Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-06-02
THE NEW WOMAN.
The First One and What the World owes
to Her.

The First One and What the World Owes |
to Her.
1t is tardy justice, to be sure, but |
gradually the world begins to be COM
ing into recognition of the illimitabIe
debt it owes to our Mother Eve, the first
new woman on record. The serpent be-
guiled her, and she did-what? Not fall
to and eat the fruit of the tree of knowl-
edge all by herself, but, generous and
self denying, like her daughters after
her, offered it first to Adam. After he
had tasted she shared it with him, and
the eyes of both were opened to the
vast ocean of knowledge and experience
there was for them both to fathom on
this planet. Theology has strangely
misinterpreted the legend. to woman's s
hurt. In esoteric symbology the SER
pent is universally the emblem of wis
dom, in the Bible as elsewhere. To
crush the serpent's head is to break the
husk of wisdom and learn the hidden
things of nature contained therein. Sup
pose the race did incur the penalty of
death the day that Eve chose to eat the
fruit of the tree of knowledge and per-
suaded Adam to do the same; in that
hour the foundation for all the progress
of the race through the ages was laid,
the progress that has led man from max
ed savagery to all the attainments of
science, civilization and humanity. 1t
was worth suffering and dying to obtain
AYE, it was worth it. Eve, our great
xx-oo told he cL,or,II cv,
and die if she chose to win the fruit of
knowledge. With her eyes open, fully
knowing what she was about to do, she
did choose, while Adam, timid, hung
back and hesitated. She was willing to
undergo, herself and her children, all
the torture, the sorrow, the death that
was to be the price the race must pay
for gaining knowledge and experience.
In later legend Faust, the sage, was
willing to sell his soul to the fiend in
order to gain call human experience. I"
Eve did not sell her soul; she won for
it immortal victory through knowledge
of suffering, and hence wisdom. A baby
is very sweet, pretty little thing, but
who would be a baby forever? Spir-
itual babies the souls of men and wom-
en- would have been forever if Eve,
knowing perfectly we'll what she was
doing, had not chosen to absorb all
knowledge through experience on this
earth and thus gain the heights of i'm
mortal power and achievement III this
world and the worlds to come. So far
from being blamed for her share in the
transaction of the garden OF Eden, Eve
is really to be honored and exalted far
above Adam. All honor then to thee,
O Eve, thou glorious mother of the
racel When the eternal judgment is
pronounced, thy place will be the high
est of ALL
For the first time observed recently in
all advertisement of a series of MONDAY
services at an Episcopal church the an
nouncement that the meetings were held
for the benefit of business men and
women. The sun do move.
To my mind the girl who deserves
more commiseration than almost any
body else is the rich society young wo-
man. She makes her debut and just
waits for some man to come and marry
her. She may be gifted i'll particular
line and long to stretch her pinions and
make a career for herself Her parents
would lock her up in convent before
they would permitit. They would rather
see her dead. She must go through the
wooden formula prescribed for her. how
ever her soul may revolt at it. Only
marriage; that is all. If she does not
marry, then heaven help her. There is
absolutely no outlook for her.