, 1923-03-04
Adam and Eve
Back Into Print
Pastor, Doubling They Ever
Lived, Rivals Mark Twain
as Their Press Agent.

It's a long time since Adam and
Eve have been given such striking
publicity as has just been bestowed
upon them by a Massachusetts
clergyman, who says he doesn't be-
lieve they ever existed. The last
previous bout of free advertising
enjoyed by our First Parents oc-
CURED when Mark Twain published
what he said was Ewes diary, also
extracts from that of Adam.
Perhaps h best press agent they
ever had was Charles Darwin, who
made everybody talk about them by
the simple process Of emitting them
entirely from his comprehensive opus,
1.-The Descent of Man"
There were monkeys galore In that
exciting tale. u no Adam and no Eve.
and their absence made much more of
a stir than. for instance, Ewes losing
her diamonds. or Adams being invited
20 make an address from somebody's
7 ulpit. OF any other publicity stunt you
can imagine. And the more the OAR
winians searched for the Missing
Link" the more our First Parents
doomed up in the public eye.
One of the curiosities of literature re-
lating to that period of storm and stress
Is un aCcOunt Dy marx Waln-nlfnSelf
one of the most persistent press agents
our First Parents ever had-of a move
ment that he originated toward the
erection of a monument to Adam.
Mark Twain's greatness as a practical
Joker might even have o-vershadowed
his subsequent literary reputation in
the minds of many people IL he had
only succeeded in pulling of that stunt.
And the thing went pretty far. for
SIS. 600 was contributed toward 1t, and
he claim of Adam to a in
America came within an ace OF being
brought up in Congress.
Mark Twain first preached the idea
to the Rev. Thomas X. Beecher of Ell
mira and some of his friends, all of
whom were agltated over the imp.ety
of Darwin's omission OF Adam from the
human family tree.
Then the unexpected happened. he
wrote in after years. Two nike
came forward and took hold of the mat
ter, not for fun. not for sentiment, but
because they saw in the monument GER
tain commercial advantages for the
town.
THE insane oddly of a
set up in a village to preserve a name
that would outlast the hills and rocks,
would advertise Eimira to the ends of
the ~earth-and draw custom. 1t would
be the only on the planet
TO Adam. and in the matter Of interest
and impressiveness could never have a
rival until somebody should set up a
to the Milky Way"
The unterrified humorist went on to
relate that plans were submitted, some
of them from Paris. Early In the game,
when 1t was only n joke In Marks
mind. he had penneu a .lambuoyant petit
ton to Congress begging the Govern
ment to erect a to Adam
'as a testimony of the gratitude of
the great republic to the father of the
human race and as a token of her
loyalty to him in this dark hour of his
humiliation"
Joke Failed to Land in Congress.
This address he forwarded to a Con-
gresham. Gen. Joseph r. Hawley. who
said he would present 1t to Congress-.
But he never did and the originator
of the joke concluded that the General,
on reading the document more care
fully. feared hat its facetious char
acter might be detected.
1t was many years afterwnrd that
Mark Twain showed his intuitlve grasp
of Garden of Eden problems by writing
the extracts from Adams diary. be-
ginning:
"Monday-This new creature with the
long hair is n good deal in the way.
1t is always hanging round and fol-
lowing me about. I don't like his.
l am not used to company. 1 wish It
would stay with the other animals.
. . Cloudy to-day. wind In the cast;
think we shall have rain. . WEI
Where did 1 get hat word?-I remem-
Der now-the new creature uses it,"