How, then, is he to blame mankind for inheriting "sinfulness" from their first parents?
May not the serpent have bitten Eve before the birth of Cain, her first-born?
That would have made an excuse for Cain's children, as Elsie's ante-natal misfortune made an excuse for her.

But what difference does it make in the child's responsibility whether his inherited tendencies come from a snake-bite or some other source which he knew nothing about and could not have prevented from acting?
All this is plain enough, and the only use of the story is to bring the dogma of inherited guilt and its consequences into a clearer point of view.
But, after all, the tale must have proved readable as a story to account for the large number of editions which it has reached.
Some readers have been curious about the locality the writer was thought to have in view.

No particular place was intended.

Some of the characters may have been thought to have been drawn from life; but the personages mentioned are mostly composites, like Mr.Galton's compound photographic likenesses, and are not calculated to provoke scandal or suits for libel.
O.W.

H.
BEVERLY FARMS, MASS., August 3, 1891.
ELSIE VENNER..