Never had the maypole been so happily decked as at sunset on midsummer eve. This venerated emblem was a pine tree which had preserved the slender grace of youth, while it equaled the loftiest height of the old wood monarchs. From its too streamed a silken banner colored like the rainbow. Down nearly to the ground the pole was dressed with birches boroughs and others of the liveliest green and some with silvery leaves fastened by ribbons that fluttered in fantastic knots of twenty different colors but no sad ones. Garden flowers and blossoms of the wilderness laughed happily forth amid the verdure, so fresh and dewy that they must have grown by magic on that happy pine tree. Where this green and flowery splendor terminated the shaft of maypole was stained with seven brilliant hues of the banner at its top. On the lowest green bough hung an abundant wreath of roses some that had been gathered in the sunniest spots of the forest and other of still richer blush which the colonists had reared from English seed. O the people of the golden age, the chief of your husbrandy was to raise flowers!

Question

Use the passage from "The Maypole of Merry Mount" by Nathaniel Hawthorne to answer the question.
Which quotation from the passage is most likely an allusion to the biblical story of Adam and Eve?
A. "O people of the Golden Age, the chief of your husbandry was to raise flowers!"
B. "Where this green and flowery splendor terminated the shaft of the Maypole was stained with the seven brilliant hues of the banner at its top."
C. "From its top streamed a silken banner colored like the rainbow."
D. "This venerated emblem was a pine tree which had preserved the slender grace of youth, while it equaled the loftiest height."

Answer 1

The quotation from the passage that is most likely an allusion to the biblical story of Adam and Eve is:

A. "O people of the Golden Age, the chief of your husbandry was to raise flowers!"

This line evokes the idea of a harmonious, idyllic existence often associated with the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve tended to the beauty of creation. The reference to "husbandry" and raising flowers can be seen as a nod to the pastoral and agricultural life that was a part of that biblical narrative.