MYSTICAL AND MEDICINAL PROPERTIES 305
Unlike
other gems, the pearl comes to us perfect and beautiful, direct from
the hand of nature. Other precious stones receive careful treatment
from the lapidary, and owe much to his art. The pearl, however, owes
nothing to man. Perhaps this has much to do with the sentiments we
cherish for it. It touches us with the same sense of simplicity and
sweetness as the mountain daisy or the wild rose. It is absolutely a
gift of nature, on which man cannot improve. We turn from the
brilliant, dazzling ornament of diamonds or emeralds to a necklace of
pearls with a sense of relief, and the eye rests upon it with quiet,
satisfied repose and is delighted with its modest splendor, its soft
gleam, borrowed from its home in the depths of the sea. It seems truly
to typify steady and abiding affection, which needs no accessory or
adornment to make it more attractive. And there is a purity and
sweetness about it which makes it especially suitable for the maiden.
The idea of pearly purity is inseparably linked with the name Margaret, derived from the Persian Murwari (pearl, or child of light) through the Greek μαργαρίτης. This
name—beautiful in sound as well as in origin—is popular in all European
countries, and likewise are its abbreviations and diminutives : in
Italian, Margherita and Rita ; in French, Marguerite, Margot, and
Groten ; in German, Margarethe, Gretchen, and Grethel; and in English,
Margaret, Marjorie, Madge, Maggie, Peggy, etc.
The
use of the word as a proper name among the early Christians was
doubtless suggested by the sweet simplicity and loveliness of the
pearl, and by the beautiful symbolical references to this gem in the
Scriptures ; and the meaning of the name has been strengthened by the
pure lives and the good deeds of the many beautiful Margarets in all
lands, including the virgin martyr, St. Margaret of Antioch, "the mild
maid of God" referred to in the Liturgy, who, before the fifth century,
was the embodiment of feminine innocence and faith overcoming evil, and
who is often represented wearing a string of pearls ; also St.
Margaret /Etheling of the eleventh century, who endeared the name in
Scotland, was canonized in 1215, and was adopted as the patron saint of
Scotland in 1673; and Margaret, "Pearl of Bohemia," so beloved by the
Danes.
Especially
among the Germans has the name a tender significance ; with them it is
symbolical of maidenly sweetness and purity associated with richness of
womanhood, such as was typified by Goethe in the heroine of his
"Faust." This idea may have impelled Wordsworth in the selection of a
name for the lovely, girlish character in his "Excursion"; and
Tennyson for his "Sweet pale Margaret," and likewise Scott for "Ladye
Margaret, the flower of Teviot." With the memory
of these lives and characters before her, many a loving mother has
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