Her name in Hebrew signifies the beautiful or the gracious. Jewish
doctors say her name is recorded here because she was an upright,
chaste woman, but others affirm the contrary because "the whole world
wandered after her." But the fact that Naamah's beauty attracted the
multitude, does not prove that she either courted or accepted their
attentions.

The manner in which the writer of these chapters presents the women so
in conflict with Chapters i and v, which immediately precede and
follow, inclines the unprejudiced mind to relegate the ii, iii and iv
chapters to the realm of fancy as no part of the real history of
creation's dawn.

The curse pronounced on Cain is similar to that inflicted on Adam,
both were to till the ground, which was to bring forth weeds
abundantly. Hale's statistics of weeds show their rapid and widespread
power of propagation. "A progeny," he says, "more than sufficient in a
few years to stock every planet of the solar system." In the face of
such discouraging facts, Hale coolly remarks. "Such provisions has the
just God made to fulfil the curse which he promised on man."

It seems far more rational to believe that the curses on both woman
and man were but figments of the human brain, and that by the
observance of natural laws, both labor and maternity may prove great
blessings.

With all the modern appliances of steam and electricity, and the new
inventions in machinery, the cultivation of the soil is fast coming to
be a recreation and amusement. The farmer now sits at ease on his
plough, while his steed turns up the furrows at his will. With