Girls High School - Yearbook (Reading, PA)

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The Purple Flower Katharine Wetherhold A very long time ago, in fact so long ago that you can’t begin to remember, there was a most beautiful sea. Now this sea wasn’t like other seas at all, in fact, it was the most beautiful spot in the world. How this became so very beautiful to look on is a very, very long story and I shan’t begin to tell it, but I shall tell you the name of it—the Coral Sea! If you had looked into the depths of its crystal waters, you would have seen beyond the shadows of huge, towering trees and swaying reeds and rushes; down, down to the very bottom of this wonderful sea you could have gazed. A palace of silver was built there, the very loveliest palace that ever was seen. It was built there by hundreds of fairies and sprites who toiled tirelessly from morn till night for their beautiful princess, the princess Silver-Bell. Silver-Bell was the fairest princess that has every dwelt in a deep sea palace. Her hair, the color of pure copper, fell from her perfectly molded forehead in masses to the heels of her tiny coral slippers. Her eyes were the color of the waters of her sea reflecting only shadows of her thoughts as the waters reflected the flowers on their banks. On her throne of silver threads and seaweed. Princess Silver-Bell reigned wisely and graciously for several years. One day her faithful attendant, Golden-Beam, came slowly and sadly before the throne of the princess. “My dear Golden-Beam, has any harm befallen our people?” asked Silver-Bell anxiously. “Alas, gracious princess, I have sad news today. A most beautiful white water lily has been picked and no one has seen it disappear.” “That indeed is very unfortunate,” murmured Silver-Bell. “Tell Orange-Glow to take her band of glow sprites and carefully guard the lilies’ home.” “1 shall tell her at once, beautiful princess,” said Golden-Beam. As the form of the faithful fairy faded from sight, the fair brow of the beautiful princess became clouded and her clear blue eyes filled with tears. “This is the third time my beautiful lilies have been picked, and 1 am powerless to find the person who has done it.” Now Princess Silver-Bell was not angry, but her father, the deep sea king had given her the Coral Sea to keep the most bautiful sea in the world and she wanted to obey her father. So gathering a band of attendants about her, she made everything ready to search for this intruder. Wrapping her silver laces about her, she floated gracefully to the top of the water in her fern leaf chariot. She had heard that her lilies were picked at sunrise, so she determined to hide and discover how they disappeared. Dismissing Orange-Glow and Golden-Beam, she slipped behind a huge reed and watched the first rays of the sun rise over the horizon. As the very first red ray appeared on the Sea, there was a noise in the forest on the other side of the sea. A carriage, drawn by four white «3 «

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Class of 1922—February CLASS OFFICERS President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Virginia D. Miller Katharine A. Wetherhold Kathryn C. Keppelman Helen Doly Class Colors—Coral, pink and Silver “At the close of life the question is not, how much have you got, but how much have you given; not how much have you won, but how much have you done; not how much have you saved, but how much have you sacrificed; how much have you loved and served, not how much were you honored.” NATHAN C. SCHAEFFER. I 2

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war horses, came crashing through the brush, standing still a few feel from the sea. Two liveried footmen alighted, bowed to the prince in the carriage, and walked to the edge of the sea. Uncovering a small boat which had been hidden in the rushes, they stepped into it and paddled towards the most beautiful lily in the sea. Princess Silver-Hell was powerless to stop them, so she blew her ti 113' magic coral whistle and a band of nymphs bore the lily down through the water, beyond the reach of the men, to the very bottom of the sea. The footmen returned to their lord and reported the lily’s mysterious disappearance and he, filled with wrath at their failure and his desire to possess the pure white flower, plunged into th sea. Waiting in vain for hours, the two men returned home thinking the prince to be drowned. Now Princess Silver-Hell did not want the prince to die, but she wanted him punished. She also knew that no one but deep sea folk could live in her sea. So quickly drifting to the bottom, she placed her coral necklace on the neck of the prince, who immediately became a huge purple flower. Swiftly bearing it to her palace, she planted it beside her throne. For a long time the purple flower was allowed to grow among all the sea flowers, but never could it see a lily. Every morning at sunrise huge pearly tears rolled down the velvet petals of the flower as the princess gazed on it with pity. During the day the imprisoned prince watched the Princess Silver-Hell bring joy to all her people, tenderly bandaging a broken stem or mending a torn petal, and every day he loved the princess more and more. At last the princess thought that the prince had been punished long enough, so she decided to see if he had been broken of his very bad ways. She noticed how very tenderely his petals caressed the petals of other flowers and did not attempt to break their stems. Indeed the Princess knew that this was no other than the Prince Malri, a rich and powerful young Prince that she had always respected very much, but she knew that a mortal could never live in a deep sea and she wondered what to do. Calling Golden-Heam to her, she asked the faithful fairy’s advice. Together they planned the fate of the flower. The Princess wept many times but at last she took it from the throne and took it up, up to the very top of the water where it could see all the lilies and live with them. Hut still the purple flower wept pearly tears from its velvet petals at sunrise and the Princess Silver-Hell was unhappy. Now at the other end of the sea lived a very old, old woman who was a witch and who very often helped Silver-Hell in her reign of love and peace. One day the Princess went to the sea mother and said, “Alas, sea mother, I have turned Prince Malri into a purple flower and I can’t make him mortal again.” Now the sea mother knew very much about magic, so she made a brew of moss and shells and murmured words of mystery into the pot. Giving a shell of the liquid to the Princess, she bade her pour it on the roots of the purple flower at sunrise. Then the sea mother said, “If Prince Malri ever comes to your sea again, he will become a deep sea person.” Indeed the Princess was sad, for she loved the Prince but desired his happiness. So with a heavy heart she awaited the dawn of the next day. As always was her custom, Golden-Heam knew that her lovely Princess was troubled, so gliding to the surface of the water she whispered 14