IV 



THE TAMING OF THE WILD 



FIRST came the gardener, Adam ; then Cain, 

 tiller of the ground; last, Abel, " keeper of 

 sheep." Some people believe, for reasons best 

 known to themselves, that man bent the wild 

 animals to his will before he grew vegetables ; 

 but why should we suppose that the possession 

 of domestic animals came before agriculture ? 

 The Swiss Lake Dwellings, to which we owe 

 so much of our knowledge of human life before 

 the period we call History, contain, even in 

 the Stone Age, relics of both corn and cattle, 

 without any indication of which came first. 

 Personally, I would rather trust the evidence 

 of Genesis. Not until Adam had been put in 

 the garden "to dress it and to keep it," not 

 before Cain had helped his father in such 

 simple gardening, perhaps improving on his 

 methods, as young people will, do we come to 

 the shepherd Abel. Not until after the Deluge 

 do we find Abraham on trek with his horses 

 and his camels. The "happy family" in the 

 Ark makes very superior folk smile. How, 



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