Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-02-03
DOROTHY DIX
DISCUSSES
LIFE
Secrets of the Garden of Eden
BY DOROTHY DIX
a PARTY of English and Ameri-

~ scientists nave just leIt Ior
MesOpotamia to make eXcava-
tons in the Garden of Eden.
: wonder what they will find there
When they dug Pompeii out of
the ashes in which it had been
buried for centuries it uncovered a
perfect picture of life as it was be-
ing lived in the gay Roman city
b when the hand of death suddenly
blotted out of existence. You may
still see the eggs in a basket, the
beans in a bowl, and the chicken
with which a cook was preparing
dinner. You may still see dog
writhed in it's last agony until it
was the shape of bow. You may
still see a mother with her babe
pressed into the soft hollow of her
breast, and her head bent over it,
trying to shield it from the Sitting
vapors, and the burning ashes. And
you may see how men died-some
with clenched hands and SnarH -
lips; some with arms flung over their
eyes as if they dared not look upon
the horror that was approaching
them; some with outstretched limbs,
calm and noble in their brave ac-
ceptance of the awful fate that d
Overtaken them.
Wouldn't it be interesting if these
scientists who are going to potter
and snoop around our old ancestral
home should find some ellcs, like
the Pompeiian ones, that would real
ly tell US something about how our
first parents lived, and what. they
did and thought.
Wouldn't it be nice if they could
find the little, round, still pool tn
was the mirror in which Eve flrst
looked, as she murmured tc herself:
''Um! I certainly am some GOOD look
err, but [ think I'm putting on a lit
tie flesh and I had better go easy
on the bread fruit and bananas Tor
a bit. It's true I don't have to
touch up my hair just yet, but is
certainly was kind and thoughtful
of Providence to plant a liberal sup
ply of henna in the Garden.
And wouldn't it be exciting if the
2 excavotors should find some fossil
lied remains of the fig leaves with
which Mother Eve made the original
perforated paper patterns ana gave
the first spring style snow!
Wouldn't you like to know wnethef
thew were cut on the bias, and shlr-
red in the middle, or followed long,
simple lines with straight 1ront
effect?
And wouldn't you like to know
whether Madam Eve, as she plIllleu
and tucked and fitted he trst :
tune, with her mouth full OF throns,
didn't have some prophetic mixing
in her soul that clothes were given
to women as a consolation prize tor
being turned out of Eden, ana that
every time one of her daughters got
a perfectly stunning frock she WouIo
know the Joys of Paradise Regained?
And wouldn't it be a momentous
inonortance to women if the sclen-
fists should discover carved on the
walls of some cave the arguments
that Eve used to induce Adam to
eat the apple, which he knew he
should not do and had sworn ne
never would do? So many other wives
would give their eyes for that secref
conjure?
Would it tell whether Eve just sat
around and munched the apple, and
looked as if it tasted so good that
she made Adams mouth water for
it? Or did she pull the clinging vine
stuff and tell him that he was so
great and wise, and such a marvel
Gus connoisseur of apples, and with
such an unerring taste and Judg-
ment that she just must nave MS
opinion as to whether this apple was
a real pippin or not?
Or did she run bluff on poor,
dear Grandpapa, and tell him that
he ought to be ashamed to let
L more
SUNK and daring than he had, so
Grandpapa had to take a bite just to
show that he was still the head OF
the house, though apples never did
agree with him, anyway? Or was
Mother Eve a smooth worker who
served up her apple in deep dish
pie so cunningly that Adam never
knew he had partaken of the for
hidden fruit until the bill came IN!
Without doubt, Mother Eve kept a
little stone diary, and every evening
hammered into it a few heiroglyphlcs
that set down her most indiscreet
thoughts, for this is one of the
strongest hereditary traits she has
beuueathed her female descendants.
Let us trust that the scientists who
are delving in her cid cellar Will
fird this priceless record, and that
we shall learn from it why she
dallied with the Serpent. For that
will tell us what else is one of the
most profound mysteries of life, WnyT
a perfectly good woman will risk
fortune, position, name, family,
everything that makes life worth
living, to fiirt with a wicked stranger
for whom she cares nothing.
Did Mother Eve draw nice round
o on her little stone tablet that
signified nothing doing, and that
showed that while Eden was fine
salubrious climate with good drink
ing water and plenty of fruit, it was
lacking in pep, and that she was
bored stiff with having nowhere to
go and nothing to do? And did she
draw another picture, the figure of
a man with a head the shape of O..
block, which being interpreted in
dictated that while Adam was a
good provider, and a moral and
upright man, there was something
about him that made snake in the
grass with a dark and daring past,
singularly fascinating society to a
lady who had to stand for undiluteo
doses of home brew conversation?
And will it not be thrilling if the
excavators find in the Garden of
Eden some record that answers the
great riddle of the ages, and that is
why forbidden fruit is sweet? Why
the one thing in the world we all
want to do is the thing we are told
we must not do, and why the one
thing we most desire is the thing
we cannot have?
1t is said that psychologists have
great hopes of the expedition to the
Garden of Eden making wonderful
discoveries. Let US trust that this
faith will be justified, and that they
will find out why Adam and Eve ate
the apple.
Copyright, 1929
The Tri-WeekIy Journal