Oakdale, Caerphilly
Overview
 
Oakdale is a large village in Caerphilly county borough, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, 9½ miles north of Caerphilly
Caerphilly
Caerphilly is a town in the county borough of Caerphilly, south Wales, located at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley, with a population of approximately 31,000. It is a commuter town of Cardiff and Newport, which are located some 7.5 miles and 12 miles away, respectively...

 itself, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire (historic)
Monmouthshire , also known as the County of Monmouth , is one of thirteen ancient counties of Wales and a former administrative county....

. Situated in the Sirhowy valley
Sirhowy Valley
The Sirhowy Valley is an industrialised valley in the eastern part of the Valleys region of South Wales. It is named from the Sirhowy River which runs through it. Its upper reaches are occupied by the town of Tredegar within the unitary area of Blaenau Gwent...

 it is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Blackwood
Blackwood, Wales
Blackwood is a town on the Sirhowy River in the South Wales Valleys within the Caerphilly County Borough.The town houses a growing number of light industrial and high-tech firms...

, with which it forms a conurbation
Conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area...

.
In the early years of the twentieth century the need for coal was growing both in America and Europe, and local business men in Wales were looking for new opportunities to fill the demand.

Among these were a group known as the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company, made up of wealthy industrialists from the Maclaren, Markham, Pochin, Whitworth and Wyllie families.
They decided to create a group of collieries in the Sirhowy Valley, which explorations had told them contained rich seams of " black gold." One of these was at the small rural hamlet of Rhiw Syr Dafydd.

Work began clearing the site for the new colliery
Oakdale Colliery
Oakdale Colliery was a coal mine located in the Sirhowy Valley, one of the valleys of South Wales.In the early years of the twentieth century the need for coal was growing both in America and Europe, and local business men in Wales were looking for new opportunities to fill the demand...

 at Oakdale with the sinking of the pit in 1907.
Quotations

Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principle one was that they escaped teething.

Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar

Adam and Noah were ancestors of mine. I never thought much of them. Adam lacked character. He couldn't be trusted with apples. Noah had an absurd idea that he could navigate without any knowledge of navigation, and he ran into the only shoal place on earth.

Mark Twain, Speech, November 9, 1901. Reported in The New York Times, November 10, 1901

“Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived.” It is a pity that this is still the only knowledge of their wives at which some men seem to arrive.

F. H. Bradley, Aphorisms, no. 94 (1930)

Adam, man's benefactor — he gave him all he has ever received that was worth having — Death.

Mark Twain Notebook, 1902-1903

Adam was but human — this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then he would have eaten the serpent.

Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson|Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894)

After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her.

Mark Twain, Extracts from Adam's Diary|Extracts from Adam's Diary (1904)

Ever since Eve gave Adam the apple, there has been a misunderstanding between the sexes about gifts.

Nan Robertson, New York Times|New York Times (November 28, 1957)

It all began with Adam. He was the first man to tell a joke — or a lie. How lucky Adam was. He knew when he said a good thing, nobody had said it before. Adam was not alone in the Garden of Eden, however, and does not deserve all the credit; much is due to Eve, the first woman, and Satan, the first consultant.

Mark Twain, Notebook, 1867

Let us be thankful to Adam our benefactor. He cut us out of the 'blessing' of idleness and won for us the 'curse' of labor.

Mark Twain, Following the Equator, Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar

 
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