Sweet Violets

"Sweet Violets. Sweeter than the roses...
Covered all over from head to toe...
Covered all over with Sweet Violets."
Those sweet violets have to be one of the first flowers I was able to identify (along with Dandelions, of course) - and they have stayed one of my favourites through all the years.
The picture is of the two pieces I kept that show the pretty little violets of my youth. The cup on the left is less than two inches high and an inch and five-eighths across. The handle is so tiny, I wonder if the cup is from a child's tea set? I've had it so long I no longer remember where it came from. It has a gold rim and I think it is obviously hand painted.
The lovely cream pitcher is marked "Made in England". When I use it (as I did when Mark & Lindsey were here for Christmas), I fantasize my English great-great (even 3x great) grandmother might have once used it - though I really don't believe it is quite that old - and it isn't a piece handed down to me. I love it for its classic lines and the violet appearing inside.
When I look up the lyrics to Sweet Violets, I'm surprised to learn their humorous lyrics. I thought I was remembering the Dinah Shore version. Now I'm more inclined to believe it is the Roy Clark song I'm thinking of: "All year long, I waited for the chance, to ask if she'd go with me to the dance. She said, "What kind of flowers will I get?" And all I could afford to buy were sweet violets.
Sweeter than all the roses...covered all over with teardrops...she laughed at my sweet violets. That night another stole my love away. He promised long-stemmed roses everyday. She broke my heart and I still can't forget the time she laughed and left me with my sweet violets.
Her tear-stained letter came to me today. Now someone buys her orchids everyday. She has the world at her command and yet she wants the boy who offered her love and sweet violets...
Sweeter than all the roses.... Covered all over with teardrops...she cries for my Sweet Violets...." (Written by Joe Allison and Danny Hill.)
Those sweet violets ..... the little ditch flowers I picked for May Baskets....the plant that many consider a weed....the flowers I remember covering the bedspreads and curtains in the bedroom of a revered couple I once did housecleaning for....the flowers I still pick out of the yard and bring in to place in that small-mouthed perfume bottle I saved just for that reason...the flowers that will soon herald spring for me....the flowers that are 'sweeter than the roses' - the flowers that I hope my granddaughters will one day receive and value for all the right reasons.....those flowers....sweet violets.