Produced by Suzanne Shell, David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. [Illustration: Christmas Outside of Eden--Book Cover] [Illustration: There, seated in the entrance to the cave, the Man saw the Woman but not the Woman as he had left her.] Christmas Outside of Eden BY Coningsby Dawson Author of "The Garden Without Walls," "Carry On," etc. ILLUSTRATIONS BY Eugene Francis Savage NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1922 * * * * * Copyright, 1921, By DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, INC. Printed In U.S.A. * * * * * ILLUSTRATIONS There, seated in the entrance to the cave, the Man saw the Woman, but not the Woman as he had left her. God had given the Man and Woman no time to pack. He had marched them beyond the walls and locked the golden gates of Eden against them forever. The Man yawned. "I am still tired. Fetch the horse, that he may carry me back to my dwelling." * * * * * CHRISTMAS OUTSIDE OF EDEN I This is the story the robins tell as they huddle beneath the holly on the Eve of Christmas. They have told it every Christmas Eve since the world started. They commenced telling it long before Christ was born, for their memory goes further back than men's. The Christmas which they celebrate began just outside of Eden, within sight of its gold-locked doors. The robins have only two stories: one for Christmas and one for Easter. Their Easter story is quite different. It has to do with how they got the splash of red upon their breasts. It was when God's son was hanging on the cross. They wanted to do something to spare him. They were too weak to pull out the nails from his feet and hands; so they tore their little breasts in plucking the thorns one by one from the crown that had been set upon his forehead. Since then God has allowed their breasts to remain red as a remembrance of His gratitude.