A STATUE TO ADAM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4942, 5 March 1884, Page 3

A STATUE TO ADAM.

The following letter, deprecating the erection of a statue to Liberty, and Biiggesting that it would be more appropriate to rear a monument to the memory of Adam, appears in the American papora from the pen of Mark Twain i — You know my weakness for Adam, and you know how I have strangled to get him a monument and failed. How, ;it seems to me, hero is my chance. What do we car© for a statue of Liberty when wo get tho thing itself in its widest sublimity ? What you want of a monument in to keep you in mind or' something you haven't got—something you've lo3t. Very well, we haven't lo3t Liberty, we've lost Adam. Another thing: what has Liberty done for übP Nothing in particular that 1 know of. What have we done for her P Everything. We've given her n home, and a good homo too, ana if she knows anything she knows that it's tho first time she ever struck that novelty. She knows that when wo took her in she had boon a more tranjp for 6000 years, biblical measure. ' Yes j and wo not only mended her troubles, nnd made thin'ga soft for her permanently, but wo made her respectable, and that she hadn't ever been before. And now, after we havo poured ont these Atlantic of benefits upon this aged outcast, lo and behold ! we are asked to come forward and Bet up a monument to her. Go to ! let her set up a monument to us if she wants to do the square thing. But, suppose, your statue represented her old, bent, downcast, shamefaced, with the insults of 0000 yearo imploring a crust nnd an hour's rest, for God's sake, at our back door ! Come, n6w you're shouting ! That's tho aspect of hor which we need to bo reminded of lest we forget it j not this proposed ono, whore she is hearty and well fed, and holds up her head and flourishes her hospitable BChoonor of flanio, and appears to be inviting all the rest of the tiarapa to come over; Oh, go to ! This is the very insolence of prosperity. But, on the other hand, look at Adam ! What Have we done for Adam P Nothing. What has Adam done for us P Everything. lie gavo us life, he gave us death, he gave us Heaven, ho jjave us hell. Tliobo are incstimablo privileges, and, remember, not one of these should we have had without Adam. Woll, then, he ought to have a monument, for evolution is steadily and surely abolishing him. And be quick about it, or our children's children will grow up in ignorance that there ever was an Adam. With trifling alterations, the statue will answor very well for Adam, You can turn that blanket into an ulster without any trouble, part the hair on one side or c6nceal the box of his hoatl with a iiro helmet, and at onco he's man. Put a harp and a halo and an olive branch in the left hand, to symbolize a part of what Adam did for us, and leave the fire-basket juat where it is to symbolize the result. My friend, tho father of life and deatlvanrt taxes, has been neglected loug enough. Shall this infamy be allowed to i;o on, or shall it ctop right hero ? Is it a question of finance P Behold the enclosed (paid bank) checks. Use them as freely us they are freoly contributed. Rimvou knows, J. would there were a ton of them j I would ; lend them all to you, for my heart is in this sublime work.