FIRST EVENING.

Wherein the Mother of the Race is notably honored and Woman's Place defined; the Qualities of the Sex are thereafter exalted; and Choice Pictures of Maidenhood and noble Womanhood presented.

ADAM'S DESCRIPTION OF EVE.

FROM "PARADISE LOST," BY JOHN MILTON.

N she came,

ON

Led by her heavenly Maker, though unseen,

And guided by his voice; nor uninformed

Of nuptial sanctity, and marriage rites :
Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eye,
In every gesture dignity and love.

I, overjoyed, could not forbear aloud.

66 This turn hath made amends; thou hast fulfilled
Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign,
Giver of all things fair! but fairest this
Of all thy gifts! nor enviest. I now see
Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself
Before me: woman is her name; of man
Extracted for this cause he shall forego
Father and mother, and to his wife adhere;
And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul."

She heard me thus; and though divinely brought, Yet innocence, and virgin modesty,

Her virtue, and the conscience of her worth,

That would be wooed, and not unsought be won,
Not obvious, nor obtrusive, but, retired,
The more desirable: or, to say all

Nature herself, though pure of sinful thought,
Wrought in her so, that, seeing me, she turned:
I followed her; she what was honor knew,
And with obsequious majesty approved
My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower
I led her blushing like the morn: all Heaven,
And happy constellations, on that hour
Shed their selectest influence; the Earth
Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill;
Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs
Whispered it to the woods, and from their wings
Flung rose, flung odors from the spicy shrub,
Disporting, till the amorous bird of night
Sung spousal, and bid haste the evening star
On his hill-top, to light the bridal lamp.

*

Yet, when I approach

Her loveliness, so absolute she seems
And in herself complete, so well to know
Her own, that what she wills to do or say,
Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best:
All higher knowledge in her presence falls
Degraded; Wisdom in discourse with her
Loses discountenanced, and like Folly shows;
Authority and Reason on her wait,