As for me, I believe in the old, old, apparently foolish legend of Adam and Eve's sin and the curse which followed it--the curse on man is inevitably carried out to this day.
God said: "BECAUSE" (mark that BECAUSE!) "thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife" (or thy WOMAN, whoever she be), "and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it" (the tree or fruit being the evil suggested FIRST to man by woman), "cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life!" True enough! The curse is upon all who trust woman too far--the sorrow upon all who are beguiled by her witching flatteries.

Of what avail her poor excuse in the ancient story--"The serpent beguiled me and I did eat!" Had she never listened she could not have been beguiled.

The weakness, the treachery, was in herself, and is there still.

Through everything the bitterness of it runs.

The woman tempts--the man yields--and the gate of Eden--the Eden of a clear conscience and an untrammeled soul, is shut upon them.