Hilary kept thinking of matters that must be proposed at the literary society meeting. They had decided that the matter of colors should be voted on by the whole society, also that the matter of society pins was to be considered. There were some other girls that they found they wanted. Those names must be brought up.
Meanwhile Betty struck upon a name that she thought would do for the smaller club. She was reading Guerber’s “Myths of Greece and Rome,” having had to look up the stories about Cupid in connection with a reference to Cupid and Venus in one of her lessons. Suddenly she exclaimed, “Cathalina, here’s our emblem and club name! Listen. Don’t you think that butterfly pins would be scrumptious?”
“They’d be lovely!” exclaimed Cathalina with enthusiasm.
“How about a Psyche club, then? Psyche means soul, and this story means love and faith and effort and reaching Olympus at last. And Psyche is always represented with butterfly wings, that means immortality. There’s such a pretty story told here of ‘undying love,’ how Psyche’s wicked sisters got her to believe that perhaps her husband, Cupid, was some ugly monster because he did not want her to see him. Here is some poetry quoted from Lewis Morris:
“Dear, I am with thee only while I keep
My visage hidden; and if thou once shouldst see
My face, I must forsake thee: the high gods
Link Love with Faith, and he withdraws himself
From the full gaze of Knowledge.”
“But Psyche got a lamp ready and a dagger, ready to kill him if he were a monster, the way they do in those old mythological tales, but she is supposed to be very kind and didn’t want to do it, especially as she loved Cupid so much. Then a drop of burning hot oil fell on Cupid’s shoulder, woke him up, and he flew away with his bow and arrows, right through the open window. Here’s another quotation, from the same author:
“Farewell! There is no love except with Faith,
And thine is dead! Farewell! I come no more!”
“Wasn’t that heart-breaking? Psyche was very unhappy and looked everywhere for Cupid, and finally Ceres advised her to go and be a servant to Venus, who was jealous of Psyche in the beginning and started all the trouble. Psyche worked very hard and even went down into Hades to get a beauty ointment for Venus. On the way back she thought she needed some of it herself, so she opened the box and the spirit of Sleep came out of it and put her to sleep. I wonder if that means that sleep is the best means of beauty! But Cupid came along, and as he still loved Psyche, he made the spirit of sleep get back into the box and took Psyche to Olympus, where Venus was all right, and Cupid married Psyche, and they were happy. Now don’t you like that? ‘The high gods link love with Faith!’”
“I’m not sure that I like the name ‘Psyche Club.’ But I like the idea of it, love, faith, immortality and and keeping on till you reach Olympus. And the butterfly pins would be the dearest things. Would you like enamel ones with butterfly colors, or gold or platinum with a few tiny jewels?”
“We could not afford the platinum, I’m afraid.”