under this very column was taken the dust from which Adam was made.

This

can surely be regarded in the light of a settler. It is not likely that

the original first man would have been made from an inferior quality of

earth when it was entirely convenient to get first quality from the

world's centre. This will strike any reflecting mind forcibly. That

Adam was formed of dirt procured in this very spot is amply proven by the

fact that in six thousand years no man has ever been able to prove that

the dirt was not procured here whereof he was made.

It is a singular circumstance that right under the roof of this same

great church, and not far away from that illustrious column, Adam

himself, the father of the human race, lies buried. There is no question

that he is actually buried in the grave which is pointed out as his

--there can be none--because it has never yet been proven that that grave

is not the grave in which he is buried.

The tomb of Adam! How touching it was, here in a land of strangers, far

away from home, and friends, and all who cared for me, thus to discover

the grave of a blood relation. True, a distant one, but still a

relation. The unerring instinct of nature thrilled its recognition. The

fountain of my filial affection was stirred to its profoundest depths,

and I gave way to tumultuous emotion. I leaned upon a pillar and burst

into tears. I deem it no shame to have wept over the grave of my poor

dead relative. Let him who would sneer at my emotion close this volume

here, for he will find little to his taste in my journeyings through Holy

643

The Innocents Abroad