"What
do we know? we are women;" which was about equivalent in English to
"we are donkeys." The passage was read again, and the question
repeated with no better success. Then she told them, Adam was the
first man, and made them repeat the name Adam over and over till
they remembered it. The next question was, "What does it mean?"
Here, too, they could give no answer; not because they did not know,
for the word was in common use among them; but they had no idea that
they could answer, and so they did not, and were perfectly delighted
to find that the first man was called _red earth_, because he
was made of it. This was enough for one lesson. It set them to
thinking. It woke up faculties previously dormant. The machinery was
there, perfect in all its parts, but so rusted from disuse, that it
required no little skill and patience to make it move at all; but the
least movement was a great gain; more was sure to follow. Another
lesson would take up Eve (Syriac, _Hawa_, meaning _Life_).
Miss Fiske would begin by saying, "Is not that a pretty name? and
would you not like to know that you had a great-great-grandmother
called _Life?_ Now, that was the name of our first mother--both
yours and mine.
Pages:
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114