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of the Gadsbys (5) "The Garden of Eden" (edited by John McGivering) |
[June 30 2005]
Publication
First published in The Week€™s News of 30 June 1888 (Martindell€™s Bibliography has 16 June) collected in The Story of the Gadsbys (A. H. Wheeler & Co., Allahabad, 1888). The first English paper edition by Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington Ltd., with Wheelers, also in 1888.
The Story
Gadsby and Minnie are on their honeymoon, in the first sweet days of married life. They swear eternal devotion in sentimental terms. Each confesses a former attachment which each swears is dead. But Minnie warns Gadsby never to tell her anything he doesn't want her to recall and think about all her days.
These notes, by John McGivering,
are partly new, and partly based on the ORG.
The page and line numbers below
refer to the Macmillan (London) Standard Edition
of Soldiers Three and Other Stories,
as published and frequently reprinted
between 1899 and 1950.
[Title] Genesis, 2, 8 and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden.
[Heading] Genesis 3, 5; the serpent tempts Eve to eat the apple: €. and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Also over €œThe Valley of the Shadow€ later in this volume.
[Page 171, line 1] Thymy the grass is mixed with Thyme, (Thymus Vulgaris) an aromatic herb used in cookery.
Mahasu South of Mashobra, near Simla.
[Page 171, line 3] the Dead Forest of Fagoo (Fagu) nine miles to the east of Simla, on the way to Narkunda, on the road to Tibet mentioned in €œLispeth€ (Plain Tales from the Hills)
[Page 171, line 6] the pipe of peace the calumet, smoked by the North American Indians and presented to guests as a sign of hospitality and good-will.
[Page 171, line 7] banjo a stringed musical instrument with a somewhat strident tone, popular with amateur musicians. See the poem €œThe Song of the Banjo.€
[Page 173, line 1] you gave me tea see €œPoor Dear Mamma€ earlier in this volume.
[Page 175, line 6] takes it they kiss.
[Page 175, line 15] A hundred and fifty years Eagles are unlikely to live longer than fifty years.
[Page 175, line 24] Snows the height at which there is perpetual snow €“ in the Himalayas usually about 16,000 feet above-sea-level.
[Page 179, line 1] pincushion heaven an intriguing reference that has not been traced. [information will be welcomed; Ed.]
[Page 179, line 4] pukka Hindi pakka €“ ripe, ready, cooked, but having a host of meanings, including, in this context, €œreal.€
[Page 179, line 9] langurs monkeys of the genus Semnopithecus common in most of India. See the verses €œThe Legends of Evil€ and the uncollected story €œCollar-Wallah and the Poison-Stick€ in Vol. 3 of the Sussex Edition.
[Page 179, line 10] Darwin Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882), naturalist. His famous On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection appeared in 1859. The theory that man is descended from apes caused much controversy as shown in Gadsby€™s remark at lines 14 and 15: "You shouldn€™t read those books", which continues to this day.
See