Adam and Eve. 183 



fish. We sat and watched with quiet interest the men 

 drawing the net. Hundreds were caught at every haul, 

 from which the pike were taken. A tremendous eel 

 gave the men a lively chase ; three or four times it es- 

 caped, wriggled through their legs and hands one after 

 the other, and made for the water. Had the game- 

 keeper not succeeded in pinning it to the ground with 

 a pitchfork, the eel would have beaten the whole 

 party. 



Lord Vernon's park is rich in attractions. An old 

 narrow picturesque arched bridge, which spans the pret- 

 ty lake, has a statue of Adam at one end and Eve at 

 the other. Over the former the ivy clusters so thickly 

 as to make our great prototype a mass of living green ; 

 poor Eve has been less favored, for she is in a pitiable 

 plight for a woman, with "nothing to wear." 



But Eve was not used to kind treatment. Adam was 

 by no means a modern model husband, and never gave 

 Eve anything in excess except blame. Here she is still, 

 the Flora McFlimsy of my friend William Allen Butler 

 (minus the flora as I have said); but let her be patient, 

 her dress is sure to come, for kind nature in England 

 abhors nakedness. She is ever at work clothing every- 

 thing with her mantle of green. 



" Ever and ever bringing secrets forth, 

 It sitteth in the green of forest glades 

 Nursing strange seedlings at the cedar's root, 

 Devising leaves, blooms, blades. 



