San Francisco Call, Volume 107, Number 39, 8 January 1910 — Rose Legends [ARTICLE]

Rose Legends

• In the course of an article contributed to the Westminster Gazette, the writer refers to some remarkable legends regarding the rose. Speaking of his father, he says:

■ "I remember him grumbling because the rosacentl folia is despised and has gone out of fashion. He had been told in Persia that it was the rose from which, 1,000 years ago, an Arabian doctor had first, and after many experiments, extracted the wonderful per.fume for'whlch the east. has long been famous. And then he told the story of an Indian prince who had baths of this rose perfume prepared for his beautiful princess. The bath was placed in the garden, and: when the sun shone into it the- heat drew the rose oil out of the perfume, so that it looked as if a greasy substance were floating on the surface. The servant in attendance on the princess thought something had gone wrong with -the rose .water and began to skim the grease. eyes, which' burst; and filled the garden with, such wonderful sweetness that every s one noticed it. And that was how, attar of roses was first discovered. ■

"There is a; story, reading which made. ' me wonder, whether Swinburne got the idea for his beautiful, much quoted line about the 'rain and ruin and roses' from the' legend of the Santa Rosa di, Lima, the patroness of ' America; canon- , ized,- rather against his. will, by .Pope Clement X. : The Peruvians appealing" to him for tho canonization of the lady, ■ tho pope exclaimed Impatiently that an Indian was as unlikely , to be .a saintas that a rain of roses should fall from the" skies. 'Whereupon a - shower of' roses began .to fall into the Vatican, and ceased not ; until the incredulous" pontiff acknowledged himself convinced ;of her sanctity.' ... , ,-'.-

"Again, there Is the origin of tho term "'sub rosa, 1 used, glibly wherever secrets are kept and told; while perhaps.only one in a million of those who use and abuse the phrase wonders aa to its origin, unless ho be a student of the classics. To begin with, the roso was' the emblem of 'joy, \ t and Comus. presiding over festivals, wore garlands of dewy roses. . In order to stem the How of words engendered by the pleasures of feasting, the god of love bribed the grave god of silence not to betray his secrets, by the gift of a rose, thereby making the flower the symbol of secrecy and silence. As such, it was hung above the' festive board, an ever present reminder to the guests that their table talk should" riot be repeated elsewhere." ■:■ : .'. .