Chapter I: Front Matter

CUPID’S CYCLOPEDIA

CUPID’S
CYCLOPEDIA

Compiled _for_ Daniel Cupid
_by_ Oliver Herford
_and_ John Cecil Clay

Charles Scribner’s Sons
_New York_ : : : : : 1910

To _YOU_

And all whom _YOU_ love
And all who love _YOU_

CONTINUE]

Authors’ Note

_It has long been the belief of the authors that Love-making should be included in the regular curriculum of our schools. It seems to us the most important branch of co-education._

_How few of us know how to make love properly, and how very few, after making it, know how to keep it!_

_So much depends upon the kind of love which is made. There are no artificial methods of preserving love, but the best kind will keep forever. Few beginners know how to make the lasting kind, and many, even, of those with vast experience are still quite clumsy. The only way is to keep at it._

_We hope that this book will fill a long-felt want. Surely of all long-felt wants the want of love seems longest._

_It is for the earnest student of True Love that we have compiled this cyclopedia._

John Cecil Clay]

A

, the first letter, placed by Cupid at the head of his Alphabet, because it stands for Amour, Ardor, Art, Affinity, Affection, Adoration, Affability, Angel, etc.; also A is the easiest word to spell, with the exception of I.

The origin of the form of our capital letter A is supposed to have been an Egyptian symbol (see illustration) representing two people engaged in the ancient pastime called Kyssin, which survives even at the present day. A, by many supposed to be the oldest of the alphabet and constituting, as it does, the initial of Adam’s name, was doubtless the only letter in existence at the time Adam learned to write.

The words Ark, Antediluvian, Ancestry, Archæology, and Antiquity all support the above theory.

Girls like Adelaide, Agatha, Agnes, Alice, Althea, Amanda, Amy, Angelina, and Arabella, whose initials fall in this letter will be Attractive, Amiable, Artless, and in the opposite sex most attracted by those of Ardent, Ambitious, and Affable disposition.

ABSENCE. The sixth sense, arrived at by the exclusion of the
other five. A powerful stimulant to love. See _longing_. When
combined with _distance_ lends enchantment to the other five
senses.

ADAMANT, _m._ A very hard word. See _father_.

ADMIRATION. From _admi_, the Persian word meaning _love_, and
_ration_, food; _love-food_ or _food of love_.

AFFINITY, _f._ Ad, at; finis, boundary; at the boundary. The
one one meets around the corner.

ALIMONY. The fine for speeding in the joy-ride of Matrimony.

ALTAR. The forge where hearts are fused. From the word
_halter_, to hitch.

AMOUNT. A foreign measure of Love.

ANCHOR. The symbol of Hope. See English word _hanker_, to long
for.

ANGEL. See HER.