272 Musings by Camp- Fire and Wayside 



by the receding ice. Lamech's song is the sudden 

 war-whoop of a savage, an outbreak of exultant 

 ferocity: "Cain slew one young man of his kindred; 

 I will slay threescore and fifteen!" It was as if 

 he were fingering the edge of a newly acquired 

 weapon, eager for a revel of murder. He took his 

 two wives into his confidence, who appear from this 

 to have been in sympathy with him. Such a song 

 as that would not have been preserved by a people 

 who were much above his own moral level. The 

 song, therefore, antedates the oldest civilization, 

 and has its value as an evidence of the authenticity 

 of the writings. 



I assume the authorship of Moses as a matter of 

 convenience, and to say the least, of unstudied 

 probability. In creating a new nation, a new mili- 

 tary power, out of the material of Egyptian slaves, 

 he would wish to inspire them with patriotism and 

 pride in an heroic ancestry. The popular conception 

 of Adam in Eden is at an opposite extreme from 

 that of Moses. This we owe to the genius of Mil- 

 ton chiefly, though it was not original with him; 

 and all the poets and artists since have followed his 

 path. It will be remembered that Milton's con- 

 ception of Adam was of an opulent English gentle- 

 man in peculiar circumstances, dwelling in a highly 

 artificial English park in fine weather. Milton's 

 Eden was a not very congruous combination of 

 Anglican and Oriental landscapes. It was a mound 

 protected from intrusion by triple barriers — a wall, 



