK
PHILADELPHIA
GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO.
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1909, by
GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY
Published September, 1909
All rights reserved
Printed in U. S. A.
TO HER
For whom this little company of her sisterswas first gathered.
PREFACE
Many of the selections in this volume arewaifs and strays, found in obscure periodicalsand newspapers, or in long-forgotten bookson the dusty shelves of libraries. Some ofthem have been gathered from copyrightedworks, and for the use of these the compilerowes and renders his best thanks.
Special acknowledgments are due to thefollowing publishers and copyright holders:
The Houghton, Mifflin Company, forselections from the poems of John GreenleafWhittier, Edith M. Thomas, Celia Thaxter,Oliver Wendell Holmes, Richard WatsonGilder, John Hay, Lucy Larcom, George E.Woodbury, Alice and Phœbe Cary, RalphWaldo Emerson, James Russell Lowell,[Pg 6]Bayard Taylor, Harriet Prescott Spofford,Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney, and Edmund ClarenceStedman; Messrs. Little, Brown and Company,for lines by Louise Chandler Moultonand Helen Hunt Jackson; Messrs. G. P. Putnam’sSons, for selections from the works ofDora Read Goodale and Myrtle Reed; Messrs.Charles Scribner’s Sons, for extracts from thewritings of Henry Van Dyke, Mary MapesDodge, Oliver Herford, and Frances HodgsonBurnett; and Messrs. Lothrop, Lee andShepard, for permission to quote from ClintonScollard’s work.
A STUDY IN VIOLET
Next to the rose, whose divine right tomonarchy cannot be questioned, the violet isthe poet’s flower. No other is mentioned sofrequently, or with such affection.
It is impossible to say when this familiarflower first blossomed in literature. The“Odyssey” would not be complete without it,nor would the “Eclogues” of the Romansinger, Virgil. Ovid was fond of horticulture,and the violet was not forgotten when thebard was inditing his smooth-flowing hexameters.Pliny and