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diff --git a/35418.txt b/35418.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..535b096 --- /dev/null +++ b/35418.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8103 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Lewis Carroll in Wonderland and at Home, by Belle Moses + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lewis Carroll in Wonderland and at Home + The Story of His Life + +Author: Belle Moses + +Release Date: February 27, 2011 [EBook #35418] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEWIS CARROLL IN WONDERLAND *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + + + + +LEWIS CARROLL + +IN WONDERLAND AND AT HOME + + + + +[Illustration: LEWIS CARROLL.] + + + + + LEWIS CARROLL IN WONDERLAND AND AT HOME + + _THE STORY OF HIS LIFE_ + + + BY BELLE MOSES + + AUTHOR OF "LOUISA MAY ALCOTT" + + + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + NEW YORK AND LONDON + 1910 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + + _Published October, 1910_ + + Printed in the United States of America + + + + +TO E. M. M. and M. J. M. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Lewis Carroll discovered a new country, simply by rowing up and down the +river, and telling a story to the accompaniment of dipping oars and +rippling waters, as the boat glided through. It is not everyone who can +discover a country, people it with marvelous, fanciful shapes, and give it +a place in our mental geography. But Lewis Carroll was not "everyone"--in +fact he was like no one else to the many who called him friend. He had the +magic power of creating something out of nothing, and gave to the eager +children who had tired of "Aunt Louisa's Picture Books," and "Garlands of +Poetry," something to think about, to guess about, and to talk about. + +If he had written nothing else but "Alice in Wonderland," that one book +would have been quite enough to make him famous, but his pen was never +idle, and the world of children has much for which to thank him. How much, +and for what, the following pages will strive to tell, and if they succeed +in conveying to their readers half the charm that lay in the life of this +man, who did so much for others, they will not have been written in vain. + +In telling the story of his life I am indebted to many, for courtesy and +assistance. I wish specially to thank my brother, Montrose J. Moses. +Columbia Library, Astor Library, St. Agnes Branch of the Public Library, +and Miss Brown, of the Traveling Library, have all been exceedingly kind +and helpful. To Messrs. E. P. Dutton and Company I extend my thanks for +permission to quote from Miss Isa Bowman's interesting reminiscences, and +to the American and English editors of _The Strand_ I am also indebted for +a similar courtesy. + +BELLE MOSES. + +NEW YORK, _October, 1910_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I.--THERE WAS ONCE A LITTLE BOY 1 + + II.--SCHOOL DAYS AT RICHMOND AND RUGBY 15 + + III.--HOME LIFE DURING THE HOLIDAYS 30 + + IV.--OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP AND HONORS 42 + + V.--A MANY-SIDED GENIUS 60 + + VI.--UP AND DOWN THE RIVER WITH THE REAL ALICE 80 + + VII.--ALICE IN WONDERLAND AND WHAT SHE DID THERE 98 + + VIII.--LEWIS CARROLL AT HOME AND ABROAD 125 + + IX.--MORE OF "ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS" 146 + + X.--"HUNTING OF THE SNARK" AND OTHER POEMS 176 + + XI.--GAMES, RIDDLES AND PUZZLES 202 + + XII.--A FAIRY RING OF GIRLS 221 + + XIII.--"ALICE" ON THE STAGE AND OFF 242 + + XIV.--A TRIP WITH SYLVIE AND BRUNO 272 + + XV.--LEWIS CARROLL--MAN AND CHILD 287 + + + + +LEWIS CARROLL. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THERE WAS ONCE A LITTLE BOY. + + +There was once a little boy whose name was _not_ Lewis Carroll. He was +christened Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, in the parish church of Daresbury, +England, where he was born, on January 27, 1832. A little out-of-the-way +village was Daresbury, a name derived from a word meaning oak, and +Daresbury was certainly famous for its beautiful oaks. + +The christening of Baby Charles must have been a very happy occasion. To +begin with, the tiny boy was the first child of what proved to be a +"numerous family," and the officiating clergyman was the proud papa. The +name of Charles had been bestowed upon the eldest son for generations of +Dodgsons, who had carried it honorably through the line, handing it down +untarnished to this latest Charles, in the parish church at Daresbury. + +The Dodgsons could doubtless trace their descent much further back than a +great-great-grandfather, being a race of gentlemen and scholars, but the +Rev. Christopher Dodgson, who lived quite a century before Baby Charles +saw the light, is the earliest ancestor we hear of, and he held a living +in Yorkshire. In those days, a clergyman was dependent upon some noble +patron for his living, a living meaning the parish of which he had charge +and the salary he received for his work, and so when the Rev. +Christopher's eldest son Charles also took holy orders, he had for _his_ +patron the Duke of Northumberland, who gave him the living of Elsden in +Northumberland, a cold, bleak, barren country. The Rev. Charles took what +fell to his lot with much philosophy and a saving sense of humor. + +He suffered terribly from the cold despite the fact that he snuggled down +between two feather beds in the big parlor, which was no doubt the best +room in a most uncomfortable house. It was all he could do to keep from +freezing, for the doors were rarely closed against the winds that howled +around them. The good clergyman was firmly convinced that the end of the +world would come by frost instead of fire. Even when safely in bed, he +never felt _quite_ comfortable unless his head was wrapped in three +nightcaps, while he twisted a pair of stockings, like a cravat, around his +suffering throat. He generally wore two shirts at a time, as washing was +cheap, and rarely took off his coat and his boots. + +This uncomplaining, jovial clergyman finally received his reward. King +George III bestowed upon him the See of Elphin, which means that he was +made bishop, and had no more hardships to bear. This gentleman, who was +the great-grandfather of our Charles, had four children; Elizabeth Anne, +the only daughter, married a certain Charles Lutwidge of Holmrook in +Cumberland. There were two sons who died quite young, and Charles, the +eldest, entered the army and rose to the rank of captain in the 4th +Dragoon Guards. He lost his life in the performance of a perilous duty, +leaving behind him two sons; Charles, the elder, turned back into the ways +of his ancestors and became a clergyman, and Hassard, who studied law, had +a brilliant career. + +This last Charles, in 1830, married his cousin, Frances Jane Lutwidge, and +in 1832 we find him baptizing another little Charles, in the parish church +at Daresbury, his eldest son, and consequently his pride and hope. + +The living at Daresbury was the beginning of a long life of service to the +Church. The father of our Charles rose to be one of the foremost clergymen +of his time, a man of wide learning, of deep piety, and of great charity, +beloved by rich and poor. Though of somewhat sober nature, in moments of +recreation he could throw off his cares like a boy, delighting his friends +by his wit and humor, and the rare gift of telling anecdotes, a gift his +son inherited in full measure, long before he took the name of "Lewis +Carroll," some twenty years after he was received into the fold of the +parish church at Daresbury. + +Little Charles headed the list of eleven young Dodgsons, and the mother +of this infant brigade was a woman in a thousand. We all know what mothers +are; then we can imagine this one, so kind and gentle that never a harsh +word was known to pass her lips, and may be able to trace her quiet, +helpful influence on the character of our Boy, just as we see her delicate +features reproduced in many of his later pictures. + +A boy must be a poor specimen, indeed, if such a father and mother could +not bring out the best in him. Saddled as he was, with the responsibility +of being the oldest of eleven, and consequently an example held up to +younger brothers and sisters, Charles was grave and serious beyond his +years. Only an eldest child can appreciate what a responsibility this +really is. You mustn't do "so and so" for fear one of the younger ones +might do likewise! If his parents had not been very remarkable people, +this same Charles might have developed into a virtuous little prig. "Good +Brother Charles who never does wrong" might have grown into a terrible +bugbear to the other small Dodgsons, had he not been brimful of fun and +humor himself. As it was he soon became their leader in all their games +and plays, and the quiet parsonage on the glebe farm, full a mile and a +half from even the small traffic of the village, rang at least with the +echoes of laughter and chatter from these youngsters with strong healthy +lungs. + +We cannot be quite sure whether they were good children or bad children, +for time somehow throws a halo around childhood, but let us hope they were +"jes' middlin'." We cannot bear to think of all those prim little saints, +with ramrods down their backs, sitting sedately of a Sunday in the family +pew--perhaps it took two family pews to hold them--with folded hands and +pious expressions. We can't believe these Dodgsons were so silly; they +were reverent little souls doubtless, and probably were not bad in church, +but oh! let us hope they got into mischief sometimes. There was plenty of +room for it in the big farm parsonage. + + "An island farm 'mid seas of corn, + Swayed by the wand'ring breath of morn. + The happy spot where I was born," + +wrote Lewis Carroll many years after, when "Alice in Wonderland" had made +him famous. + +Glebe farms were very common in England; they consisted of large tracts of +land surrounding the parsonage, which the pastor was at liberty to +cultivate for his own use, or to eke out his often scanty income, and as +the parsonage at Daresbury was comparatively small, and the glebe or farm +lands fairly large, we can be sure these boys and girls loved to be out of +doors, and little Charlie at a very early age began to number some queer +companions among his intimate friends. His small hands burrowing in the +soft, damp earth, brought up squirming, wriggling things--earthworms, +snails, and the like. He made pets of them, studying their habits in his +"small boy" way, and having long, serious talks with them, lying on the +ground beside them as they crawled around him. An ant-hill was to him a +tiny town, and many a long hour the child must have spent busying himself +in their small affairs, settling imaginary disputes, helping the workers, +supplying provisions in the way of crumbs, and thus early beginning to +understand the ways of the woodland things about which he loved to write +in after years. He had, for boon companions, certain toads, with whom he +held animated conversations, and it is said that he really taught +earthworms the art of warfare by supplying them with small pieces of pipe +with which to fight. + +He did not, like Hiawatha in the legend, "Learn of ev'ry bird its +language," but he invented a language of his own, in which no doubt he +discoursed wisely to the toads and snails who had time to listen; he +learned to speak this language quite fluently, so that in later years when +eager children clustered about him, and with wide eyes and peals of +laughter listened to his nonsense verses, full of the queerest words they +ever heard, they could still understand from the very tones of his voice +exactly what he meant. Indeed, when little Charles Lutwidge Dodgson grew +up to be Lewis Carroll, he worked this funny language of his by equally +funny rules, so that, as he said, "a perfectly balanced mind could +understand it." + +Of course, there were other companions for the Dodgson children--cats and +dogs, and horses and cows, and in the village of Warrington, seven miles +away, there were children to be found of their own size and age, but +Daresbury itself was very lonely. A canal ran through the far end of the +parish, and here bargemen used to ply to and fro, carrying produce and +fodder to the near-by towns. Mr. Dodgson took a keen interest in these men +who seemed to have no settled place of worship. + +In a quiet, persuasive way he suggested to Sir Francis Egerton, a large +landholder of the country, that it would be nice to turn one of the barges +into a chapel, describing how it could be done for a hundred pounds, well +knowing, clever man, that he was talking to a most interested listener; +for a few weeks later he received a letter from Sir Francis telling him +that the chapel was ready. In this odd little church, the first of its +kind, Mr. Dodgson preached every Sunday evening. + +But at Daresbury itself life was very monotonous; even the passing of a +cart was a great event, and going away was a great adventure. There was +one never-to-be-forgotten occasion when the family went off on a holiday +jaunt to Beaumaris. Railroads were then very rare things, so they made the +journey in three days by coach, allowing also three days for the return +trip. + +It was great fun traveling in one of those old-time coaches with all the +luggage strapped behind, and all the bright young faces atop, and four +fast-trotting horses dashing over the ground, and a nice long holiday with +fine summer weather to look forward to. But in winter, in those days, +traveling was a serious matter; only a favored few could squeeze into the +body of the coach; the others still sat atop, muffled to the chin, yet +numb with the cold, as the horses went faster and faster, and the wind +whistled by, and one's breath froze on the way. Let us hope the little +Dodgsons went in the summer time. + +Daresbury must have been a beautiful place, with its pleasant walks, its +fine meadows, its deep secluded woods, and best of all, those wonderful +oak trees which the boy loved to climb, and under whose shade he would lie +by the hour, filling his head with all those quaint fancies which he has +since given to the world. He was a clever little fellow, eager to learn, +and from the first his father superintended his education, being himself a +scholar of very high order. He had the English idea of sending his eldest +son along the path he himself had trod; first to a public school, then to +Oxford, and finally into the Church, if the boy had any leaning that way. + +Education in those days began early, and not by way of the kindergarten; +the small boy had scarcely lost his baby lisp before he was put to the +study of Latin and Greek, and Charles, besides, developed a passion for +mathematics. It is told that when a very small boy he showed his father a +book of logarithms, asking him to explain it, but Mr. Dodgson mildly +though firmly refused. + +"You are too young to understand such a difficult subject," he replied; "a +few years later you will enjoy the study--wait a while." + +"_But_," persisted the boy, his mind firmly bent on obtaining information, +"please explain." Whether the father complied with his request is not +recorded, but we rather believe that explanations were set aside for the +time. Certain it is, they were demanded again and again, for the boy soon +developed a wonderful head for figures and signs, a knowledge which grew +with the years, as we shall see later. + +When he was still quite a little boy, his mother and father went to Hull +to visit Mrs. Dodgson's father who had been ill. The children, some five +or six in number--the entire eleven had not yet arrived--were left in the +care of an accommodating aunt, but Charles, being the eldest, received a +letter from his mother in which he took much pride, his one idea being to +keep it out of the clutches of his little sisters, whose hands were always +ready for mischief. He wrote upon the back of the note, forbidding them to +touch his property, explaining cunningly that it was covered with slimy +pitch, a most uncomfortable warning, but it was "the ounce of prevention," +for the letter has been handed down to us, and a sweet, cheery letter it +was, so full of mother-love and care, and tender pride in the little brood +at home. No wonder he prized it! + +This is probably the first letter he ever received, and it takes very +little imagination to picture the important air with which he carried it +about, and the care with which he hoarded it through all the years. + +There is a dear little picture of our Boy taken when he was eight years +old. Photography was not yet in use, so this black print of him is the +copy of a silhouette which was the way people had their "pictures taken" +in those days. It was always a profile picture, and little Charles's +finely shaped head, with its slightly bulging forehead and delicate +features, stands sharply outlined. We have also a silhouette of Mrs. +Dodgson, and the resemblance between the two is very marked. + +When the boy was eleven, a great change came into his life. Sir Robert +Peel, the famous statesman, presented to his father the Crown living of +Croft, a Yorkshire village about three miles from Darlington. A Crown +living is always an exceptionally good one, as it is usually given by +royal favor, and accompanied by a comfortable salary. Mr. Dodgson was +sorry to leave his old parishioners and the little parsonage where he had +seen so much quiet happiness, but he was glad at the same time, to get +away from the dullness and monotony of Daresbury. With a growing family of +children it was absolutely necessary to come more into contact with +people, and Croft was a typical, delightful English town, famous even +to-day for its baths and medicinal waters. Before Mr. Dodgson's time it +was an important posting-station for the coaches running between London +and Edinburgh, and boasted of a fine hotel near the rectory, used later by +gentlemen in the hunting season. + +Mr. Dodgson's parish consisted not only of Croft proper, but included the +neighboring hamlets of Halnaby, Dalton and Stapleton, so he was a pretty +busy man going from one to the other, and the little Dodgsons were busy, +too, making new friends and settling down into their new and commodious +quarters. + +The village of Croft is on the river Tees, in fact it stands on the +dividing line between Yorkshire and Durham. A bridge divides the two +counties, and midway on it is a stone which marks the boundary line. It +was an old custom for certain landholders to stand on this bridge at the +coming of each new Bishop of Durham, and to present him with an old sword, +with an appropriate address of welcome. This sword the Bishop returned +immediately. + +The Tees often overflowed its banks--indeed, floods were not infrequent in +these smiling English landscape countries, kept so fertile and green by +the tiny streams which intersect them. Two or three heavy rainfalls will +swell the waters, sending them rushing over the country with enormous +force. Jean Ingelow in her poem "High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire" +paints a vivid picture of the havoc such a flood may make in a peaceful +land: + + "Where the river, winding down, + Onward floweth to the town." + +But the quaint old church at Croft has doubtless weathered more than one +overflow from the restless river Tees. + +The rectory, a large brick house, with a sloping tile roof and tall +chimneys, stood well back in a very beautiful garden, filled with all +sorts of rare plants, intersected by winding gravel paths. As in all +English homes, the kitchen garden was a most attractive spot; its high +walls were covered with luxuriant fruit trees, and everybody knows that +English "wall fruit" is the most delicious kind. The trees are planted +very close to the wall, and the spreading boughs, when they are heavy with +the ripening fruit, are not bent with the weight of it, but are thoroughly +propped and supported by these walls of solid brick, so the undisturbed +fruit comes to a perfect maturity without any of the accidents which occur +in the ordinary orchard. The garden itself was bright with kitchen greens, +filled with everything needed for household use. + +With so much space the little Dodgsons had room to grow and "multiply" to +the full eleven, and fine times they had with plays and games, usually +invented by their clever brother. One of the principal diversions was a +toy railroad with "stations" built at various sections of the garden, +usually very pretty and rustic looking, planned and built by Charles +himself. He also made a rude train out of a wheelbarrow, a barrel, and a +small truck, and was able to convey his passengers comfortably from +station to station, exacting fare at each trip. + +He was something of a conjurer, too, and in wig and gown, could amaze his +audience for hours with his inexhaustible supply of tricks. He also made +some quaint-looking marionettes, and a theater for them to act in, even +writing the plays, which were masterpieces in their way. Once he traced a +maze upon the snow-covered lawn of the rectory. + +Mazes were often found in the real old-time gardens of England; they +consisted of intersecting paths bordered by clipped shrubbery and +generally arranged in geometrical designs, very puzzling to the unwary +person who got lost in them, unable to discover a way out, until by some +happy accident the right path was found. "Threading the Maze" was a +fashionable pastime in the days of the Tudors; the maze at Hampton Court +being one of the most remarkable of that period. + +Charles's early knowledge of mathematics made his work on the snow-covered +lawn all the more remarkable, for the love of that particular branch of +learning certainly grew with his growth. + +Meanwhile, it was a very serious, earnest little boy, who looked down the +long line of Dodgsons, saying with a choke in his voice: "I must leave you +and this lovely rectory, and this fair, smiling countryside, and go to +school." + +He was shy, and the thought struck terror; but everybody who is anybody in +England goes to some fine public school before becoming an Oxford or a +Cambridge student, and for that reason Charles Lutwidge Dodgson buried his +regrets beneath a smiling face, bade farewell to his household, and at the +mature age of twelve, armed with enough Greek and Latin to have made a +dictionary, with a knowledge of mathematics that a college "don" might +well have envied, set forth to this alluring world of books and learning. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SCHOOL DAYS AT RICHMOND AND RUGBY. + + +With the removal to Croft, Mr. Dodgson was brought more and more into +prominence; he was appointed examing chaplain to the Bishop of Ripon, and +finally he was made Archdeacon of Richmond and one of the Canons of Ripon +Cathedral. + +The Grammar School at Richmond was well known in that section of England. +It was under the rule of a certain Mr. Tate, whose father, Dr. Tate, had +made the school famous some years before, and it was there that our Boy +had his first taste of school life. + +Holidays in those days were not arranged as they are now, for one of the +first letters of Charles, sent home from Richmond, was dated August 5th; +so it is probable that the term began in midsummer. This special letter +was written to his two eldest sisters and gives an excellent picture of +those first days, when as a "new boy" he suffered at the hands of his +schoolmates. As advanced as he was in Latin and Greek and mathematics, +this letter, for a twelve-year-old boy, does not show any remarkable +progress in English. The spelling was precise and correct, but the +punctuation was peculiar, to say the least. + +Still his description of the school life, when one overcame the presence +of commas and the absence of periods, presented a vivid picture to the +mind. He tells of the funny tricks the boys played upon him because he was +a "new boy." One was called "King of the Cobblers." He was told to sit on +the ground while the boys gathered around him and to say "Go to work"; +immediately they all fell upon him, and kicked and knocked him about +pretty roughly. Another trick was "The Red Lion," and was played in the +churchyard; they made a mark on a tombstone and one of the boys ran toward +it with his finger pointed and eyes shut, trying to see how near he could +get to the mark. When _his_ turn came, and he walked toward the tombstone, +some boy who stood ready beside it, had his mouth open to bite the +outstretched finger on its way to the mark. He closes his letter by +stating three uncomfortable things connected with his arrival--the loss of +his toothbrush and his failure to clean his teeth for several days in +consequence; his inability to find his blotting-paper, and his lack of a +shoe-horn. + +The games the Richmond boys played--football, wrestling, leapfrog and +fighting--he slurred over contemptuously, they held no attraction for him. + +A schoolboy or girl of the present day can have no idea of the discomforts +of school life in Charles Dodgson's time, and the boy whose gentle +manners were the result of sweet home influence and association with +girls, found the rough ways of the English schoolboy a constant trial. +Strong and active as he was, he was always up in arms for those weaker and +smaller than himself. Bullying enraged him, and distasteful as it was, he +soon learned the art of using his fists for the protection of himself and +others. These were the school-days of _Nicholas Nickleby_, _David +Copperfield_, and _Little Paul Dombey_. Of course, all schoolmasters were +not like _Squeers_ or _Creakle_, nor all schoolmasters' wives like _Mrs. +Squeers_, nor indeed all schools like Dotheboys' Hall or Salem Hall, or +_Dr. Blimber's_ cramming establishment, but many of the inconveniences +were certainly prominent in the best schools. + +Flogging was considered the surest road to knowledge; kind, honest, +liberal-minded teachers kept a birch-rod and a ferrule within gripping +distance, and the average schoolboy thus treated like a little beast, +could be pardoned for behaving like one. In spring or summer the big, +bare, comfortless schoolhouses were all very well, but when the days grew +chill, the small boy shivered on his hard bench in his draughty corner, +and in winter time the scarcity of fires was trying to ordinary flesh and +blood. The poor unfortunate who rose at six, and had to fetch and carry +his own water from an outdoor pump, or if he had taken the precaution to +draw it the night before, had found it frozen in his pitcher, was not to +be blamed if washing was merely a figure of speech. + +Mr. and Mrs. Tate were most considerate to their boys, and Richmond was a +model school of its class. Charles loved his "kind old schoolmaster" as he +called him, and he was not alone in this feeling, for Mr. Tate's influence +over the boys was maintained through the affection and respect they had +for him. Of course he let them "fight it out" among themselves according +to the boy-nature; but the earnest little fellow with the grave face and +the eager, questioning eyes, attracted him greatly, and he began to study +him in his keen, kind way, finding much to admire and praise in the +letters which he wrote to his father, and predicting for him a bright +career. Admitting that he had found young Dodgson superior to other boys, +he wisely suggested that he should never know this fact, but should learn +to love excellence for its own sake, and not for the sake of excelling. + +Charles made quite a name for himself during those first school days. +Mathematics still fascinated him and Latin grew to be second nature; he +stood finely in both, and while at Richmond he developed another taste, +the love of composition, often contributing to the school magazine. The +special story recorded was called "The Unknown One," but doubtless many a +rhyme and jingle which could be traced to him found its way into this same +little magazine, not forgetting odd sketches which he began to do at a +very early age. They were all rough, for the most part grotesque, but full +of simple fun and humor, for the quiet studious schoolboy loved a joke. + +Charles stayed at the Richmond school for three years; then he took the +next step in an English boy's life, he entered Rugby, one of the great +public schools. + +In America, a public school is a school for the people, where free +instruction is given to all alike; but the English public school is +another thing. It is a school for gentlemen's sons, where tuition fees are +far from small, and "extras" mount up on the yearly bills. + +Rugby had become a very celebrated school when the great Dr. Arnold was +Head-Master. Up to that time it was neither so well known nor so popular +as Eton, but Dr. Arnold had governed it so vigorously that his hand was +felt long after his untimely death, which occurred just four years before +Charles was ready to enter the school. The Head-Master at that time was, +strangely enough, named Tait, spelt a little differently from the Richmond +schoolmaster. Dr. Tait, who afterwards became Archbishop of Canterbury, +was a most capable man, who governed the school for two of the three years +that our Boy was a pupil. The last year, Dr. Goulburn was Head-Master. + +Charles found Rugby a great change from the quiet of Richmond. He went up +in February of 1846, the beginning of the second term, when football was +in full swing. The teams practiced on the broad open campus known as +"Big-side," and a "new boy" could only look on and applaud the great +creatures who led the game. Rugby was swarming with boys--three hundred at +least--from small fourteen-year-olders of the lowest "form," or class, to +those of eighteen or twenty of the fifth and sixth, the highest forms. +They treated little Dodgson in their big, burly, schoolboy fashion, hazed +him to their hearts' content when he first entered, shrugging their +shoulders good-naturedly over his love of study, in preference to the +great games of cricket and football. + +To have a fair glimpse of our Boy's life at this period, some little idea +of Rugby and its surroundings might serve as a guide. Those who visit the +school to-day, with its pile of modern, convenient, and ugly architecture, +have no conception of what it was over sixty years ago, and even in 1846 +it bore no resemblance to the original school founded by one Lawrence +Sheriffe, "citizen and grocer of London" during the reign of Henry VIII. +To begin with, it is situated in Shakespeare's own country, Warwickshire +on the Avon River, and that in itself was enough to rouse the interest of +any musing, bookish boy like Charles Dodgson. + +From "Tom Brown's School Days," that ever popular book by Thomas Hughes, +we may perhaps understand the feelings of the "new boy" just passing +through the big, imposing school gates, with the oriel window above, and +entering historic Rugby. + +What first struck his view was the great school field or "close" as they +called it, with its famous elms, and next, "the long line of gray +buildings, beginning with the chapel and ending with the schoolhouse, the +residence of the Head-Master where the great flag was lazily waving from +the highest round tower." + +As we follow _Tom Brown_ through _his_ first day, we can imagine our Boy's +sensations when he found himself in this howling wilderness of boys. The +eye of a boy is as keen as that of a girl regarding dress, and before _Tom +Brown_ was allowed to enter Rugby gates he was taken into the town and +provided with a cat-skin cap, at seven and sixpence. + +"'You see,' said his friend as they strolled up toward the school gates, +in explanation of his conduct, 'a great deal depends on how a fellow cuts +up at first. If he's got nothing odd about him and answers +straightforward, and holds his head up, he gets on.'" + +Having passed the gates, _Tom_ was taken first to the matron's room, to +deliver up his trunk key, then on a tour of inspection through the +schoolhouse hall which opened into the quadrangle. This was "a great room, +thirty feet long and eighteen high or thereabouts, with two great tables +running the whole length, and two large fireplaces at the side with +blazing fires in them." + +This hall led into long dark passages with a fire at the end of each, and +this was the hallway upon which the studies opened. + +Now, to Charles Dodgson as well as to _Tom Brown_, a study conjured up +untold luxury; it was in truth a "Rugby boy's citadel" usually six feet +long and four feet broad. It was rather a gloomy light which came in +through the bars and grating of the one window, but these precautions had +to be taken with the studies on the ground floor, to keep the small boys +from slipping out after "lock-up" time. + +Under the window was usually a wooden table covered with green baize, a +three-legged stool, a cupboard, and nails for hat and coat. The rest of +the furnishings included "a plain flat-bottom candlestick with iron +extinguisher and snuffers, a wooden candle-box, a staff-handle brush, +leaden ink-pot, basin and bottle for washing the hands, and a saucer or +gallipot for soap." There was always a cotton curtain or a blind before +the window. For such a mansion the Rugby schoolboy paid from ten to +fifteen shillings a year, and the tenant bought his own furniture. _Tom +Brown_ had a "hard-seated sofa covered with red stuff," big enough to hold +two in a "tight squeeze," and he had, besides, a good, stout, wooden +chair. Those boys who had looking-glasses in their rooms were able to comb +their own locks, those who were not so fortunate went to what was known +as the "combing-house" and had it done for them. + +Unfortunately there are recorded very few details of these school-days at +Rugby. We can only conjecture, from our knowledge of the boy and his +studious ways, that Charles Dodgson's study was his castle, his home, and +freehold while he was in the school. He drew around him a circle of +friends, for the somewhat sober lad had the gift of talking, and could be +jolly and entertaining when he liked. + +The chapel at Rugby was an unpretentious Gothic building, very imposing +and solemn to little Dodgson, who had been brought up in a most +reverential way, but the Rugbeans viewed it in another light. _Tom +Brown's_ chosen chum explained it to him in this wise: + +"That's the chapel you see, and there just behind it is the place for +fights; it's most out of the way for masters, who all live on the other +side and don't come by here after first lesson or callings-over. That's +when the fights come off." + +All this must have shocked the simple, law-abiding son of a clergyman. It +took from four to six years to tame the average Rugby boy, but little +Charles needed no discipline; he was not a "goody-goody" boy, he simply +had a natural aversion to rough games and sports. He liked to keep a whole +skin, and his mind clear for his studies; he was fond of tramping through +the woods, or fishing along the banks of the pretty, winding Avon, or +rowing up and down the river, or lying on some grassy slope, still weaving +the many odd fancies which grew into clearer shape as the years passed. +The boys at Rugby did not know he was a genius, he did not know it +himself, happy little lad, just a bit quiet and old-fashioned, for the +noisy, blustering life about him. In fact, strange as it may seem, Charles +Dodgson was never really a little boy until he was quite grown up. + +He easily fell in with the routine of the school, but discipline, even as +late as 1846, was hard to maintain. The Head-Master had his hands full; +there were six under-masters--one for each form--and special tutors for +the boys who required them, and from the fifth and sixth forms, certain +monitors were selected called "praeposters," who were supposed to preserve +order among the lower forms. In reality they bullied the smaller boys, for +the system of fagging was much abused in those days, and the poor little +fags had to be bootblacks, water-carriers, and general servants to very +hard task-masters, while the "praeposter" had little thought of doing any +service for the service he exacted; in fact the unfortunate fag had to +submit in silence to any indignity inflicted by an older boy, for if by +chance a report of such doings came to the ears of the Head-Master or his +associates, the talebearer was "sent to Coventry," in other words, he was +shunned and left to himself by all his companions. + +Injustice like this made little Dodgson's blood boil; he submitted of +course with the other small boys, but he always had a peculiar distaste +for the life at Rugby. He owned several years later that none of the +studying at Rugby was done from real love of it, and he specially bewailed +the time he lost in writing out impositions, and he further confessed that +under no consideration would he live over those three years again. + +These "impositions" were the hundreds of lines of Latin or Greek which the +boys had to copy out with their own hands, for the most trifling +offenses--a weary and hopeless waste of time, with little good +accomplished. + +In spite of many drawbacks, he got on finely with his work, seldom +returning home for the various holidays without one or more prizes, and we +cannot believe that he was quite outside of all the fun and frolic of a +Rugby schoolboy's life. For instance, we may be sure that he went bravely +through that terrible ordeal for the newcomer, called "singing in Hall." +"Each new boy," we are told, "was mounted in turn upon a table, a candle +in each hand, and told to sing a song. If he made a false note, a violent +hiss followed, and during the performance pellets and crusts of bread were +thrown at boy or candles, often knocking them out of his hands and +covering him with tallow. The singing over, he descended and pledged the +house in a bumper of salt and water, stirred by a tallow candle. He was +then free of the house and retired to his room, feeling very +uncomfortable." + +"On the night after 'new boys' night' there was chorus singing, in which +solos and quartets of all sorts were sung, especially old Rugby's +favorites such as: + + "'It's my delight, on a shiny night + In the season of the year,' + +and the proceedings always wound up with 'God save the Queen.'" + +Guy Fawkes' Day was another well-known festival at Rugby. There were +bonfires in the town, but they were never kindled until eight o'clock, +which was "lock-up" time for Rugby school. The boys resented this as it +was great fun and they were out of it, so each year there was a lively +scrimmage between the Rugbeans and the town, the former bent on kindling +the bonfires before "lock-up" time, the latter doing all they could to +hold back the ever-pressing enemy. Victory shifted with the years, from +one side to the other, but the boys had their fun all the same, which was +over half the battle. + +Charles must have gone through Rugby with rapid strides, accomplishing in +three years' time what _Tom Brown_ did in eight, and when he left he had +the proud distinction of being among the _very_ few who had never gone up +a certain winding staircase leading, by a small door, into the Master's +private presence, where the rod awaited the culprit, and a good heavy rod +it was. + +During these years Dickens was doing his best work, and while at Rugby, +Charles read "David Copperfield," which came out in numbers in the _Penny +Magazine_. He was specially interested in _Mrs. Gummidge_, that mournful, +tearful lady, who was constantly bemoaning that she was "a lone lorn +creetur," and that everything went "contrairy" with her. Dickens's humor +touched a chord of sympathy in him, and if we go over in our minds, the +weeping animals we know in "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the +Looking-Glass," we will find many excellent portraits of _Mrs. Gummidge_. + +He also read Macaulay's "History of England," and from it was particularly +struck by a passage describing the seven bishops who had signed the +invitation to the Pretender. Bishop Compton, one of the seven, when +accused by King James, and asked whether he or any of his ecclesiastical +brethren had anything to do with it, replied: "I am fully persuaded, your +Majesty, that there is not one of my brethren who is not innocent in the +matter as myself." This tickled the boy's sense of humor. Those touches +always appealed to him; as he grew older they took even a firmer hold upon +him and he was quick to pluck a laugh from the heart of things. + +His life at Rugby was somewhat of a strain; with a brain beginning to teem +with a thousand fairy fancies that the boys around him could not +appreciate, he was forced to thrust them out of sight. He flung himself +into his studies, coming out at examinations on top in mathematics, Latin, +and divinity, and saving that other part of him for his sisters, when he +went home for the holidays. + +Meantime he continued to write verses and stories and to draw clever +caricatures. There is one of these drawings peculiarly Rugbean in +character; it is supposed to be a scene in which four of his sisters are +roughly handling a fifth, because she _would_ write to her brother when +they wished to go to Halnaby and the Castle. This noble effort he signed +"Rembrandt." + +The picture is really very funny. The five girls have very much the +appearance of the marionettes he was fond of making, especially the +unfortunate correspondent who has been pulled into a horizontal position +by the stern sister. The whole story is told by the expression of the eyes +and mouth of each, for the clever schoolboy had all the secrets of +caricature, without quite enough genius in that direction to make him an +artist. + +The Rugby days ended in glory; our Boy, no longer little Dodgson, but +young Dodgson, came home loaded with honors. Mr. Mayor, his mathematical +master, wrote to his father in 1848, that he had never had a more +promising boy at his age, since he came to Rugby. Mr. Tait also wrote +complimenting him most highly not only for his high standing in +mathematics and divinity, but for his conduct while at Rugby, which was +all that could be desired. + +We can now see the dawning of the two great loves of his life, but there +was another love, which Rugby brought forth in all its beauty and +strength, the love for girls. From that time he became their champion, +their friend, and their comrade; whatever of youth and of boyhood was in +his nature came out in brilliant flashes in their company. Boys, in his +estimation, _had_ to be, of course--a necessary evil, to be wrestled with +and subdued. But girls--God bless 'em! were girls; that was enough for +young Dodgson to the end of the chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +HOME LIFE DURING THE HOLIDAYS. + + +When Charles came home on his holiday visits, he was undoubtedly the +busiest person at Croft Rectory. We must remember there were ten eager +little brothers and sisters who wanted the latest news from "the front," +meaning Rugby of course, and Charles found many funny things to tell of +the school doings, many exciting matches to recount, many a thrilling +adventure, and, alas! many a tale of some popular hero's downfall and +disgrace. He had sketches to show, and verses to read to a most +enthusiastic audience, the girls giggling over his funny tales, the boys +roaring with excitement as in fancy they pictured the scene at "Big-side" +during some great football scrimmage, for Charles's descriptions were so +vivid, indeed he was such a good talker always, that a few quaint +sentences would throw the whole picture on the canvas. + +Vacation time was devoted to literary schemes of all kinds. From little +boyhood until he was way up in his "teens," he was the editor of one +magazine or another of home manufacture, chiefly, indeed, of his own +composition, or drawn from local items of interest to the young people of +Croft Rectory. While he was still at Richmond School, _Useful and +Instructive Poetry_ was born and died in six months' time, and many others +shared the same fate; but the young editor was undaunted. + +This was the age of small periodicals and he had caught the craze; it was +also the age when great genius was burning brightly in England. Tennyson +was in his prime; Dickens was writing his stories, and Macaulay his +history of England. There were many other geniuses who influenced his +later years, Carlyle, Browning and others, but the first three caught his +boyish fancy and were his guides during those early days of editorship. +_Punch_, the great English magazine of wit and humor, attracted him +immensely, and many a time his rough drawings caught the spirit of some of +the famous cartoons. He never imagined, as he laughed over the broad humor +of John Tenniel, that the great cartoonist would one day stand beside him +and share the honors of "Alice in Wonderland." + +One of his last private efforts in the editorial line was _The Rectory +Umbrella_, a magazine undertaken when he was about seventeen or eighteen +years old, on the bridge, one might say, between boyhood and his +approaching Oxford days. His mind had developed quickly, though his views +of life did not go far beyond the rectory grounds. He evidently took his +title out of the umbrella-stand in the rectory hall, the same stand +doubtless which furnished him with "The Walking Stick of Destiny," a story +of the lurid, exciting sort, which made his readers' hair rise. The +magazine also contained a series of sketches supposed to have been copied +from paintings by Rembrandt, Sir Joshua Reynolds and others whose works +hang in the Vernon Gallery. One specially funny caricature of Sir Joshua +Reynolds's "Age of Innocence" represents a baby hippopotamus smiling +serenely under a tree not half big enough to shade him. + +Another sketch ridicules homeopathy and is extremely funny. Homeopathy is +a branch of medical science which believes in _very_ small doses of +medicine, and this picture represents housekeeping on a homeopathic plan; +a family of six bony specimens are eating infinitesimal grains of food, +which they can only see through the spectacles they all wear, and their +table talk hovers round millionths and nonillionths of grains. + +But the cleverest poem in _The Rectory Umbrella_ is the parody on +"Horatius," Macaulay's famous poem, which is supposed to be a true tale of +his brothers' adventures with an obdurate donkey. It is the second of the +series called "Lays of Sorrow," in imitation of Macaulay's "Lays of +Ancient Rome," and the tragedy lies in the sad fact that the donkey +succeeds in getting the better of the boys. + +"Horatius" was a great favorite with budding orators of that day. The +Rugby boys declaimed it on every occasion, and reading it over in these +modern times of peace, one is stirred by the martial note in it. No wonder +boys like Charles Dodgson loved Macaulay, and it is pretty safe to say +that he must have had it by heart, to have treated it in such spirited +style and with such pure fun. Indeed, fun bubbled up through everything he +wrote; wholesome, honest fun, which was a safety valve for an over-serious +lad. + +This period was his halting time, and the humorous skits he dashed off +were done in moments of recreation. He was mapping out his future in a +methodical way peculiarly his own. Oxford was to be his goal, divinity and +mathematics his principal studies, and he was working hard for his +examinations. The desire of the eldest son to follow in his father's +footsteps was strengthened by his own natural inclination, for into the +boy nature crept a rare golden streak of piety. The reverence for holy +things was a beautiful trait in his character from the beginning to the +end of his life; it never pushed itself aggressively to the front, but it +sweetened the whole of his intercourse with people, and was perhaps the +secret of the wonderful power he had with children. + +The intervening months between Rugby and Oxford were also the +boundary-line between boyhood and young manhood, that most important +period when the character shifts into a steadier pose, when the young +eyes try vainly to pierce the mists of the future, and the young +heart-throbs are sometimes very painful. Between those Rugby school-days +and the more serious Oxford ones, something happened--we know not +what--which cast a shadow on our Boy's life. He was young enough to live +it down, yet old enough to feel keenly whatever sorrow crossed his path, +and as he never married, we naturally suspect that some unhappy love +affair, or death perhaps, had cut him off from all the joys so necessary +to a young and deep-feeling man. Whatever it was--and he kept his own +secret--it did not mar the sweetness of his nature, it did not kill his +youth, nor deaden the keen wit which was to make the world laugh one day. +It drew some pathetic lines upon his face, a wistful touch about mouth and +eyes, as we can see in all his portraits. + +A slight reserve hung as a veil between him and people of his own age, but +it opened his heart all the wider to the children, whose true knight he +became when, as "Lewis Carroll" he went forth to conquer with a laugh. We +say "children," but we mean "girls." The little boy might just as well +have been a caged animal at the Zoo, for all the notice he inspired. Of +course, there were some younger brothers of his own to be considered, but +he had such a generous provision of sisters that he didn't mind, and then, +besides, one's own people are different somehow; we know well enough we +wouldn't change _our_ brothers and sisters for the finest little paragons +that walk. So with Lewis Carroll; he strongly objected to everybody else's +little brothers but his own, and it is even true that in later years there +were some small nephews and boy cousins, to whom he was extremely kind. +But as yet there is no Lewis Carroll, only a grave and earnest Charles +Lutwidge Dodgson, reading hard to enter Christ Church, Oxford, that grand +old edifice steeped in history, where his own father had "blazed a trail." + +Mathematics absorbed many hours of each day, and Latin and Greek were +quite as important. English as a "course" was not thought of as it is +to-day; the classics were before everything else, although ancient and +modern history came into use. + +For lighter reading, Dickens was a never-failing source of supply. All +during this holiday period "David Copperfield" was coming out in monthly +instalments, and though the hero was "only a boy," there was something in +the pathetic figure of lonely little _David_, irresistibly appealing to +the young fellow who hated oppression and injustice of any kind, and was +always on the side of the weak. While the dainty picture of _Little Em'ly_ +might have been his favorite, he was keenly alive to the absurdities of +_Mrs. Gummidge_, the doglike devotion of _Peggotty_, and the horrors of +the "cheap school," which turned out little shivering cowards instead of +wholesome hearty English boys. + +Later on, he visited the spot on which Dickens had founded _Dotheboys +Hall_ in "Nicholas Nickleby." "Barnard's Castle" was a most desolate +region in Yorkshire. He tells of a trip by coach, over a land of dreary +hills, into Bowes, a Godforsaken village where the original of _Dotheboys +Hall_ was still standing, though in a very dilapidated state, actually +falling to pieces. As we well know, after the writing of "Nicholas +Nickleby," government authorities began to look into the condition of the +"cheap schools" and to remedy some of the evils. Even the more expensive +schools, where the tired little brains were crammed to the brim until the +springs were worn out and the minds were gone, were exposed by the great +novelist when he wrote "Dombey and Son" and told of _Dr. Blimber's_ +school, where poor little _Paul_ studied until his head grew too heavy for +his fragile body. The victims of these three schools--_David_, _Smike_, +and _Little Paul_--twined themselves about the heartstrings of the +thoughtful young student, and many a humorous bit besides, in the works of +Lewis Carroll, bears a decided flavor of those dips into Dickens. + +Macaulay furnished a more solid background in the reading line. His +history, such a complete chronicle of England from the fall of the Stuarts +to the reign of Victoria, appealed strongly to the patriotism of the +English boy, and the fact that Macaulay was not only a _writer_ of English +history, but at the same time a _maker_ of history, served to strengthen +this feeling. + +If we compare the life of Lord Macaulay with the life of Lewis Carroll, +we will see that there was something strangely alike about them. Both were +unmarried, living alone, but with strong family ties which softened their +lives and kept them from becoming crusty old bachelors. It is very +probable, indeed, that the younger man modeled his life somewhat along the +lines of the older, whom he greatly admired. Both were parts of great +institutions; Macaulay stood out from the background of Parliament, as +Lewis Carroll did from Oxford or more particularly Christ Church, and both +names shone more brilliantly outside the routine of daily life. + +But the influence that crept closer to the heart of this boy was that of +Tennyson. The great poet with the wonderful dark face, the piercing eyes, +the shaggy mane, sending forth clarion messages to the world in waves of +song, was the inspiration of many a quaint phrase and poetic turn of +thought which came from the pen of Lewis Carroll. For Tennyson became to +him a thing of flesh and blood, a friend, and many a pleasant hour was +spent in the poet's home in later years, when the fame of "Alice" had +stirred his ambition to do other things. Many a verse of real poetry could +trace its origin to association with the great man, who was quick to +discover that there were depths in the soul of his young friend where +genius dwelt. + +Meantime Charles Dodgson read his poems over and over, in the seclusion of +Croft Rectory, during that quiet pause in his life before he went up to +Oxford. + +There was a village school of some importance in Croft, and members of the +Dodgson family were interested in its welfare, often lending a hand with +the teaching, and during those months, no doubt, Charles took his turn. +For society, his own family seemed to be sufficient. If he had any boy +friends, there are no records of their intercourse; indeed, the only +friend mentioned is T. Vere Bayne, who in childish days was his playfellow +and who later became, like himself, a Student of Christ Church. This +association cemented a lasting friendship. One or two Rugbeans claimed +some intimacy, but his true friendships were formed when Lewis Carroll +grew up and really became young. + +Walking was always a favorite pastime; the woods were full of the things +he loved, the wild things whose life stirred in the rustling of the leaves +or the crackle of a twig, as some tiny animal whisked by. The squirrels +were friendly, the hares lifted up their long ears, stared at him and +scurried out of sight. Turtles and snails came out of the river to sun +themselves on the banks; the air was full of the hum of insects and the +chirp of birds. + +As he lay under the friendly shelter of some great tree, he thought of +this tree as a refuge for the teeming life about it; the beauty of its +foliage, its spreading branches, were as nothing to its convenience as a +home for the birds and chipmunks and the burrowing things that lived +beneath its roots or in the hollows of its trunk. + +These creatures became real companions in time. He studied their ways and +habits, he looked them up in the Natural History, and noting their +peculiarities, tucked them away in that quaint cupboard of his which he +called his memory. + +How many things were to come out of that cupboard in later days! He +himself did not know what was hidden there. It reminded one of a chest +which only a special key could open, and he did not even know there _was_ +a key, until on a certain "golden afternoon" he found it floating on the +surface of the river. He grasped it, thrust it into the rusty lock, and +lo!--but dear me, we are going too far ahead, for that is quite another +chapter, and we have left Charles Dodgson lying under a tree, watching the +lizards and snails and ants at their work or play, weaving his quaint +fancies, dreaming perhaps, or chatting with some little sister or other +who chanced to be with him. There was always a sister to chat with, which +in part accounted for his liking for girls. + +So, through a long vista of years, we have the picture of our Boy, between +eighteen and nineteen, when he was about to put boyhood by forever and +enter the stately ranks of the Oxford undergraduates. As he stands before +us now, young, ardent, hopeful, and inexperienced, we can see no glimmer +of the fairy wand which turned him into a wizard. + +We see only a boy, somewhat old for his years, very manly in his ways, +with a well-formed head, on which the clustering dark hair grew thick; a +sensitive mouth and deep blue eyes, full of expression. He was clever, +imitative, and consequently a good actor in the little plays he wrote and +dramatized; he was very shy, but at his best in the home circle. He +enjoyed nothing so much as an argument, always holding his ground with +great obstinacy; a fine student, frank and affectionate, brimful of wit +and humor, fond of reading, with a quiet determination to excel in +whatever he undertook. With such weapons he was well equipped to "storm +the citadel" at Oxford. + +On May 23, 1850, he went up to matriculate--that is, to register his name +and go through some examinations and the formality of becoming a student. +Christ Church was to be his college, as it had been his father's before +him. Archdeacon Dodgson was much gratified by the many letters he received +congratulating him on the fact that he had a son worthy to succeed him, +for he was well remembered in the college, where he had left a brilliant +record behind him. + +It certainly sounds a little queer to have the name of a church attached +to one of the colleges of a university, but our colleges in America are +comparatively so new that we cannot grasp the vastness and the antiquity +of the great English universities. Under the shelter of Oxford, and +covering an area of at least five miles, twenty colleges or more were +grouped, each one a community in itself, and all under the rule of the +Chancellor of Oxford. Christ Church received as students those most +interested in the divinity courses, though in other respects the +undergraduates could take up whatever studies they pleased, and Charles +Dodgson put most of his energy into mathematics and the necessary study of +the classics. + +Seven months intervened between his matriculation and his real entrance +into Oxford; these seven months we have just reviewed, full of study and +pleasant family associations, with youthful experiments in literature, +full of promise for the future--and something deeper still--which must +have touched him just here, "where the brook and river meet." + +Into all our lives at some time or other comes a solemn silence; it may +spring from many causes, from a joy which cannot be spoken, or from a +sorrow too deep for utterance, but it comes, and we cover it gently and +hide it away, as something too sacred for the common light of every day. + +This was the silence which came to Lewis Carroll on the threshold of his +career; but lusty youth was with him as he stood before the portal of a +brilliant future, and there was courage and high hope in his heart as he +knocked for entrance. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP AND HONORS. + + +On January 24, 1851, just three days before his nineteenth birthday, +Charles Dodgson took up his residence at Christ Church, and from that time +to the day of his death his name was always associated with the fine old +building which was his _Alma Mater_. The men of Christ Church called it +the "House," and were very proud of their college, as well they might be, +for Oxford could not boast of a more imposing structure. There is a great +difference between a university and a college. A university is great +enough to shelter many colleges, and its chancellor is ruler over all. +When we reflect that Christ Church College, alone, included as many +important buildings as are to be found in some of our modern American +universities, we may have some idea of the extent of Oxford University, +within whose boundaries twenty such colleges could be counted. + +Their names were all familiar to the young fellow, and many a time, in +those early days, he could be found in his boat upon the river, floating +gently down stream, the whole panorama of Oxford spread out before him. + + "Now rising o'er the level plain, + 'Mid academic groves enshrined. + The Gothic tower, the Grecian fane, + Ascend in solemn state combined." + +The spire of St. Aldates (pronounced St. Olds); Sir Christopher Wren's +domed tower over the entrance to Christ Church; the spires of the +Cathedral of St. Mary; the tower of All Saints; the twin towers of All +Souls; the dome of Radcliffe Library; the massive tower of Merton, and the +beautiful pinnacles of Magdalen, all passed before him, "rising o'er the +level plain" as the verse puts it, backed by dense foliage, and sharply +outlined against the blue horizon. + +History springs up with every step one takes in Oxford. The University can +trace its origin to the time of Alfred the Great. Beginning with only +three colleges, each year this great center of learning became more +important. Henry I built the Palace of Beaumont at Oxford, because he +wished frequent opportunities to talk with men of learning. It was from +the Castle of Oxford that the Empress Maud escaped at dead of night, in a +white gown, over the snow and the frozen river, when Stephen usurped the +throne. It was in the Palace of Beaumont that Richard the Lion-Hearted was +born, and so on, through the centuries, great deeds and great events could +be traced to the very gates of Oxford. + +But most of all, the young student's affections centered around Christ +Church, and indeed, for the first few years of his college life, he had +little occasion to go outside of its broad boundaries unless for a row +upon the river. + +Christ Church really owes its foundation to the famous Cardinal Wolsey. +Charles Lutwidge Dodgson had its history by heart; how the wicked old +prelate, wishing to leave behind him a monument of lasting good to cover +his many misdeeds, obtained the royal license to found the college as +early as 1525; how, in 1529, as Shakespeare said, he bade "a long farewell +to all his greatness," and his possessions, including Cardinal College as +it was then called, fell into the ruthless hands of Henry VIII; and how, +after many ups and downs, the present foundation of Christ Church was +created under "letters patent of Henry VIII dated November 4, 1546." + +Christ Church, with its imposing front of four hundred feet, is built +around the Great Quadrangle, quite famous in the history of the college. +It includes in the embrace of its four sides the library and picture +gallery, the Cathedral and the Chapter House, and the homes of the dean +and his associates. There was another smaller quadrangle called Peckwater +Quadrangle, where young Dodgson had his rooms when he first entered +college, but later when he became a tutor or a "don" as the instructors +were usually called, he moved into the Great Quadrangle. A beautiful +meadow lies beyond the south gate, spreading out in a long and fertile +stretch to the river's edge. + +The massive front gate has towers and turrets on either side, while just +above it is the great "Tom Tower," the present home of "Tom" the famous +bell, measuring over seven feet in diameter and weighing over seven tons. +This bell was originally dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury, and bore a +Latin inscription in praise of the saint. It was brought from the famous +Abbey of Oseney, when that cloister was transferred to Oxford, and on the +accession of Queen Mary, the ruling dean rechristened it Mary, out of +compliment to her; but this was not a lasting change; "Tom" was indeed the +favored name. After "Bonnie Prince Charlie" came into his own, and +Christopher Wren's tower was completed, the great bell was moved to the +new resting place, where it rang first on the anniversary of the +Restoration, May 29, 1684, and since then has rung each morning and +evening, at the opening and closing of the college gates. + +"Tom Tower," as it is called, overlooks that portion of the Great +Quadrangle popularly known as "Tom Quad," and it was in this corner of the +Great Quadrangle that Lewis Carroll had his rooms. He speaks of it often +in his many reminiscences, as he also spoke of the new bell tower over the +hall staircase in the southeast corner. This new tower was built to hold +the twelve bells which form the famous Christ Church peal, some twenty +years after his entrance as an undergraduate. This, and the new entrance +to the cathedral from "Tom Quad," were designed by the architect, George +Bodley, and Lewis Carroll, who was then a very dignified and retiring +"don," ridiculed his work in a clever little booklet called "The Vision of +the Three T's." + +In it he calls the new tower the "Tea-chest," the passage to the cathedral +the "Trench," the entrance itself the "Tunnel" (here we have the three +T's). The architect, whose initials are G. B., he thinly disguises as +"Jeeby," and his disapproval is expressed through "Our Willie," meaning +William E. Gladstone, who gives vent to his rage in this fashion: + + "For as I'm true knight, a fouler sight, + I'd never live to see. + Before I'd be the ruffian dark, + Who planned this ghastly show, + I'd serve as secretary's clerk [pronounced _clark_] + To Ayrton or to Lowe. + Before I'd own the loathly thing, + That Christ Church Quad reveals, + I'd serve as shoeblack's underling + To Odger and to Beales." + +But no thought of ridicule entered the earnest young scholar's mind during +those early days at Oxford. Everything he saw in his surroundings was most +impressive. There was much about the college routine to remind him of the +old Rugby days. Indeed, it was not so very long before his time that the +birch-rod was laid aside in Oxford; the rules were still very strict, and +the student was forced to work hard to gain any standing whatever. + +Young Dodgson went into his studies, as he did into everything else, with +his whole soul. He devoted a great deal of his time to mathematics, and +quite as much to divinity, but just as he had settled down for months of +serious work, the news of his mother's sudden death sent him hurrying back +to Croft Rectory to join the sorrowing household. It was a terrible blow +to them all; with this young family growing up around her, she could ill +be spared, and the loss of her filled those first Oxford days with dark +shadows for the boy--he was only a boy still for all his nineteen +years--and we can imagine how deeply he mourned for his mother. + +What we know of her is very faint and shadowy. That her influence was +keenly felt for many years, we can only glean from the love and reverence +with which the memory of her was guarded; for this English home hid its +grief in the depths of its heart, and only the privileged few might enter +and console. + +This was the first and only break in the family for many years. Charles +went back to Oxford immediately after the funeral, and took up his studies +again with redoubled zeal. + +Thomas Gaisford was dean of Christ Church during the four years that +Charles Dodgson was an undergraduate. He was a most able man, well known +as scholar, writer, and thinker, but he died, much lamented, in 1855, just +as the young student was thinking seriously of a life devoted to his +college. George Henry Liddell came into residence as dean of Christ +Church, an office which he held for nearly forty years, and as Dean +Liddell stood for a great deal in the life of Charles Dodgson, we shall +hear much of him from time to time, dating more especially from the +comradeship of his three little daughters, who were the first "really +truly" friends of Lewis Carroll. + +But we are jumping over too many years at once, and must go back a few +steps. His hard study during the first year won him a Boulter scholarship; +the next year he took First Class honors in mathematics, and a second in +classical studies, and on Christmas Eve, 1852, he was made a Student of +Christ Church College. + +To become a Student of Christ Church was not only a great honor, conferred +only on one altogether worthy of it, but it was a very serious step in +life for a young man. A Student remained unmarried and always took Holy +Orders; he was of course compelled to be very regular at chapel service, +and to be devoted, heart and soul, to the interests of Christ Church, all +of which this special young Student had no difficulty in following to the +letter. + +From that time forth he ordered his life as he planned his mathematics, +clearly and simply, and once his career was settled, Charles Lutwidge +Dodgson dropped from his young shoulders--he was only twenty--the mantle +of over-seriousness, and looked about for young companionship. He found +what he needed in the households of the masters and the tutors, whose +homes looked out upon the Great Quadrangle. Here on sunny days the nurses +brought the children for an airing; chubby little boys in long trousers +and "roundabouts," dainty little girls, with corkscrew ringlets and long +pantalets and muslin "frocks" and poke bonnets, in the depths of which +were hidden the rosebud faces. These were the favorites of the young +Student, whose slim figure in cap and gown was often the center of an +animated group of tiny girls; one on his lap, one perhaps on his shoulder, +several at his knee, while he told them stories of the animals he knew, +and drew funny little pictures on stray bits of paper. The "roundabouts" +went to the wall: they were only boys! + +His coming was always hailed with delight. Sometimes he would take them +for a stroll, always full of wonder and interest to the children, for +alone, with these chosen friends of his, his natural shyness left him, the +sensitive mouth took smiling curves, the deep blue eyes were full of +laughter, and he spun story after story for them in his quaint way, +filling their little heads with odd fancies which would never have been +there but for him. The "bunnies" held animated conversations with these +small maids; every chirp and twitter of the birds grew to mean something +to them. He took them across the meadow, and showed them the turtles +swimming on the river bank; sometimes even--oh, treat of treats!--he took +them in his boat, and pulling gently down the pretty rippling stream, told +them stories of the shining fish they could see darting here and there in +its depths, and of wonderful creatures they could _not_ see, who would not +show themselves while curious little girls were staring into the water. + +These were hours of pure recreation for him. The small girls could not +know what genuine pleasure they gave; the young undergraduates could never +understand his lack of sympathy with their many sports. Athletics never +appealed to him, even boating he enjoyed in his own mild way; a quiet pull +up or down the river, a shady bank, an hour's rest under the trees, a +companion perhaps, generally some small girl, whose round-eyed interest +inspired some remarkable tale--this was what he liked best. On other days +a tramp of miles gave just the exercise he needed. + +His busy day began at a quarter past six, with breakfast at seven, and +chapel at eight. Then came the day's lectures in Greek and Latin, +mathematics, divinity, and the classics. + +Meals were served to the undergraduates in the Hall. The men were divided +into "messes" just as in military posts; each "mess" consisted of about +six men, who were served at a small table. There were many such tables +scattered over the Hall, a vast and ancient room, completed at the time of +Wolsey's fall, 1529, an interesting spot full of memorials of Henry VIII +and Wolsey. The great west window with its two rows of shields, some with +a Cardinal's hat, others with the royal arms of Henry VIII, is most +interesting, while the wainscoting, decorated with shields also arranged +in orderly fashion, is very attractive. The Hall is filled with portraits +of celebrities, from Henry VIII, Wolsey and Elizabeth to the many +students, and famous deans, who have added luster to Christ Church. + +In Charles Dodgson's time, the meals were poorly served. The Hall was +lighted at night with candles in brass candlesticks made to hold three +lights each. The undergraduates were served on pewter plates, and the poor +young fellows were in the hands of the cook and butler, and consequently +were cheated up to their eyes. They did not complain in Charles Dodgson's +time, but after he graduated and became a master himself he no doubt took +part in what was known as the "Bread and Butter" campaign, when the +undergraduates rose up in a body and settled the cook and butler for all +time, appointing a steward who could overlook the doings of those below in +the kitchen. + +This kitchen is a very wonderful old place, the first portion of Wolsey's +work to be completed, and so strongly was it built, and so well has it +lasted, that it seems scarcely to have been touched by time. Of course +there are some modern improvements, but the great ranges are still there, +and the wide fireplace and spits worked by a "smoke jack." Wolsey's own +gridiron hangs just above the fireplace, a large uncouth affair, fit for +cooking the huge hunks of meat the Cardinal liked best. + +We must not imagine that the years at Oxford were "all work and no play," +for Charles Dodgson's many vacations were spent either at home, where his +father made much of him, his brothers looked up to him, and his sisters +petted and spoiled him, or on little trips of interest and amusement. + +Once, during what is known as the "Long Vacation," he visited London at +the time of the Great Exhibition, and wrote a vivid letter of description +to his sister Elizabeth. What seemed to interest him most was the vastness +of everything he saw, the huge crystal fountain and the colossal statues +on either side of the central aisle. One statue he particularly noticed. +It was called the "Amazon and the Tiger," and many of us have doubtless +seen the picture, the strong, erect, girlish figure on horseback, and the +tiger clinging to the horse, his teeth buried in his neck, the girl's face +full of terror, the horse rearing with fright and pain. He always liked +anything that told a story, either in statues or in pictures, and in after +years, when he became a skilled photographer, he was fond of taking his +many girlfriends in costume, for somehow it always suggested a story. + +He was also very fond of the theater, and he made many a trip to London to +see a special play. Shakespeare was his delight, and "Henry VIII" was +certainly the most appropriate play for a Student of Christ Church College +to see. The great actor, Charles Kean, took the part of _Cardinal Wolsey_, +and Mrs. Kean shone forth as poor _Queen Katharine_, the discarded wife of +Henry VIII. What impressed him most was the vision of the sleeping queen, +the troops of floating angels with palm branches in their hands, which +they waved slowly over her, while shafts of light fell upon them from +above. Then as the Queen awoke they vanished, and raising her arms she +called "Spirits of peace, where are ye?" Poor Queen, no wonder her +audience shed tears! Henry VIII was not an easy man to get along with, +even in his sweetest mood! + +In 1854, Charles Dodgson began hard study for final examinations, working +sometimes as many as thirteen hours a day during the last three weeks, but +the subjects which he had to prepare were philosophy and history, neither +of which were special favorites, and though he passed fairly well, his +name was not among the first. + +During the following Long Vacation he went to Whitby, where he prepared +for final examination in mathematics, and so well did he work that he took +First Class honors and became quite a distinguished personage among the +undergraduates. His prowess in so difficult a subject traveled even beyond +the college walls, and congratulations poured in upon him until he +laughingly declared that if he had shot the Dean there could not have been +more commotion. This meant a great deal to him; to begin with, he stood +head on the list of five very able men who were close to him in the +marking. He came out number 279 and the lowest of the five was 213, so it +was a hard fight in a hard subject, and Lewis Carroll might be forgiven +for a little quiet "bragging" in the letter he wrote his father, telling +the result of the examinations. Of one thing he was now quite sure--a +future lectureship in Christ Church College. + +On December 18, 1854, he graduated, taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts, +and the following year, October 15, 1855, to celebrate the appointment of +Dean Liddell, he was made a "Master of the House," meaning that under the +roof of Christ Church College he had all the privileges of a Master of +Arts, which is the next higher degree; but he did not become a Master of +Arts in the University until two years later. When a college graduate puts +B.A. after his name, we know that means Bachelor of Arts, the first +college degree, and M.A. means Master of Arts, the second degree. + +The young Student was glad to be free of college restraint and to begin +work. Archdeacon Dodgson was not a rich man, and though his son had never +faced the trials of poverty, he was anxious to become independent. Now +that the "grinding" study was over, his thoughts turned fondly to a +literary life. His numerous clever sketches, too, gave him hope of better +work hereafter, and this we know had been his dream through his boyish +years; it was his dream still, but where his talent would lie he had no +idea, though hazy poems and queer jumbles of words popped into his mind on +the slightest notice. Still he could not settle down seriously to such +work just at first; there was other work at hand and he must learn to +wait. During the first year of tutorship he took many private pupils, +besides lecturing in mathematics, his chosen profession, from three to +three and a half hours a day. The next year he was one of the regular +lecturers, and often lectured seven hours a day, not counting the time it +took him to prepare his work. + +Mathematicians are born, not made; this young fellow had not only the +power of solving problems, but the rare gift of being able to teach others +to solve them also, and many a student has been heard to declare that +mathematics was never a dull study with Mr. Dodgson to explain. We can +imagine the slight, youthful figure of the young college "don," his +clean-cut, refined face, full of light and interest, his blue eyes +flashing as he tackled some difficult problem, wrestled with it before his +class in the lecture-hall, and undid the tangle without the slightest +trouble. + +He "took to" problems as naturally as a duck to water; the harder they +were the more resolutely he bent to his task. Sometimes the tussle kept +him awake half the night, often he was up at dawn to renew the battle, but +he usually "won out," and this is what made him so good a teacher--he +_never_ "let go." Whatever mathematical ax he had to grind, he always +managed to put a keen edge upon it sooner or later. + +To his many friends, especially his many girl friends, this side of his +character was most remarkable. How this fun-making, fun-loving, +story-telling nonsense rhymer could turn in a twinkling into the grave, +precise "don" and discourse on rectangles, and polygons, and parallel +lines, and unknown quantities was more than they could understand. + +Girls, the best of them, the rarest and finest of them, are not, as a +rule, fond of mathematics. They "take" it in school, as they "take" +whooping cough and measles at home, but in those days they seldom went +further than the "first steps" in plain arithmetic. Girls, especially the +little girls of Charles Dodgson's immediate circle, rarely went to school; +they were usually in the care of governesses who helped them along the +narrow path of learning which they themselves had trod, and these little +maids could truly say, with all their hearts: + + "Multiplication is vexation, + Division is as bad, + The Rule of Three, it puzzles me, + And Fractions drive me mad!" + +It was certainly thought quite unnecessary to educate girls in higher +mathematics; those were not the days when colleges for girls were thought +of. The little daughters of the wise Oxford men were considered finely +grounded if they had mastered the three R's--("Reading, 'Riting, and +'Rithmetic") and the young "don" knew pretty well how far they were led +along these paths, for if we remember our "Alice in Wonderland" we may +easily recall that interesting conversation between _Alice_, the _Mock +Turtle_ and the _Gryphon_, about schools, the _Mock Turtle_ remarking with +a sigh: + +"I took only the regular course." + +"What was that?" inquired Alice. + +"Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with," the Mock Turtle replied, +"and then the different branches of Arithmetic--Ambition, Distraction, +Uglification, and Derision." + +"What else had you to learn?" asks Alice later on. + +"Well, there was Mystery," the Mock Turtle replied, counting off the +subjects on his flappers, "Mystery--ancient and modern--with Seography; +then Drawling--the Drawling-master was an old Conger-eel that used to come +once a week; _he_ taught us Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils." +[Drawing, sketching, and painting in oils.] Lewis Carroll loved this play +upon words. + +"What was _that_ like?" said Alice. + +"Well, I can't show it you myself," the Mock Turtle said, "I'm too stiff. +And the Gryphon never learnt it." + +"Hadn't time," said the Gryphon. "I went to the Classical master though. +He was an old Crab, _he_ was." + +"I never went to him," the Mock Turtle said, with a sigh; "he taught +Laughing and Grief, they used to say." + +"So he did, so he did," said the Gryphon, sighing in his turn, and both +creatures hid their faces in their paws. + +It is doubtful if any little girl in Lewis Carroll's time ever learned +"Laughing and Grief" unless she was _very_ ambitious, but many a quick, +active young mind absorbed the simple problems which he was constantly +turning into games for them. + +So the years passed over the head of this young Student of Christ Church. +They were pleasantly broken by long vacations at Croft Rectory, by trips +through the beautiful English country, by one special journey to the +English lakes, where Wordsworth, Southey, and Coleridge lived and wrote +their poems. These trips were often afoot, and Charles Dodgson was very +proud of the long distances he could tramp, no matter what the wind or the +weather. There was nothing he liked better unless it was the occasional +visits he made to the Princess's Theatre in London. + +On June 16, 1856, he records seeing "A Winter's Tale," where he was +specially pleased with little Ellen Terry, a beautiful tiny creature, who +played the child's part of _Mamillius_ in the most charming way. This was +the first of many meetings with the famous actress, who became one of his +child-friends in later years. But that was when he was Lewis Carroll. As +yet he was only Charles Dodgson, a struggling young Student, anxious for +independence, interested in his work, simple, sincere, devout, a dreamer +of dreams which had not yet taken shape, and above all, a true lover of +little girls, no matter how plain, or fretful, or rumpled, or even dirty. +His kindly eyes could see beneath the creases on the top, his gentle +fingers clasped the shrinking, trembling little hands; his low voice +charmed them all unconsciously, and no doubt the children he loved did for +him as much as he did for them. If he felt the strain of overwork nothing +soothed him like a romp with his favorites, and young as he was, when +dreaming of the future and the magic circle in which he would write his +name, it was not of the great world he was thinking, but of bright young +faces, with dancing eyes and sunny curls, and eager voices continually +demanding--"One more story." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A MANY-SIDED GENIUS. + + +We have traveled over the years with some speed, from the time that little +Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was christened by his proud papa to the moment +when the same proud father heard that his eldest son was made a student of +Christ College--a good large slice out of a birthday-cake--twenty +candles--if one counts birthdays by candles. It's a charming old German +fashion, for the older one grows the brighter the lights become, and if +you chance to get _real_ old--a fine "threescore and ten"--why, if there's +a candle for each year, there you are--in a perfect blaze of glory! + +We have just passed over the very oldest part of our Boy's life; from the +time he became Lewis Carroll, Charles Dodgson began to go backward; he did +a lot of things backward, as we shall see later. He wrote letters +backward, he told stories backward, he spelled and counted backward--in +fact, he was so fond of doing things backward we do not wonder that he +stepped out from the circle of the years, and turned backward to find the +boyhood he had somehow missed before. This is when Lewis Carroll was born; +but that is a story in itself. + +Outwardly the life of the young Student seemed unchanged, but that is all +we mortals know about it; the fairies were already at work. In moments of +leisure little poems went forth to the world--a world which at first +consisted of Croft Rectory--for there was another and last family +magazine, of which he was sole editor and composer. He named it +_Misch-Masch_, a curious old German word, which in our English means +Hodge-Podge, and everybody, young and old, knows what a jumble Hodge-Podge +is--something like New England succotash. + +_Misch-Masch_ was started by this enterprising young editor during the +year after his graduation. He had become a person of vast experience +between _Misch-Masch_ and the days of _The Rectory Umbrella_, having been +editor of _College Rhymes_, his college paper. He also wrote stories for +the _Oxonian Advertiser_ and the _Whitby Gazette_, and this printed +matter, together with many new and original ideas and drawings, found a +place in his new home venture. + +His mathematical genius blossomed forth in a wonderful labyrinth or maze, +a geometrical design within a given square form, of a tangle of +intersecting lines and angles containing a hidden pathway to the center. +These designs, that seem so remarkable to outsiders, were very simple to +the editor of _Misch-Masch_, who was always inventing puzzles of some +sort. + +He also wrote a series of "Studies from the English Poets," which he +illustrated himself. One specially good drawing was of the following line +from one of Keats's poems. "She did so--but 'tis doubtful how or whence." +The picture represents a very fat old lady, with a capitally drawn placid +face, perched on a post marked "_Dangerous_," seemingly in midwater. In +her chubby hand is a basket with the long neck of a goose hanging out. + +Mr. Stuart Collingwood, Lewis Carroll's nephew, gives a most interesting +account of these early editorial efforts, in an article written for the +_Strand_, an English magazine. Speaking of the above illustration he says: + +"Keats is the author whom our artist has honored, and surely the shade of +that much neglected songster owes something to a picture which must +popularize one passage at least in his works. + +"The only way I can account for the lady's hazardous position is by +supposing her to have attempted to cross a frozen lake after a thaw has +set in. The goose, whose long neck projects from her basket, proves that +she has just returned from market; probably the route across the lake was +her shortest way home. We are to suppose that for some time she proceeded +without any knowledge of the risk she was running, when suddenly she felt +the ice giving way under her. By frantic exertions she succeeded in +reaching the notice-board, to which she clung for days and nights +together, till the ice was all melted and a deluge of rain caused the +water to rise so many feet that at last she was compelled for dear life to +climb to the top of the post." We can now understand how well the +illustration fits in with the line: + +"She did so, but 'tis doubtful how or whence." + +Mr. Collingwood continues: + +"Whether she sustained life by eating raw goose is uncertain. At least she +did not follow Father William's example by devouring the beak. The +question naturally suggests itself: Why was she not rescued? My answer is +that either such a dense fog enveloped the whole neighborhood that even +her bulky form was invisible, or that she was so unpopular a character +that each man feared the hatred of the rest if he should go to her +succor." + +Mr. Collingwood concludes his article with the following riddle which the +renowned editor of _Misch-Masch_ presented to his readers; there must be +an answer, and it is therefore worth while guessing, for Lewis Carroll +would never have written a riddle without one: + + A monument, men all agree-- + Am I in all sincerity; + Half-cat, half-hindrance made + If head and tail removed shall be + Then, most of all you strengthen me. + Replace my head--the stand you see + On which my tail is laid. + +_Misch-Masch_ had a short but brilliant career, for magazines with a wider +circulation than Croft Rectory began to claim his attention. _The Comic +Times_ was a small periodical very much on the order of _Punch_. Edmund +Yates was the editor, and among the writers and artists were some of the +best known in England. Charles Dodgson's poetry and sketches were too +clever to hide themselves from public view, and he became a regular +contributor. Later, _The Comic Times_ changed hands, and the old staff +started a new magazine called _The Train_, in 1856, and the quiet Oxford +"don" found his poetry in such demand that after talking it over with the +editor, he decided to adopt a suitable pen name. He first suggested +"Dares" in compliment to his birthplace, Daresbury, but the editor +preferred a _real_ name. Then he took his first two names, Charles +Lutwidge, and transposing them he got two names, Edgar Cuthwellis or Edgar +U. C. Westhill, neither of which sounded in the least interesting. Finally +he decided to take the two names and look at them backward--this very +queer young fellow always preferred to look at things backward--Lutwidge +Charles. That was certainly not promising. Then he took one name at a time +and analyzed it in his own quaint way. Lutwidge was surely derived from +the Latin word Ludovicus--which in good sound English meant Lewis--ah, +that was not bad! Now for Charles. Its Latin equivalent was Carolus--which +could be easily changed in Carroll. The whole thing worked out like one +of his own word puzzles, and Lewis Carroll he was, henceforth, whenever he +made his appearance in print. + +There was not much ceremony at _this_ christening. Just two clever men put +their heads together and the result was--Lewis Carroll! Charles Lutwidge +Dodgson retired to his rooms at Christ Church College, where he prepared +his lectures on mathematics and wrote the most learned text-books for the +University; but Lewis Carroll peeped out into the world, which he found +full of light and laughter and happy childhood, and as Lewis Carroll he +was known to that world henceforth. + +The first poem to appear with his new name was called "The Path of Roses," +a very solemn, serious poem about half a yard long and not specially +interesting, save as a contribution to a most interesting little paper. +_The Train_ was really very ambitious, full, indeed, of the best talent of +the day. There were short stories and serials, poems, timely articles, +jokes, puns, anecdates--in short, all the attractions that help toward the +making of an attractive magazine, and though the illustrations were +nothing but old-fashioned woodcuts, the reading was quite as good, and in +many cases better than what we find in the average magazine of to-day. + +Many of the little poems Lewis Carroll wrote at this time he tucked away +in some cubby-hole and made use of later in one or the other of his books. +One of his very earliest printed bits is called: + +MY FANCY. + + I painted her a gushing thing, + With years perhaps a score, + I little thought to find they were + At least a dozen more. + My fancy gave her eyes of blue, + A curly auburn head; + I came to find the blue--a green, + The auburn turned to red. + + She boxed my ears this morning, + They tingled very much; + I own that I could wish her + A somewhat lighter touch. + And if you were to ask me how + Her charms might be improved, + I would not have them _added_ to, + But just a few _removed_! + + She has the bear's ethereal grace, + The bland hyena's laugh, + The footstep of the elephant, + The neck of the giraffe; + I love her still, believe me, + Tho' my heart its passion hides-- + "She is all my fancy painted her," + But, oh--_how much besides_! + +The quoted line--"She is all my fancy painted her"--is the line upon which +he built the poem; he was very fond of doing this, and though no special +mention is made of the fact, it is highly probable that these three +telling verses found their way into _Misch-Masch_, among the "Studies +from the Poets." It is unfortunate, too, that we have not some funny +drawing of this wonderful "gushing thing" of the giraffe neck, "the bear's +ethereal grace," and the "footstep of the elephant," for Lewis Carroll's +drawings generally followed his thoughts; a pencil and bit of paper were +always ready in some inner pocket, for illustrating purposes, and it is +doubtful if any celebrated artist could produce more sketches on such a +variety of subjects. His power to make his pencil "talk" impressed his +sisters and brothers greatly; they caught every scrap of paper that +fluttered from his hands, treasured it, and if the drawing was distinct +enough, they colored it with crayons or touched it up in black and white, +for the use of _The Rectory Umbrella_ and the later publication of +_Misch-Masch_. In his secret soul he longed to be an artist; he certainly +possessed genius of a queer sort. A few strokes would tell the story, +usually a funny one or a quaint one, but all his art failed to make his +people look quite real or natural--just dolls stuffed with sawdust. But +they were fine caricatures, and the young artist had to content himself +with this smaller talent. + +_The Train_ published many of his poems during 1856-57. "Solitude," +"Novelty and Romancement," "The Three Voices," followed one another in +quick succession, but the best of all was decidedly "Hiawatha's +Photographing," and this for more reasons than one. In the first place, +from the time he went into residence at Christ Church photography was his +great delight; he "took" people whenever he could--canons, deacons, deans, +students, undergraduates and children. The "grown-ups" submitted with a +gentle sort of patience, but he made his camera such a point of attraction +for the youngsters that he could "take" them as often as he liked, and he +has left behind him a wonderful array of photographs, many of well-known, +even celebrated people, among whom we may find Tennyson, the Rossetti +family, Ellen and Kate Terry, John Ruskin, George Macdonald, Charlotte M. +Yonge, Sir John Millais, and many others known to fame; and considering +that photography had not reached its present perfection, Lewis Carroll's +photographs show remarkable skill. He would not have been Lewis Carroll if +he had not gone into this fascinating pastime with his whole soul. +Whenever he met a new face which interested him, we may be sure it was not +long before the busy camera was at work. There is no doubt that his +admiring family suffered agonies in posing, to say nothing of his friends +who were not always beautiful enough to produce "pretty pictures"; their +criticisms were often based entirely on their disappointment: hence the +poem, + +HIAWATHA'S PHOTOGRAPHING. + +[_With no apology to Mr. Longfellow._] + + From his shoulder Hiawatha + Took the camera of rosewood, + Made of sliding, folding rosewood; + Neatly put it all together, + In its case it lay compactly, + Folded into nearly nothing; + But he opened out the hinges, + Pushed and pulled the joints and hinges + Till it looked all squares and oblongs, + Like a complicated figure + In the second book of Euclid. + + This he perched upon a tripod-- + Crouched beneath its dusky cover-- + Stretched his hand, enforcing silence-- + Said, "Be motionless, I beg you!" + Mystic, awful was the process. + All the family in order + Sat before him for their pictures: + Each in turn, as he was taken, + Volunteered his own suggestions, + His ingenious suggestions. + +All of which during the course of the poem succeeded in driving poor +Hiawatha to the verge of madness, until-- + + Finally my Hiawatha + Tumbled all the tribe together + ("Grouped" is not the right expression), + And, as happy chance would have it, + Did at last obtain a picture + Where the faces all succeeded: + Each came out a perfect likeness. + + Then they joined and all abused it, + Unrestrainedly abused it, + As "the worst and ugliest picture + They could possibly have dreamed of." + + * * * * + + All together rang their voices, + Angry, loud, discordant voices, + As of dogs that howl in concert, + As of cats that wail in chorus. + + But my Hiawatha's patience, + His politeness and his patience, + Unaccountably had vanished, + And he left that happy party. + Neither did he leave them slowly, + With the calm deliberation, + The intense deliberation, + Of a photographic artist: + But he left them in a hurry, + Left them in a mighty hurry, + Stating that he would not stand it, + Stating in emphatic language + What he'd be before he'd stand it. + + Hurriedly he packed his boxes: + Hurriedly the porter trundled + On a barrow all his boxes: + Hurriedly he took his ticket: + Hurriedly the train received him: + Thus departed Hiawatha. + +But perhaps the cleverest part of the poem is the seemingly innocent +paragraph of introduction which reads as follows: + +"In an age of imitation, I can claim no special merit for this slight +attempt at doing what is known to be so easy. Any fairly practiced writer, +with the slightest ear for rhythm, could compose, for hours together, in +the easy running meter of 'The Song of Hiawatha.' Having, then, distinctly +stated that I challenge no attention in the following little poem to its +merely verbal jingle, I must beg the candid reader to confine his +criticism to its treatment of the subject." + +Notice how metrically this sounds. Tune up to the Hiawatha pitch and you +will have the same swinging measure in the above sentences. + +Lewis Carroll's real acquaintance with Tennyson began in that eventful +year of 1856. The odd, shaggy man, with the fine head and the keen, +restless eyes, fascinated the young Student greatly. He went often to +Tennyson's home and did his best to be interested in the poet's two little +boys, Hallam and Lionel. Had they been girls there would have been no +difficulty, but he always had strained relations with boys; still, as +these "roundabouts" belonged to the little Tennysons, we find a sort of +armed truce kept up between them. He bargained with Lionel to exchange +manuscripts, and he got both boys to sign their names in his album; he +even condescended to play a game of chess with Lionel, checkmating him in +six moves, but he distinctly refused to allow that young gentleman to give +him a blow on the head with a mallet in exchange for some of his verses. +However, we may be pretty sure that Lewis Carroll's visits to the +Tennysons were much pleasanter when the "roundabouts" were not visible. + +That same year he made the acquaintance of John Ruskin, and the great art +critic turned out to be a very valuable friend, as was also Sir James +Paget, the eminent surgeon, who gave him many hints on medicine and +surgery, in which Charles Dodgson was deeply interested. His medical +knowledge was quite remarkable, and the books he collected on the subject +would have been valuable additions to any physician's library. In the year +1857 he met Thackeray, who had come to Oxford to deliver his lecture on +George III, and liked him very much. The Oxford "dons" were certainly +fortunate in meeting all the "great ones" and seeing them generally at +their best. + +The year 1858 was an uneventful year; college routine varied by much +reading, afternoons on the river or in the country, and evenings devoted +to preparations for the morrow's work. Lewis Carroll kept a diary which +harbored many fine thoughts and noble resolves, many doubts and fears, +many hopes, many plans for the future, for he was making up his mind to +the final step in the life of a Christ Church Student--that of taking +Holy Orders, in other words, of being ordained as a clergyman. + +There were one or two points to be considered: first, regarding an +impediment in his speech which would make constant preaching almost +impossible. He stammered, not on all occasions, but quite enough to make +steady speaking an effort, painful to himself and his hearers. The other +objection lay in the fact that Christ Church had rigid laws for its clergy +concerning amusements. Charles Dodgson had no wish to be shut out of the +world; he was fond of theaters and operas, and he did not see that he was +doing any special good to his fellow-creatures by putting them out of his +life. But at last, after battling with his conscience, and earnest +consultation with a few wise friends, he decided that he would be +ordained, though he would not become a regular preaching clergyman. + +It took him two years to reach this decision, for he was slow to act on +such occasions, but strong of purpose when the step was taken. On October +17, 1859, the young Prince of Wales (the late King Edward VII) came into +residence at Christ Church College. This was a mark of special favor to +Dean Liddell, who had for many years been chaplain to Queen Victoria and +her husband, the Prince Consort. Of course there was much ceremony +attending the arrival of his Royal Highness; the Dean went in person to +the station to meet him, and all the "dons" were drawn up in a body in +Tom Quadrangle to give him the proper sort of greeting. "Hiawatha" had +his camera along--"in its case it lay compactly," but his poor little +Highness had been "served up" on the camera to his utter disgust, and +nothing would induce him to be photographed. + +Later in the season, the Queen, the Prince Consort, and several princes +and princesses came up to Oxford and surprised everybody. Christ Church +was certainly in a flutter, and the day was turned into a gala occasion. +There was a brilliant reception that evening at Dean Liddell's and +_tableaux vivants_, to which we may be sure our modest Lewis Carroll gave +much assistance. He was already on intimate terms with the three little +Liddells, Lorina, Alice, and Edith, and as the children were to pose in a +tableau, he was certainly there to help and suggest with a score of quaint +ideas. + +He had a pleasant talk with the Prince of Wales, who shook hands cordially +and condescended to ask several questions of the young photographer, +praising the photographs which he had seen, and promised to choose some +for himself some day. He regarded the pleasant-looking, chatty young +fellow as just one of the college "dons"; he had never even heard of Lewis +Carroll, indeed that gentleman was too newly born to be known very well +anywhere outside of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's study, and it is extremely +doubtful if the grave Student himself knew of half the fun and merriment +hidden away in the new name. As a result of his interview with the prince, +Lewis Carroll obtained his autograph, which was quite a gem among his +collection. + +There is no doubt he had many fine autographs and also an album, as he +mentions several times. Autograph-hunting was not carried to the excess +that it was later on, and is to-day. It is, to put it mildly, a very bad +habit. Total strangers have no hesitancy in asking this favor of +celebrities, who, as a rule, object to the wholesale signing of their +names. + +But the signatures in Lewis Carroll's album were those of friends, which +was quite another matter, and it was consequently most interesting to turn +the leaves of the precious volume, and see in what friendly esteem he was +held by the foremost men and women of his time. To him a letter or a +sentiment would have had no meaning nor value if not addressed personally +to himself; whereas, the autograph fiend of the present day would be +content with the signature no matter to whom addressed. Lewis Carroll +suffered from these pests in later years, as well as from the photograph +fiend, to him as malicious as a hornet, and from whom he fled in terror. + +Yet we find many good pictures of him, notwithstanding, the one which we +have chosen for our frontispiece being the youngest and most +attractive--Lewis Carroll at the age of twenty-three. There is another +taken some two years later, when the dignity of the Oxford "don" set well +on the slim young figure. His face was always curiously youthful in +expression: the eyes, deep blue, looked childlike in their innocent trust; +a child had but to gaze into their depths and claim a friend. Little +girls, particularly, remembered their beauty, for they felt a thrill at +their youthful heartstrings when those eyes, brimful of kindliness, turned +upon them and warmed their childish souls. They were quick to feel the +gentle pressure of his hand, his touch upon their shoulders or on their +heads, which drew these little magnets close to his side where he loved to +have them, for behind the shyness and reserve of Lewis Carroll was a great +wealth of tenderness and love which only his girl friends understood, +because it was only to them that he cared to show this part of himself. + +Of course in his own home this side of him expanded in the sunny +companionship of seven younger sisters. Naturally they did not look upon +him with the awe of the later generation, but they brought to the surface +many winning characteristics which might never have come to light but for +them. + +It had been his delight from early boyhood to tackle problems and to solve +them; the "girl problem" he had studied from the very beginning, in all +its stages, and so it is small wonder that he knew girls quite as well as +he did mathematics, and loved them even better, if the truth must be +told, though they were often quite as puzzling. + +On December 22, 1861, in spite of many doubts and misgivings as to his +worthiness, Charles Dodgson was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Oxford. +He did this partly from his duty as a Student of Christ Church, but more +because of the influence it would give him among the undergraduates, whose +welfare he had so much at heart. He preached often but he never became a +regular officiating clergyman, and his sermons were always delightful +because they were never what we call "preachy." + +He was so truly good and religious, his faith was so simple, his desire to +do right was so unfailing, that in spite of the slight drawback in his +speech he had the gift of impressing his hearers deeply. His sermons were +dedicated to the service of God, and he was content if they bore good +fruit; he did not care what people said about them. He often preached at +the evening service for the college servants; but most of all he loved to +preach to children, to see the earnest young faces upturned to him, to +feel that they were following each word. It was then that he put his whole +heart into the task before him; the light grew in his eyes, he forgot to +stammer, forgot everything, save the young souls he was leading, in his +eagerness to show them the way. + +Such was the character of Lewis Carroll up to the year 1862, that +momentous year in which he found the golden key of Fairyland. He had often +peeped through the closed gates but he had never been able to squeeze +through; he might have jumped over them, but that is forbidden in +Fairyland, where everything happens in the most natural way. + +He had succeeded beyond his hopes in his efforts for independence; he was +establishing a brilliant record as a mathematical lecturer; he had several +scholarships which paid him a small yearly sum, and he was also +sublibrarian. His little poems were making their way into public notice +and his more serious work had been "Notes on the First Two Books of +Euclid," "Text-Books on Plane Geometry and Plane Trigonometry," and "Notes +on the First Part of Algebra." + +Socially, the retiring "don" was scarcely known beyond the University. He +ran up to London whenever the theaters offered anything tempting; he +visited the studios of well-known artists, who were all fond of him, and +he cultivated the friendship of men of learning and letters. If these +gentlemen happened to have attractive little daughters, he cultivated +their acquaintance also. One special anecdote we have of a visit to the +studio of Mr. Munroe, where he found two of the children of George +Macdonald, the author of many books, among them "At the Back of the North +Wind," a most charming fairy tale. These two children, a boy and a girl, +instantly made friends with Lewis Carroll, who suggested to the boy, +Greville, that he thought a marble head would be such a useful thing, much +better than a real one because it would not have to be brushed and combed. +This appealed to the small boy, whose long hair was a torment, but after +consideration he decided that a marble head would not be able to speak, +and it was better to have his hair pulled and be able to cry out. In the +case of the general small boy Lewis Carroll preferred marble, but he was +overruled. Mr. Macdonald's two daughters, Lily and Mary, were, however, +great favorites of his; indeed, his girl friends were rapidly multiplying. +Sometimes they came to see him in the pleasant rooms at Christ Church +College, which were full of curious things that children love. Sometimes +they had tea with him or went for a stroll, for Oxford had many beautiful +walks about her colleges. + +A visit to him was always a great event, but perhaps those who enjoyed him +most were his intimates in "Tom Quadrangle." The three little Liddell +girls were at that time his special favorites; their bright companionship +brought forth the many sides of his genius; under the spell of their +winsome chatter the long golden afternoon would glide happily by, while +under _his_ spell they would sit for hours listening to the wonder tales +he spun for them. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +UP AND DOWN THE RIVER WITH THE REAL ALICE. + + +We generally speak of Oxford-on-the-Thames. Indeed, if we were to journey +by water from London to Oxford, we would certainly go by way of the +Thames, and a pleasant journey that would be, too, gliding between +well-wooded, fertile shores with charming landscape towns on either side +and bits of history peeping out in unexpected places. But into the heart +of Oxford itself the Thames sends forth its tributaries in opposite +directions; the Isis on one side, the Cherwell on the other. The Cherwell +is what is called a "canoe river," the Isis is the race course of Oxford, +where all the "eights" (every racing crew consists of eight men) come to +practice for the great day and the great race, which takes place sometimes +at Henley, sometimes at Oxford itself, when the Isis is gay with bunting +and flags. + +On one side of Christ Church Meadow is a long line of barges which have +been made stationary and which are used as boathouses by the various +college clubs; these are situated just below what is known as Folly +Bridge, a name familiar to all Oxford men, and the goal of many pleasant +trips. The original bridge was destroyed in 1779, but tradition tells us +that the first bridge was capped by a tower which was the study or +observatory of Roger Bacon, the Franciscan Friar who invented the +telescope, gunpowder, and many other things unknown to the people of his +time. It was even hinted that he had cunningly built this tower that it +might fall instantly on anyone passing beneath it who proved to be more +learned than himself. One could see it from Christ Church Meadow, and +doubtless Lewis Carroll pointed it out to his small companions, as they +strolled across to the water's edge, where perhaps a boat rocked lazily at +its moorings. + +It was the work of a moment to steady it so that the eager youngsters +could scramble in, then he stepped in himself, pushing off with his oar, +and a few long, steady strokes brought them in midstream. This was an +ordinary afternoon occurrence, and the children alone knew the delights of +being the chosen companions of Lewis Carroll. He would let them row, while +he would lounge among the cushions and "spin yarns" that brought peals of +merry laughter that rippled over the surface of the water. He knew by +heart every story and tradition of Oxford, from the time the Romans +reduced it from a city of some importance to a mere "ford for oxen to pass +over," which, indeed, was the origin of its name, long before the +Christian era. + +He had a story or a legend about every place they passed, but most of all +they loved the stories he "made up" as he went along. He had a low, +well-pitched voice, with the delightful trick of dropping it in moments of +profound interest, sometimes stopping altogether and closing his eyes in +pretended sleep, when his listeners were truly thrilled. This, of course, +produced a stampede, which he enjoyed immensely, and sometimes he would +"wake up," take the oars himself, and pull for some green shady nook that +loomed invitingly in the distance; here they would land and under the +friendly trees they would have their tea, perhaps, and then they _might_ +induce him to finish the story--if they were _ever_ so good. + +It was on just such an occasion that he chanced to find the golden key to +Wonderland. The time was midsummer, the place on the way up the river +toward Godstow Bridge; the company consisted of three winsome little +girls, Lorina, Alice, and Edith Liddell, or _Prima_, _Secunda_, and +_Tertia_, as he called them by number in Latin. He tells of this himself +in the following dainty poem--the introduction to "Alice in Wonderland": + + All in the golden afternoon + Full leisurely we glide; + For both our oars, with little skill, + By little arms are plied, + While little hands make vain pretence + Our wanderings to guide. + + Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour, + Beneath such dreamy weather, + To beg a tale, of breath too weak + To stir the tiniest feather! + Yet what can one poor voice avail + Against three tongues together? + + Imperious Prima flashes forth + Her edict "to begin it"-- + In gentler tone Secunda hopes + "There will be nonsense in it"-- + While Tertia interrupts the tale, + Not _more_ than once a minute. + + Anon, to sudden silence won, + In fancy they pursue + The dream-child moving through a land + Of wonders wild and new, + In friendly chat with bird or beast-- + And half believe it true. + + And ever as the story drained + The wells of fancy dry, + And faintly strove that weary one + To put the subject by, + "The rest next time"--"It _is_ next time!" + The happy voices cry. + + Thus grew the tale of Wonderland: + Thus slowly one by one, + Its quaint events were hammered out-- + And now the tale is done, + And home we steer, a merry crew, + Beneath the setting sun. + + Alice! a childish story take, + And with a gentle hand + Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined + In Memory's mystic band, + Like pilgrims' withered wreath of flowers + Plucked in a far-off land. + +It was a very hot day, the fourth of July, 1862, that this special little +picnic party set out for its trip up the river. Godstow Bridge was a +quaint old-fashioned structure of three arches. In the very middle it was +broken by a tiny wooded island, and guarding the east end was a +picturesque inn called _The Trout_. Through the middle arch they could +catch a distant glimpse of Oxford, with Christ Church spire quite plainly +to be seen. They had often gone as far as the bridge and had their tea in +the ruins of the old nunnery near by, a spot known to history as the +burial-place of Fair Rosamond, that beautiful lady who was supposed to +have been poisoned by Queen Eleanor, the jealous wife of Henry II. But +this day the sun streamed down on the little party so pitilessly that they +landed in a cool, green meadow and took refuge under a hayrick. Lewis +Carroll stretched himself out at full length in the protecting shade, +while the expectant little girls grouped themselves about him. + +"Now begin it," demanded Lorina, who was called _Prima_ in the poem. +_Secunda_ [Alice] probably knew the story-teller pretty well when she +asked for nonsense, while tiny _Tertia_, the youngest, simply clamored for +"more, more, more," as the speaker's breath gave out. + +Now, as Lewis Carroll lay there, a thousand odd fancies elbowing one +another in his active brain, his hands groping in the soft moist earth +about him, his fingers suddenly closed over that magic Golden Key. It was +a queer invisible key, just the kind that fairies use, and neither Lorina, +Alice, nor Edith would have been able to find it if they had hunted ever +so long. He must have found it on the water and brought it ashore quite by +accident, for there was the gleam of sunlight still upon it, and it was +very shady under the hayrick. Perhaps there was a door somewhere that the +key might fit; but no, there was only the hayrick towering above him, and +only the brown earth stretching all about him. Perhaps a white rabbit +_did_ whisk by, perhaps the real Alice _really_ fell asleep, at any rate +when _Prima_ said "Begin it," that is how he started. The Golden Key +opened the brown earth--in popped the white rabbit--down dropped the +sleeping Alice--down--down--down--and while she was falling, clutching at +things on the way, Lewis Carroll turned, with one of his rare sweet +smiles, to the eager trio and began the story of "Alice's Adventures +Underground." + +The whole of that long afternoon he held the children spellbound. He did +not finish the story during that one sitting. Summer has many long days, +and the quiet, prudent young "don" was not reckless enough to scatter +_all_ his treasures at once; and, besides, all the queer things that +happened to Alice would have lost half their interest in the shadow of a +hayrick, and how could one conjure up _Mock Turtles_ and _Lorys_ and +_Gryphons_ on the dry land? Lewis Carroll's own recollection of the +beginning of "Alice" is certainly dated from that "golden afternoon" in +the boat, and any idea of publishing the web of nonsense he was weaving +never crossed his mind. Indeed, if he could have imagined that his small +audience of three would grow to be as many millions in the years to come, +the book would have lost half its charm, and the real child that lay +hidden under the cap and gown of this grave young Student of thirty might +never have been known to the world. + +Into his mind, with all the freshness of unbidden thought, popped this +story of _Alice_ and her strange adventures, and while he chose the name +of Alice in seeming carelessness, there is no doubt that the little maid +who originally owned the name had many points in common with the Rev. +Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, never suspected save by the two most concerned. + +To begin with, the real Alice had an Imagination; any child who demands +nonsense in a story has an Imagination. Nothing was too impossible or +absurd to put into a story, for one could always "make believe" it was +something else you see, and a constant "make believe" made everything seem +quite real. Dearly as he loved this posy of small girls, Lewis Carroll +could not help being just the _least_ bit partial to Alice, because, as he +himself might have quaintly expressed it, she understood everything he +said, even before he said it. + +She was a dear little round, chubby child, a great camera favorite and +consequently a frequent visitor to his rooms, for he took her picture on +all occasions. One, as a beggar child, has become quite famous. She is +pictured standing, with her ragged dress slipping from her shoulders and +her right hand held as if begging for pennies; the other hand rests upon +her hip, and her head is bent in a meek fashion; but the mouth has a +roguish curve, and there is just the shadow of a laugh in the dark eyes, +for of course it's only "make believe," and no one knows it better than +Alice herself. Lewis Carroll liked the little bit of acting she did in +this trifling part. A child's acting always appealed to him, and many of +his youngest and best friends were regularly on the stage. + +He took another picture of the children perched upon a sofa; Lorina in the +center, a little sister nestling close to her on either side, making a +pretty pyramid of the three dark heads. Yet in studying the faces one can +understand why it was Alice who inspired him. Lorina's eyes are looking +straight ahead, but the lids are dropped with a little conscious air, as +if the business of having one's picture taken was a very serious matter, +to say nothing of the responsibility of keeping two small sisters in +order. Edith is staring the camera out of countenance, uncertain whether +to laugh or to frown, a pretty child with curls drooping over her face; +but Alice, with the elf-locks and the straight heavy "bang," is looking +far away with those wonderful eyes of hers; perhaps she was even then +thinking of Wonderland, perhaps even then a light flashed from her to +Lewis Carroll in the shape of a promise to take her there some day. At any +rate, if it hadn't been for Alice there would have been no Wonderland, and +without Wonderland, childhood is but a tale half-told, and even to this +day, nearly fifty years since that "golden afternoon," every little girl +bearing the name of Alice who has read the book and has anything of an +imagination, firmly believes that _she_ is the sole and only Alice who +could venture into Lewis Carroll's Wonderland. + +After he had told the story and the original Alice had expressed her +approval, he promised to write it out for her to keep. Of course this took +time, because, in the first place, his writing was not quite plain enough +for a child to read easily, so every letter was carefully printed. Then +the illustrations were troublesome, and he drew as many as he could, +consulting a book on natural history for the correct forms of the queer +animals _Alice_ found. The _Mock Turtle_ was his own invention, for there +never _was_ such an animal on land or sea. + +This book was handed over to the small Alice, who little dreamed at that +time of the treasure she was to have in her keeping. Over twenty years +later, when Alice had become Mrs. Reginald Hargreaves, the great +popularity of "Alice in Wonderland" tempted the publishers to bring out a +reproduction of the original manuscript. This could not be done without +borrowing the precious volume from the original Alice, who was willing to +trust it in the hands of her old friend, knowing how over-careful he would +be, and, as he resolved that he would not allow any workman to touch it, +he had some funny experiences. + +To reproduce a book it must first be photographed, and of course Lewis +Carroll consulted an expert. He offered to bring the book to London, to go +daily to his studio and hold it in position to be photographed, turning +over the pages one by one, but the photographer wished to do all that +himself. Finally, a man was found who was willing to come to Oxford and do +the work in Lewis Carroll's own way, while he stood near by turning over +the pages himself rather than let him touch them. + +The photographer succeeded in getting a fine set of negatives, and in +October, 1880, Lewis Carroll sent the book in safe custody back to its +owner, thinking his troubles were over. The next step was to have plates +made from the pictures, and these plates in turn could pass into print. +The photographer was prompt at first in delivering the plates as they were +made, but, finally, like the _Baker_ in "The Hunting of the Snark," he +"softly and suddenly vanished away," holding still twenty-two of the fine +blocks on which the plates were made, leaving the book so far--incomplete. + +There ensued a lively search for the missing photographer. This lasted for +months, thereby delaying the publication of the book, which was due +Christmas. Then, as suddenly as he had disappeared, he reappeared like a +ghost at the publishers, left eight of the twenty-two zinc blocks, and +again vanished. Finally, when a year had passed and poor Lewis Carroll, at +his wits' end, had resolved to borrow the book again in order to +photograph the remaining fourteen pages, the man was frightened by threats +of arrest, and delivered up the fourteen negatives which he had not yet +transferred to the blocks. + +The distracted author was glad to find them, even though he had to pay a +second time for getting the blocks done properly. However, the book was +finished in time for the Christmas sale of 1886, just twenty-one years +after "Alice" made her first bow, and the best thing about it was that +all the profits were given to the Children's Hospitals and Convalescent +Homes for Sick Children. It was thoroughly illustrated with thirty-seven +of the author's own drawings, and the grown-up "Alice" received a +beautiful special copy bound in white vellum; but pretty as it was, it +could not take the place of that other volume carefully written out for +the sole pleasure of one little girl. Nothing was too much trouble if it +succeeded in giving pleasure to any little girl whom Lewis Carroll knew +and loved; even those he did not really know, and consequently could not +love, he sought to please, just because they were "little girls." + +Alice was among the chosen few who retained his friendship through the +years. She was his first favorite, and she was indirectly the source of +his good luck, and we may be sure there was a certain winsomeness about +her long after the elf-locks were gathered into decorous coils of dark +hair. + +True, the formal old bachelor came forward in their later association, and +the numerous letters he wrote her always began "My dear Mrs. Hargreaves," +but his fondness for her outlived many other passing affections. + +To go back to the little Alice and the fair smiling river, and that wizard +Lewis Carroll, who told the wonder tales so long ago. Once the children +had a taste of "Alice," she grew to be a great favorite; sometimes a +chapter was told on the river, sometimes in his study, often in the +garden or after tea in Christ Church Meadows--in fact, wherever they +caught a glimpse of the grave young man in cap and gown, the trio of small +Liddells fell upon him, and in this fashion, as he tells us himself, "the +quaint events were hammered out." + +When he presented the promised copy it might have passed forever from his +mind, which was full of the higher mathematics he was teaching to the +young men of Christ Church, but he chanced one day to show the manuscript +to George Macdonald, the well-known writer, who was so charmed with it +that he advised his friend to send it to a publisher. He accordingly +carried it to London, and Macmillan & Co. took it at once. This was a +great surprise. He never dreamed of his nonsense being considered +seriously, and growing suddenly about as young as a great, big, bashful +boy, he refused to allow his own rough illustrations to appear in print, +so he hunted over the long list of his artist friends, for the genius who +could best illustrate the adventures of his dream-child. At last his +friend, Tom Taylor, a well-known dramatist, suggested Mr. Tenniel, the +clever cartoonist for _Punch_, who was quite willing to undertake this +rather odd bit of work, and on July 4, 1865, exactly three years since +that memorable afternoon, Alice Liddell received the first printed copy of +"Alice in Wonderland," the name the author finally selected for his book. + +His first idea, as we know, was "Alice's Adventures Underground," the +second was "Alice's Hour in Elfland," but the last seemed best of all, for +Wonderland might mean any place where wonderful things could happen. And +this was Lewis Carroll's idea; anywhere the dream "Alice" chose to go +would be Wonderland, and none knew better than he did how eagerly the +child-mind paints its own fairy nooks and corners. + +He was not at all excited about his first big venture; no doubt Alice +herself took much more interest. To feel that you are about to be put into +print is certainly a great experience, almost as great as being +photographed; and, knowing how conscientious Lewis Carroll was about +little things, we may be quite sure that her suggestions crept into many +of the pictures, while it is equally certain that the few additions he +made to the original "Alice" were carefully considered and firmly insisted +upon by this critical young person. + +The first edition of two thousand copies was a great disappointment; the +pictures were badly printed, and all who had bought them were asked to +send them back with their names and addresses, as a new edition would be +printed immediately and they would then receive perfect copies. The old +copies Lewis Carroll gave away to various homes and hospitals, while the +new edition, upon which he feared a great loss, sold so rapidly that he +was astonished, and still more so when edition after edition was demanded +by the public, and far from being a failure, "Alice in Wonderland" +brought her author both fame and money. + +From that time forward, fortune smiled upon him; there were no strenuous +efforts to increase his income. "Alice" yielded him an abundance each +year, and he was beset by none of the cares and perplexities which are the +dragons most writers encounter with their literary swords. He welcomed the +fortune, not so much for the good it brought to him alone, but for the +power it gave him to help others. His countless charities are not recorded +because they were swallowed up in the "little things" he did, not in the +great benefits which are trumpeted over the world. His own life, so +simple, so full of purpose, flowed on as usual; he was not one to change +his habits with the turn of Fortune's wheel, no matter what it brought +him. + +Of course, everyone knew that a certain Lewis Carroll had written a +clever, charming book of nonsense, called "Alice in Wonderland"; that he +was an Oxford man, very much of a scholar, and little known outside of the +University. What people did not know was that this same Lewis Carroll had +for a double a certain "grave and reverend" young "don," named Charles +Lutwidge Dodgson, who, while "Alice" was making the whole world laugh, +retired to his sanctum and wrote in rapid succession the following learned +pamphlets: "The Condensation of Determinants," "An Elementary Treatise on +Determinants," "The Fifth Book of Euclid, treated Algebraically," "The +Algebraic Formulae for Responsions." + +Now, whatever these may be, they certainly did not interest children in +the least, and Charles Lutwidge Dodgson did not care in the least, so long +as he could smooth the thorny path of mathematics for his struggling +undergraduates. But Lewis Carroll was quite a different matter. So long as +the children were pleased, little he cared for algebra or geometry. + +A funny tale is told about Queen Victoria. It seems that Lewis Carroll +sent the second presentation copy of "Alice in Wonderland" to Princess +Beatrice, the Queen's youngest daughter. Her mother was so pleased with +the book that she asked to have the author's other works sent to her, and +we can imagine her surprise when she received a large package of learned +treatises by the mathematical lecturer of Christ Church College. + +Who can tell through what curious byways the thought of the dream-child +came dancing across the flagstones of the great "Tom Quad." Yet across +those same flagstones danced the little Liddells when they thought there +was any possibility of a romp or a story; for Lewis Carroll lived in the +northwest angle, while the girls lived in the beautiful deanery in the +northeast angle, and it was only a "puss-in-the-corner" game to get from +one place to the other. + +"Alice" was written on the ground floor of this northwest angle, and it +was in this sunny room that Lewis Carroll and the real Alice held many a +consultation about the new book. + +All true fame is to a certain extent due to accident; an act of heroism is +generally performed on the spur of the moment; a great poem is an +inspiration; a great invention, though preceded possibly by years of +study, is born of a single moment's inspiration; so "Alice" came to Lewis +Carroll on the wings of inspiration. His study of girls and their varying +moods has left its impress on a world of little girls, and there is +scarcely a home to-day, in England or America, where there is not a +special niche reserved for "Alice in Wonderland," while this interesting +young lady has been served up in French, German, Italian, and Dutch, and +the famous poem of _Father William_ has even been translated into Arabic. +Whether the Chinese or the Japanese have discovered this funny little +dream-child we cannot tell, but perhaps in time she may journey there and +amuse the little maids with the jet-black hair, the creamy skin, and the +slanting eyes. Perhaps she may even stir them to laughter. + +Surely all must agree that the _Gryphon_ himself bears a strong +resemblance to the Chinese dragons, and it _might_ be, such are the +wonders of Wonderland, that the _Mock Turtle_ can be found in Japan. Who +knows! At any rate the little English Alice never thought of the +consequences of that "golden afternoon"; it was good to be in the boat, to +pull through the rippling waters and stir a faint breeze as the oars + + "with little skill-- + By little arms are plied"; + +then to gather under the friendly shade of the hayrick and listen to the +wonder tale "with lots of nonsense in it." + +Dear little Alice of Long Ago! To you we owe a debt of gratitude. All the +little Alices of the past and all the little Alices of the future will +have their Wonderland because, while floating up and down the river with +the real Alice, Lewis Carroll found the Golden Key. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +ALICE IN WONDERLAND AND WHAT SHE DID THERE. + + +A certain little girl who had been poring over "Through the Looking-Glass +and What Alice Found There" with eager interest, when asked which of the +"Alices" she preferred, answered at once that she thought "Through the +Looking-Glass" was "stupider" than "Alice in Wonderland," and when people +laughed she was surprised, for she had enjoyed both books. + +_Stupid_ was certainly not the word she meant to use, nor yet _silly_, +which might have suggested itself if she had stopped to think. _Nonsense_ +is really what she meant, and only very poor nonsense can be stupid or +silly. Good nonsense is exceedingly clever; it takes clever people to +write it and only clever people can understand and appreciate it, so when +the real Alice hoped "there would be nonsense in it" she was only looking +for what she was sure to find: something odd, bright, and funny, with a +laugh tucked away in unexpected places. + +Nonsense is very ancient and respectable, tracing its origin back to the +days of the Court Fool, whose office it was to make merry for the king and +courtiers. An undersized man was usually selected, one with some deformity +being preferred, whereat the courtiers might laugh; one with sharp tongue +and ready wit, to make the time fly. He was clothed in "motley"--that is, +his dress, cut in the fashion of the times, was of many ill-assorted hues, +while the fool's cap with its bells, and the bauble or rattle which he +held in his hand, completed his grotesque appearance. + +To the Fool was allowed the freedom of the court and a close intimacy with +his royal master, to whom he could say what he pleased without fear of +offense; his duty was to amuse, and the sharper his wit the better. It was +called nonsense, though a sword could not thrust with keener malice, and +historic moments have often hung upon a fool's jest. The history of the +Court Fool is the history of mediaeval England, France, Spain, and Italy, +of a time when a quick figure of speech might turn the tide of war, and +the Fool could reel off his "nonsense" when others dared not speak. No one +was spared; the king himself was often the victim of the fool's tongue, +and under the guise of nonsense much wisdom lurked. + +So it has been ever since; the Court Jester has passed away with other old +court customs, but the nonsense that was "writ in books" lived after +them, so good, so wholesome that we laugh at it with its old-time swing +and sting. + +The nonsense that we find in books to-day is of a higher order than that +of the poor little Court Fool who, swaggering outwardly, trembled +inwardly, as he sent his barbed shaft of wit against some lordly breast. +The wisdom hides in the simple fun of everyday that makes life a thing of +sunshine and holds the shadows back. + +Lewis Carroll had this gift of nonsense more than any other writer of his +time. Dickens and Thackeray possessed wit and humor of a high quality, but +they could not command so large an audience, for children turn to healthy +nonsense as sunflowers to the sun, and Lewis Carroll gave them all they +wanted. "Grown-ups," too, began to listen, detecting behind the fun much, +perhaps, which had escaped even the author himself, until he put on his +"grown-up" glasses and began to ponder. + +Where the real charm lies in "Alice in Wonderland" would be very difficult +to say. If a thousand children were asked to pick out their favorite +parts, it is probable that not ten of them would think alike. A great many +would say "I like _any_ part," and really with such a fascinating book how +can one choose? The very opening is enough to cure any little girl of +drowsiness on a summer day, and the picture of the pompous little _White +Rabbit_ with his bulging waistcoat and his imposing watch chain, for all +the world like an everyday Englishman, is a type no doubt that the lively +little girls and the grave young "don" knew pretty well. + +Every page gives one something to think about. To begin with, the fact +that _Alice_ is dreaming, is plain from the beginning, and that very odd +sensation of falling through space often comes during the first few +moments of sleep. A busy dreamer can accomplish a great deal in a very +short time, as we all know, and the most remarkable things happen in the +simplest way. There is a story, for instance, of one little girl, who, +after a nice warm bath, was carried to bed and tucked in up to her rosy +chin. Her heavy eyes shut immediately and lo! in half a minute she was +back in the big porcelain tub, splashing about like a little mermaid; then +nurse pulled the stopper out, and through the waste-pipe went water, small +girl, and all. When she opened her eyes with a start, she found she had +been dreaming _not quite two minutes_. So suppose the real Alice had been +dreaming a half an hour; it was quite long enough to skip through +"Wonderland," and to have delightful and curious things constantly +happening. + +It was the _White Rabbit_ talking to himself that first attracted her, but +a short stay in "Wonderland" got her quite used to all sorts of animals +and their funny talk, and the way _she_ had of growing larger or smaller +on the shortest notice was very puzzling and amusing. How like real people +was this dream-child; how many everyday folks find themselves too small +for great places, and too great for the small ones, and how many +experiments they try to make themselves larger or smaller! You see Lewis +Carroll thought of all this, though he did not spoil his story by stopping +to explain. It is, indeed, poor nonsense that has to be explained every +step of the way. + +The dream "Alice" just at first was apt to cry if anything unusual or +unpleasant happened; a bad habit with some children, the _real_ Alice was +given to understand. At any rate, when she drank out of the bottle that +tasted of "cherry tart, custard, pineapple, roast turkey, toffy, and hot +buttered toast," and found herself growing smaller and smaller, she cried, +because she was only ten inches high and could not possibly reach the +Golden Key on the glass table. Then she took herself to task very sharply, +saying: "Come, there's no use in crying like that! I advise you to leave +off this minute!" + +"She generally gave herself very good advice (though she seldom followed +it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into +her eyes, and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having +cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for +this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people. 'But it's +no use now,' thought poor Alice, 'to pretend to be two people, when +there's hardly enough left of me to make _one_ respectable person.'" + +Then when she found the little glass box with a cake in it marked "_Eat +Me_" in currants, she decided that if she ate it something different might +happen, for otherwise she would go out like a candle if she grew any +smaller. Of course, as soon as she swallowed the whole cake, she took a +start and soon stood nine feet high in her slippers. + +"'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so surprised that for the +moment she quite forgot to speak good English), 'now I'm opening out like +the largest telescope that ever was. Good-bye, feet!' (for when she looked +down at her feet they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting +so far off.) 'Oh, my poor little feet! I wonder who will put on your shoes +and stockings for you now, dears? I'm sure _I_ shan't be able! I shall be +a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you; you must manage the +best way you can; but I must be kind to them,' thought Alice, 'or perhaps +they won't walk the way I want to go! Let me see: I'll give them a new +pair of boots every Christmas.'" + +"And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. 'They must +go by the carrier,' she thought; 'and how funny it'll seem, sending +presents to one's own feet, and how odd the directions will look! + + _Alice's Right Foot, Esq., + Hearthrug, + near the Fender, + (with Alice's love)._ + +Oh, dear, what nonsense I'm talking.'" + +Perhaps it was just here that the children's merriment broke forth; the +idea of _Alice_ being nine feet high was _too_ ridiculous, but the poor +dream "Alice" didn't think so, for she sat down and began to cry again. + +"'You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' said Alice, 'a great girl like +you' (she might well say this) 'to go on crying in this way! Stop this +moment I tell you!' But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of +tears until there was a large pool all around her about four inches deep +and reaching half down the hall." + +This change she found more puzzling still: everything seemed mixed up, the +Multiplication Table, Geography, even the verses which had been familiar +to her from babyhood. She tried to say "_How doth the little busy bee_," +but the words would not come right; instead she began repeating, in a +hoarse, strange voice, the following noble lines: + + "How doth the little crocodile + Improve his shining tail, + And pour the waters of the Nile + On every golden scale! + + "How cheerfully he seems to grin, + How neatly spreads his claws, + And welcomes little fishes in, + With gently smiling jaws!" + +Naturally this produced a sensation, for where is the child who speaks +English who does not know that the busy bee "improves the shining hours!" + +When the book was translated into French, however, this odd little rhyme +not being known to the French children, the translator, M. Henri Bue, had +to substitute something else which they could understand--one of their own +French rhymes made into a parody of La Fontaine's "Maitre Corbeau" (Master +Raven). + +When _Alice_ began to shrink again, she went suddenly _splash_ into that +immense pool of tears she had shed when she was nine feet high. _Now_ she +was only two feet high and the water was up to her chin. It was so salty, +being tear-water, that she thought she had fallen into the sea, and in +this sly fashion Lewis Carroll managed to smuggle in a timely word about +the sad way some little girls have of shedding "oceans of tears" on the +most trifling occasion. + +It was on this briny trip that she fell in with the numbers of queer +animals who had also taken refuge in the "Pool of Tears," from the _Mouse_ +to the _Lory_, who had all fallen into the water and were eagerly swimming +toward the shore. They gained it at last and sat there, "the birds with +draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close to them, and +all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable," including _Alice_ herself, +whose long hair hung wet and straggling on her shoulders. + +The _Lory_, of all the odd animals, was probably the oddest. _Alice_ found +herself talking familiarly with them all, and entering into quite a +lengthy argument with the _Lory_ in particular about how to get dry. But +the _Lory_ "turned sulky and would only say: 'I am older than you and must +know better,' and this 'Alice' would not allow without knowing how old it +was, and as the 'Lory' positively refused to tell its age, there was +nothing more to be said." + +Lewis Carroll himself made some interesting notes on the life history of +this remarkable animal, which were first produced in _The Rectory +Umbrella_ long before he thought of popping it into "Wonderland." "This +creature," he writes, "is, we believe, a species of parrot. Southey +informs us that it is a bird of gorgeous plumery [plumage], and it is our +private opinion that there never existed more than one, whose history, as +far as practicable, we will now lay before our readers." + +"The time and place of the Lory's birth is uncertain; the egg from which +it was hatched was most probably, to judge from the color of the bird, one +of those magnificent Easter eggs which our readers have doubtless seen. +The experiment of hatching an Easter egg is at any rate worth trying." + +After a lengthy and confusing description he winds up as follows: + +"Having thus stated all we know and a great deal we don't know on this +interesting subject, we must conclude." + +_Alice_ looked upon this domineering old bird of uncertain age quite as a +matter of course, as, indeed, she looked upon everything that happened in +Wonderland. + +There is fun bubbling over in every situation. Sir John Tenniel has given +us a clever picture of the wet, woe-begone animals, all clustering around +the _Mouse_, who had undertaken to make them dry. "Ahem!" said the Mouse, +with an important air, "are you all ready? This is the driest thing I +know," and off he rambled into some dull corner of English history, most +probably taken out of _Alice's_ own lesson book, not unknown to Lewis +Carroll. + +The Caucas race was suggested by the _Dodo_ as an excellent method for +getting dry, and as it was a race in which everyone came in ahead, +everyone of course was satisfied, and in the distribution of prizes no one +was forgotten. _Alice_ herself received her own thimble, which she fished +out of her pocket, and which the _Dodo_ solemnly handed back to her, +"saying: 'We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble,' and when it had +finished this short speech they all cheered." + +Dinah, the real Alice's real cat, plays an important part in the drama of +Wonderland, although she was left at home dozing in the sun; _Alice_ +mortally offended the _Mouse_, and frightened many of her bird friends +almost to death, simply by bringing her into the conversation. + +It is certainly delightful to follow in the footsteps of this dream-child +of Lewis Carroll's; we lose ourselves in the mazes of Wonderland, and even +as we grow older we do not feel that we have to stoop in the least to pass +through the portals. + +There was a certain air of sociability in Wonderland that pleased _Alice_ +immensely, for her visiting-list was quite astonishing, and she was +continually meeting new--well, not exactly people, but experiences. Her +talk with a caterpillar during one of those periods when she was barely +tall enough to peep over the mushroom on which he was sitting is "highly +amusing and instructive." + +"'Who are you?' said the Caterpillar. + +"This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied +rather shyly: 'I--I hardly know, sir, just at present: at least I know who +I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have changed several +times since then.' + +"'What do you mean by that?' said the Caterpillar sternly. 'Explain +yourself!' + +"'I can't explain _myself_, I'm afraid, sir,' said Alice, 'because I'm not +myself, you see.' + +"'I don't see,' said the Caterpillar. + +"'I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly,' Alice replied, very politely, +'for I can't understand it myself to begin with, and being so many +different sizes in a day is very confusing.' + +"'It isn't,' said the Caterpillar. + +"'Well, perhaps you haven't found it so yet,' said Alice, 'but when you +have to turn into a chrysalis--you will some day, you know--and then after +that into a butterfly, I should think you'll feel it a little queer, won't +you?' + +"'Not a bit,' said the Caterpillar. + +"'Well, perhaps your feelings may be different,' said Alice; 'all I know +is, it would feel very queer to _me_.' + +"'You!' said the Caterpillar, contemptuously, 'Who are _you_?' Which +brought them back again to the beginning of the conversation." + +It was the _Caterpillar_ who asked her to recite "You are old, Father +William," and _Alice_ began in this fashion: + + "You are old, Father William," the young man said, + "And your hair has become very white; + And yet you incessantly stand on your head-- + Do you think at your age it is right?" + + "In my youth," Father William replied to his son, + "I feared it might injure the brain; + But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none, + Why, I do it again and again." + + "You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before, + And have grown most uncommonly fat; + Yet you turned a back somersault in at the door-- + Pray, what is the reason of that?" + + "In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his gray locks, + "I kept all my limbs very supple + By the use of this ointment--one shilling the box-- + Allow me to sell you a couple." + + "You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak + For anything tougher than suet; + Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak-- + Pray, how did you manage to do it?" + + "In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law, + And argued each case with my wife; + And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw + Has lasted the rest of my life." + + "You are old," said the youth; "one would hardly suppose + That your eye was as steady as ever; + Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose-- + What made you so awfully clever?" + + "I have answered three questions, and that is enough," + Said his father; "don't give yourself airs! + Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff? + Be off, or I'll kick you downstairs!" + +Now _Alice_ knew well enough that she had given an awful twist to a pretty +and old-fashioned piece of poetry, but for the life of her the old words +refused to come. It seemed that with her power to grow large or small on +short notice, her memory performed queer antics; she was never sure of it +for two minutes together. + +One odd thing about her change of size was that she never grew up or +dwindled away unless she ate something or drank something. Now every +little girl has had similar experience when it came to eating and +drinking. "Eat so and so," says a "grown-up," "and you will be tall and +strong," and "if you _don't_ eat this thing or that, you will be little +all your life," so _Alice_ was only going through the same trials in +Wonderland. + +Her meeting with the _Duchess_ and the peppery _Cook_, and the screaming +_Baby_, and the grinning _Cheshire Cat_, occupied some thrilling moments. +She found the _Duchess_ conversational but cross, and the _Cook_ +sprinkling pepper lavishly into _the_ soup she was stirring, and _out_ of +it for the matter of that, so that everybody was sneezing. The _Cat_ was +the sole exception; it sat on the hearth and grinned from ear to ear. +_Alice_ opened the conversation by asking the _Duchess_, who was holding +the _Baby_ and jumping it up and down so roughly that it howled dismally, +why the _Cat_ grinned in that absurd way. + +"'It's a Cheshire Cat,' said the Duchess, and that's why. 'Pig!' She said +the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite jumped; but she +saw in another moment that it was addressed to the Baby and not to her, so +she took courage and went on again: + +"'I didn't know that Cheshire Cats always grinned--in fact I didn't know +that Cats _could_ grin.' + +"'They all can,' said the Duchess, 'and most of 'em do.' + +"'I don't know of any that do,' said Alice, very politely, feeling quite +pleased to have got into a conversation. + +"'You don't know much,' said the Duchess; 'and that's a fact.' + +"Alice did not like the tone of this remark and thought it would be well +to introduce some other subject of conversation." + +Then the _Cook_ began throwing things about, and the _Duchess_, to quiet +the howling _Baby_, sang the following beautiful lullaby, which she +emphasized by a violent shake at the end of every line. Considering Lewis +Carroll's rather strong feeling on the boy question, they were most +appropriate lines, indeed. + + Speak roughly to your little boy, + And beat him when he sneezes; + He only does it to annoy, + Because he know it teases. + + _Chorus._ + (In which the Cook and the Baby joined.) + Wow! wow! wow! + + I speak severely to my boy, + I beat him when he sneezes, + For he can thoroughly enjoy + The pepper when he pleases! + + _Chorus._ + Wow! wow! wow! + +Imagine the quiet "don" beating time to this beautiful measure, his blue +eyes gleaming with fun, his expressive voice shaded to just the right +tones to give color to the chorus, while the little girls chimed in at the +proper moment. It was no trouble for him to make rhymes, being endowed +with this wonderful gift of nonsense, and in conversation he was equally +clever. He gave the _Duchess_ quite the air of a learned lady, even though +she did not know that mustard was a vegetable. When _Alice_ suggested that +it was a mineral, she was quite ready to agree. "'There's a large mustard +mine near here,' she observed, 'and the moral of that is' [the Duchess had +a moral for everything], 'The more there is of mine--the less there is of +yours.' 'Oh, I know!' exclaimed Alice, who had not attended to this last +remark, 'it's a vegetable. It doesn't look like one but it is.' + +"'I quite agree with you,' said the Duchess, 'and the moral of that is, +"Be what you would seem to be," or if you'd like to put it more simply, +"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to +others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what +you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise."' + +"'I think I should understand that better,' said Alice, very politely, 'if +I had it written down, but I can't quite follow it as you say it.' + +"'That's nothing to what I could say if I chose,'" the Duchess replied in +a pleasant tone. + +_Alice's_ talk with the _Cheshire Cat_, which had the remarkable power of +appearing and vanishing in portions, the table gossip at the Mad Tea +Party, to which she was an uninvited guest, are too well-known to quote. +Many a time the Mad Tea Party has been the theme of some nursery play or +school entertainment. The _Mad Hatter_ and the _March Hare_ were certainly +the maddest things that ever were. When the _Hatter_ complained of his +watch being two days wrong, he turned angrily to the _March Hare_, saying: + +"'I told you butter wouldn't suit the works.' + +"'It was the _best_ butter,' the March Hare meekly replied. + +"'Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter grumbled; +'you shouldn't have put it in with the bread knife.' + +"The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily; then he dipped +it into his cup of tea and looked at it again; but he could think of +nothing better to say than his first remark, 'It was the _best_ butter you +know.'" + +Surely nothing could be more amusing that this party of mad ones, and the +sleepy _Dormouse_, who sat between the _March Hare_ and the _Hatter_, +contributed his share to the fun, while the _Hatter's_ songs, which he +sang at the concert given by the _Queen of Hearts_, was certainly very +familiar to _Alice_. It began: + + Twinkle, twinkle, little bat-- + How I wonder what you're at! + Up above the world you fly, + Like a tea tray in the sky. + Twinkle, twinkle. + +Who but Lewis Carroll could invent such a scene? Who could better plan the +little sparkling sentences which gave the nonsense just the glitter which +children found so fascinating and so laughable. Yet what did they laugh at +after all? What do we laugh at even to-day in glancing over the familiar +pages? What is it in the mysterious depths of childhood which Lewis +Carroll has caught in his golden web? Perhaps, it is not all mere +childhood; we are ourselves but "children of a larger growth," and deep +down within us at some time or other fancy runs riot and imagination does +the rest. So it was with Lewis Carroll, only _his_ fancy soared into +genius, carrying with it, as someone has said, "a suggestion of clear and +yet soft laughing sunshine. He never made us laugh _at_ anything, but +always _with_ him and his knights and queens and heroes of the nursery +rhymes." + +Behind much of the world's laughter tears may be hiding, but not so in the +case of Lewis Carroll; all is pure mirth that flows from him to us, and +above all he possesses that indescribable thing called charm. It lurks in +the quaint conversations, in the fluent measure of the songs, in the +fantastic scenes so full of ideas that seem to vanish before we quite +grasp them--like the _Cheshire Cat_--leaving only the smile behind. + +To those of us--the world in short--who were denied the privilege of +hearing Lewis Carroll tell his own story, the Tenniel pictures bring +Wonderland very close. Our natural history alone would not help us in the +least when it came to classifying the many strange animals _Alice_ met on +her journey. The _Mock Turtle_, the _Gryphon_, the _Lory_, the _Dodo_, the +_Cheshire Cat_, the _Fish_ and _Frog_ footmen--how could we imagine them +without the Tenniel "guidebook"? The numberless transformations of _Alice_ +could hardly be understood without photographs of her in the various +stages. And certainly at the croquet party, given by the _Queen of +Hearts_, how could anyone imagine a game played with bent-over soldiers +for wickets, hedgehogs for croquet balls, and flamingoes for mallets, +unless there were accompanying illustrations? + +One specially interesting picture shows the _Gryphon_ in the foreground; +he and _Alice_ paid a visit to the _Mock Turtle_, who, by way of +entertaining his guests, gave the following description of the Lobster +Quadrille. With tears running down his cheeks he began: + +"'You have never lived much under the sea' ('I haven't,' said Alice) 'and +perhaps you were never introduced to a lobster--' (Alice began to say 'I +once tasted--' but she checked herself hastily, and said, 'No, never'), +'so you can have no idea what a delightful thing a Lobster Quadrille is!' + +"'No, indeed,' said Alice. 'What sort of a dance is it?' + +"'Why,' said the Gryphon, 'you first form into a line along the seashore.' + +"'Two lines!' cried the Mock Turtle. 'Seals, turtles, salmon, and so on; +then when you've cleared all the jellyfish out of the way--' + +"'_That_ generally takes some time,' interrupted the Gryphon. + +"'You advance twice.' + +"'Each with a lobster as a partner!' cried the Gryphon. + +"'Of course,' the Mock Turtle said; 'advance twice, set to partners--' + +"'Change lobsters and retire in same order,' continued the Gryphon. + +"'Then, you know,' the Mock Turtle went on, 'you throw the--' + +"'The lobsters!' shouted the Gryphon with a bound into the air. + +"'As far out to sea as you can--' + +"'Swim after them!' screamed the Gryphon. + +"'Turn a somersault in the sea!' cried the Mock Turtle, capering wildly +about. + +"'Change lobsters again!' yelled the Gryphon at the top of its voice. + +"'Back to land again, and--that's all the first figure,' said the Mock +Turtle, suddenly dropping his voice, and the two creatures who had been +jumping about like mad things all this time sat down again, very sadly and +quietly, and looked at Alice." + +Who could read this without laughing, with no reason for the laugh but +sheer delight and sympathy with the story-teller, and with dancing and +motion and all the rest of it. If anyone begins to hunt for the reasons +why we like "Alice in Wonderland" that person is either very, very sleepy, +or she has left her youth so far behind her that, like the _Lory_, she +absolutely refuses to tell her age, in which case she must be as old as +the hills. + +Then the dance, which the two gravely performed for the little girl, and +who can forget the song of the _Mock Turtle_? + + "Will you walk a little faster!" said a whiting to a snail, + "There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail. + See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance! + They are waiting on the shingle--will you come and join the dance? + Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance? + Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance? + + "You can really have no notion how delightful it will be + When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!" + But the snail replied, "Too far, too far!" and gave a look askance-- + Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance. + Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance. + Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance. + + "What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend replied, + "There is another shore, you know, upon the other side, + The farther off from England the nearer is to France; + Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance. + Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance? + Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?" + +Then _Alice_ tried to repeat "'Tis the voice of the Sluggard," but she was +so full of the Lobster Quadrille that the words came like this: + + 'Tis the voice of the lobster, I heard him declare, + "You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair." + As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose + Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes. + +The whole time she was in Wonderland she never by any chance recited +anything correctly, and through all of her wanderings she never met +anything in the shape of a little boy, except the infant son of the +_Duchess_, who after all turned out to be a pig and vanished in the woods. +The "roundabouts" played no parts in "Alice in Wonderland," and yet--to a +man--they love it to this day. + +When at last _Alice_ bade farewell to the _Mock Turtle_, she left it +sobbing of course, and singing with much emotion the following song, +entitled: + +TURTLE SOUP. + + Beautiful Soup, so rich and green, + Waiting in a hot tureen! + Who for such dainties would not stoop? + Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! + Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! + Beau--ootiful Soo--oop! + Beau--ootiful Soo--oop! + Soo--oop of the e--e--evening, + Beautiful, beautiful Soup! + + Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish, + Game, or any other dish + Who would not give all else for two + pennyworth only of beautiful Soup? + Beau--ootiful Soo--oop! + Beau--ootiful Soo--oop! + Soo--oop of the e--e--evening, + Beautiful, beauti--FUL SOUP! + +We might spend a whole chapter over the great trial scene of the _Knave of +Hearts_. We all know that the wretched fellow stole some tarts upon a +summer's day, and that he was brought in chains before the _King_ and +_Queen_, to face the charges. What we did not know was that it was the +fourth of July, and that _Alice_ was one of the witnesses. + +This, in a certain way, is the cleverest chapter in the book, for all the +characters in Wonderland take part in the proceedings, which are so like, +and yet so comically unlike, a real court. We forget, as _Alice_ did, that +all these royalties are but a pack of cards, and follow all the evidence +with the greatest interest, including the piece of paper which the _White +Rabbit_ had just found and presented to the Court. It contained the +following verses: + + They told me you had been to her, + And mentioned me to him: + She gave me a good character, + But said I could not swim. + + He sent them word I had not gone + (We know it to be true): + If she should push the matter on, + What would become of you? + + I gave her one, they gave him two, + You gave us three or more: + They all returned from him to you, + Though they were mine before. + + If I or she should chance to be + Involved in this affair, + He trusts to you to set them free, + Exactly as we were. + + My notion was that you had been + (Before she had this fit) + An obstacle that came between + Him, and ourselves, and it. + + Don't let him know she liked them best, + For this must ever be + A secret, kept from all the rest, + Between yourself and me. + +This truly clear explanation touches the _Queen of Hearts_ so closely that +the outsider is led to believe that she is indirectly responsible for the +theft, that the poor knave is but the tool of her Majesty, whose fondness +for tarts led her into temptation. Lewis Carroll had a keen eye for the +dramatic climax--the packed court room, the rambling evidence, the +mystifying scrap of paper, and _Alice's_ defiance of the _King_ and +_Queen_. + +"'Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice. Nobody +moved. 'Who cares for you?' said Alice (she had grown to her full size by +this time), 'you're nothing but a pack of cards.' + +"At this, the whole pack rose up in the air and came flying down upon her; +she gave a little scream, half of fright, half of anger, and tried to beat +them off and found herself lying on the bank, with her head in the lap of +her sister, who was gently brushing away some dead leaves that had +fluttered down from the trees on to her face...." + +And so Alice woke up, shook back the elf-locks, and laughed as she rubbed +her eyes. + +"Such a curious dream!" she said, as the wonder of it all came back to +her, and she told her sister of the queer things she had seen and heard, +and long after she had run away, this big sister sat with closed eyes, +dreaming and wondering. + +"The long grass rustled at her feet as the White Rabbit hurried by; the +frightened Mouse splashed his way through the neighboring pool; she could +hear the rattle of the teacups as the March Hare and his friends shared +their never-ending meal, and the shrill voice of the Queen ordering off +her unfortunate guests to execution. Once more the pig-baby was sneezing +on the Duchess's knee, while plates and dishes crashed around it; once +more the shriek of the Gryphon, the squeaking of the Lizard's slate +pencil, and the choking of the suppressed Guinea Pigs filled the air, +mixed up with the distant sob of the miserable Mock Turtle." + +Yet when she opened her eyes she knew that Wonderland must go. In reality +"the grass would only be rustling in the wind, and the pool rippling to +the waving of the reeds, the rattling teacups would change to tinkling +sheep bells and the Queen's shrill cries to the voice of the shepherd boy, +and the sneeze of the baby, the shriek of the Gryphon, and all the other +queer noises would change ... to the confused clamor of the busy farmyard, +while the lowing of the cattle in the distance would take the place of +the Mock Turtle's heavy sobs." + +So _we_ have dreamed of Wonderland from that time till now, when Lewis +Carroll looks out from the pages of his book and says: + +"That's all--for to-night--there may be more to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LEWIS CARROLL AT HOME AND ABROAD. + + +The popularity of "Alice in Wonderland" was a never-ending source of +surprise to the author, who had only to stand quietly by and rake in his +profits, as edition after edition was swallowed up by a public incessantly +clamoring for more, and Lewis Carroll was not too modest to enjoy the +sensation he was creating in the literary world. His success came to him +unsought, and was all the more lasting because the seeds of it were +planted in love and laughter. Let us see what he says in the preface to +"Alice Underground," the forerunner, as we know, of "Alice in Wonderland." + +"The 'why' of this book cannot and need not be put into words. Those for +whom a child's mind is a sealed book, and who see no divinity in a child's +smile, would read such words in vain; while for any one who has ever loved +one true child, no words are needed. For he will have known the awe that +falls on one in the presence of a spirit, fresh from God's hands, on whom +no shadow of sin, and but the outermost fringe of the shadow of sorrow, +has yet fallen; he will have felt the bitter contrast between the haunting +selfishness that spoils his best deeds and the life that is but an +overflowing love--for I think a child's first attitude to the world is a +simple love for all living things--and he will have learned that the best +work a man can do is when he works for love's sake only, with no thought +of name or gain or earthly reward. No deed of ours, I suppose, on this +side of the grave is really unselfish, yet if one can put forth all one's +powers in a task where nothing of reward is hoped for but a little child's +whispered thanks, and the airy touch of a little child's pure lips, one +seems to have come somewhere near to this." + +In the appendix to the same book he writes regarding laughter: + +"I do not believe God means us to divide life into two halves--to wear a +grave face on Sunday, and to think it out of place even so much as to +mention Him on a week-day.... Surely the children's innocent laughter is +as sweet in His ears as the grandest anthem that ever rolled up from 'the +dim religious light' of some solemn cathedral; and if I have written +anything to add to those stores of innocent and healthy amusement that are +laid up in books for the children I love so well, it is surely something I +may hope to look back upon without shame or sorrow ... when my turn comes +to walk through the valley of shadows." + +Such was the man who filled the world with laughter, and wrote "nonsense" +books; a man of such deeply religious feeling that a jest that touched +upon sacred things, however innocent in itself, was sure to bring down his +wrath upon the head of the offender. There is a certain strain of sadness +in those quoted words of his, which surely never belonged to those "golden +summer days" when he made merry with the three little Liddells. We must +remember that twenty-one years had passed between the telling of the story +and the reprint of the original manuscript, and Lewis Carroll was just a +little graver and considerably older than on that eventful day when the +_White Rabbit_ looked at his watch as if to say: "Oh--my ears and +whiskers! What will the Duchess think!" as he popped down the hole with +_Alice_ at his heels. + +But we are going a little too far ahead. After the writing of "Alice," +with the accompanying excitement of seeing his first-born win favor, Lewis +Carroll went quietly forward in his daily routine. He had already become +quite a famous lecturer, being, indeed, the only mathematical lecturer in +Christ Church College, so Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was not completely +overshadowed by the glory of Lewis Carroll. + +From the beginning he was careful to separate these two sides of his life, +and the numbers of letters which soon began to pour in upon the latter +were never recognized by the grave, precise "don," whose thoughts flowed +in numbers, and so it was all through his life. When anyone wrote to him, +addressing him by his real name, and praising him for the "Alice" books, +he sent a printed reply which he kept "handy," saying that as C. L. +Dodgson was so often approached as the author of books bearing another +name, it must be understood that Mr. Dodgson never acknowledged the +authorship of a book which did not bear his name. He was most careful in +the wording of this printed form, that it should bear no shadow of +untruth. It was only his shy way of avoiding the notice of strangers, and +it succeeded so well that very few people knew that the Rev. Charles +Dodgson and Lewis Carroll were one and the same person. It was also +hinted, and very broadly, too, that many of the queer characters _Alice_ +met on her journey through Wonderland were very dignified and stately +figures in the University itself, who posed unconsciously as models. The +_Hatter_ is an acknowledged portrait, and no doubt there were many other +sly caricatures, for Lewis Carroll was a born humorist. + +"Alice" has been given to the public in many ways besides translations. +There have been lectures, plays, magic lantern slides of Tenniel's +wonderful pictures, tableaux; and many scenes find their way, even at this +day, in the nursery wall-paper covered over with Gryphons and Mock Turtles +and the whole Court of Cards--a most imposing array. It has been truly +stated that, with the exception of Shakespeare's plays, no books have +been so often quoted as the two "Alices." + +After the publication of "Alice in Wonderland," Lewis Carroll contributed +short stories to the various periodicals which were eager for his work. As +early as 1867, he sent to _Aunt Judy's Magazine_ a short story called +"Bruno's Revenge," the foundation of "Sylvie and Bruno," which was never +published in book form until 1889, twenty-two years after. + +The editor of the magazine, Mrs. Gatty, in accepting the story, gave the +author some wholesome advice wrapped up in a bundle of praise for the +dainty little idyll. She reminded him that mathematical ability such as he +possessed was also the gift of hundreds of others, but his story-telling +talent, so full of exquisite touches, was peculiarly his own, and whatever +of fame might come to him would be on the wings of the fairies, and not +from the lecture room. + +In "Bruno's Revenge" we have, for the first time in any of his stories, a +little boy. It was a sort of unwilling tribute Lewis Carroll paid to the +poor despised "roundabouts," and for all the winsome fairy ways and merry +little touches, _Bruno_ was never _quite_ the real thing; at any rate the +story was put away to simmer, and as the long years passed, it was added +to bit by bit until--but _that_ is another story. + +Between the publication of "Alice" and the summer vacation of 1867 he +wrote several very learned mathematical works that earned him much +distinction among the Christ Church undergraduates, who found it hard to +believe that Mr. Dodgson and Lewis Carroll were so closely connected. It +was during this summer (1867) that he and Dr. Liddon took a short tour on +the Continent. + +The two men had much in common and were firm friends. Both had the true +Oxford spirit, both were churchmen, Dr. Liddon being quite a famous +preacher, and both were men of high intelligence with a good supply of +humor; consequently the prospect of a trip to Russia together was a very +delightful one. Lewis Carroll kept a journal which was such a complete +record of his experiences that at one time he thought of publishing it, +though it was never done. + +He went up to London on July 12th, remarking in his characteristic way +that he and the Sultan of Turkey arrived on the same day, _his_ entrance +being at Paddington station--the Sultan's at Charing Cross, where, he was +forced to admit, the crowd was much greater. He met Dr. Liddon at Dover +and they crossed to Calais, finding the passage unusually smooth and +uneventful, feeling in some way that they had paid their money in vain, +for the trip across the channel is generally one of storm and stress. + +All such tours have practically the same object--to see and to enjoy--and +the young "don" came out of his den for this express purpose. It had been +impossible in the busy years since his graduation to take his holidays far +away from home, but at the age of thirty-five he felt that he had earned +the right, and proceeded to use it in his own way. Their route lay through +Germany, stopping at Cologne, Danzig, Berlin and Koenigsberg, among other +places, and he feasted on the beauties which these various cities had to +offer him; the architecture and paintings, the pageantry of strange +religions, the music in the great cathedrals, and last, but not least, the +foreign drama interested him greatly. The German acting was easy enough to +follow, as he knew a little of the language; but the Russian tongue was +beyond him, and he could only rely upon the gestures and expression. + +Their special object in going to Russia was to see the great fair at +Nijni-Novgorod. This fair brought all the corners of the earth together; +Chinese, Persians, Tartars, native Russians, mingled in the busy, surging +life about them, and lent color and variety to every step. The two friends +spent their time pleasantly, for the fame of Dr. Liddon's preaching had +reached Russia, and the clergy opened their doors to the travelers and +took them over many churches and monasteries, which otherwise they might +never have seen. They stopped in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kronstadt, +Warsaw, taking in Leipzig, Giessen, Ems, and many smaller places on the +homeward road. + +They visited a famous monastery while in Moscow, and were even shown the +subterranean cells of the hermits. At Kronstadt they had a most amusing +experience. They went to call upon a friend, and Dr. Liddon, forgetting +his scanty knowledge of the Russian language, rashly handed his overcoat +to one of the servants. When they were ready to leave there was a +waiting-maid in attendance--but no overcoat. The damsel spoke no English, +the gentleman spoke no Russian, so Dr. Liddon asked for his overcoat with +what he considered the most appropriate gesture. Intelligence beamed upon +the maiden's face; she ran from the room, returning with a clothes brush. +No, Dr. Liddon did not want his coat brushed; he tried other gestures, +succeeding so beautifully that the girl was convinced that he wanted to +take a nap on the sofa, and brought a cushion and a pillow for that +purpose. Still no overcoat, and Dr. Liddon was in despair until Lewis +Carroll made a sketch of his friend with one coat on, in the act of +putting on another, in the hands of an obliging Russian peasant. The +drawing was so expressive that the maid understood at once; the mystery +was solved--and the coat recovered. + +With this gift of drawing a situation, it is remarkable that Lewis Carroll +never became an artist. With all his artistic ideas, and with his real +knowledge of art, it seems a pity that he could not have gratified his +ambition, but after serious consultation with John Ruskin, who as critic +and friend examined his work, he decided that his natural gift was not +great enough to push, and sensibly resolved not to waste so much precious +time. Still, to the end of his life, he drew for amusement's sake and for +the pleasure it gave his small friends. + +Altogether their tour was a very pleasant one, and their return was +through Germany, that most interesting country of hills and valleys and +pretty white villages nestling among the trees. What Lewis Carroll +specially liked was the way the old castles seemed to spring out of the +rock on which they had been built, as if they had grown there without the +aid of bricks and mortar. He admired the spirit of the old architects, +which guided them to plan buildings naturally suited to their +surroundings, and was never tired of the beautiful hills, so densely +covered with small trees as to look moss-grown in the distance. + +On his return to Oxford, he plunged at once into very active work. The new +term was beginning--there were lectures to prepare and courses to plan, +and undergraduates to interview, all of which kept him quite busy for a +while, though it did not interfere with certain cozy afternoon teas, when +he related his summer adventures to his numerous girl friends, and kept +them in a gale of laughter over his many queer experiences. + +But these same little girls were clamoring for another book, and a hundred +thousand others were alike eager for it, to judge by the heavy budgets of +mail he received, so he cast about in that original mind of his for a +worthy sequel to "Alice in Wonderland." He was willing to write a sequel +then, for "Alice" was still fresh and amusing to a host of children, and +its luster had been undimmed as yet by countless imitations. To be sure +"Alice in Blunderland" had appeared in _Punch_, the well-known English +paper of wit and humor, but then _Punch_ was _Punch_, and spared nothing +which might yield a ripple of laughter. + +When it was known that he had finally determined to write the book, a +leading magazine offered him two guineas a page (a sum equal to about ten +dollars in our money) for the privilege of printing it as a serial. This +story as we know was called "Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice +Found There," though few people take time to use the full title. It is +usually read by youngsters right "on top" of "Alice in Wonderland." They +speak of the two books as the "Alices," and some of the best editions are +even bound together, so closely are the stories connected. + +With Lewis Carroll's aptness for doing things backward, is it any wonder +that he pushed Alice through the Looking-Glass? And so full of grace and +beauty and absurd situations is the story he has given us, we quite forget +that it was written for the public, and not entirely for three little +girls "all on a summer's day." No doubt they heard the chapters for they +were right there across "Tom Quad" and could be summoned by a whistle, if +need be, along with some other little girls who had sprung up within the +walls of Christ Church. + +At any rate the story turned out far beyond his expectations and he was +again fortunate in securing Tenniel as his illustrator. It was no easy +task to illustrate for Lewis Carroll, who criticised every stroke, and +being quite enough of an artist to know exactly what he wanted, he was +never satisfied until he had it. This often tried the patience of those +who worked with him, but his own good humor and unfailing courtesy +generally won in the end. + +In the midst of this pleasant work came the greatest sorrow of his life, +the death of his father, Archdeacon Dodgson, on June 21, 1868. Seventeen +years had passed since his mother's death, which had left him stunned on +the very threshold of his college life; but he was only a boy in spite of +his unusual gravity, and his youth somehow fought for him when he battled +with his grief. In those intervening years, he and his father had grown +very close together. One never took a step without consulting the other. +Christ Church and all it meant to one of them was alike dear to the other. +The archdeacon took the keenest interest in his son's outside work, and we +may be quite sure that "Alice" was as much read and as thoroughly enjoyed +by this grave scholar as by any other member of his household. It was the +suddenness of his death which left its lasting mark on Lewis Carroll, and +the fact that he was summoned too late to see his father alive. It was a +terrible shock, and a grief of which he could never _speak_. He wrote some +beautiful letters about it, but those who knew him well respected the wall +of silence he erected. + +In truth, our quiet, self-contained "don" was a man of deep emotions; the +quiet, the poise, had come through years of inward struggle, and he +maintained it at the cost of being considered a little cold by people who +never could know the trouble it had been to smother the fire. He put away +his sorrow with other sacred things, and on his return to Oxford went to +work in his characteristic way on a pamphlet concerning the Fifth Book of +Euclid, written principally to aid the students during examinations, and +which was considered an excellent bit of work. + +In November, 1868, he moved into new quarters in Christ Church and, as he +occupied these rooms for the rest of his life, a little description of +them just here would not be out of place. + +"Tom Quad," we must not forget, was the Great Quadrangle of Christ Church, +where all the masters and heads of the college lived with their families. +This was called being _in residence_, and a pretty sight it was to see the +great stretch of green, and its well-kept paths gay with the life that +poured from the doors and peeped through the windows of this wonderful +place; a sunny day brought out all the young ones, and just here Lewis +Carroll's closest ties were formed. + +The angles of "Tom Quad" were the choice spots for a lodging, and Lewis +Carroll lived in the west angle, first on the ground floor, where, as we +know, "Alice in Wonderland" was written; then, when he made his final +move, it was to the floor above, which was brighter and sunnier, giving +him more rooms and more space. This upper floor looked out upon the flat +roof of the college, an excellent place for photography, to which he was +still devoted, and he asked permission of those in charge to erect a +studio there. This was easily obtained, and could the walls tell tales +they would hum with the voices of the celebrated "flies" this clever young +"spider" lured into his den. For he took beautiful photographs at a time +when photography was not the perfect system that it is now, and nothing +pleased him better than posing well-known people. All the big lights of +Oxford sat before his camera, including Lord Salisbury, who was Chancellor +at that time. Artists, sculptors, writers, actors of note had their +pleasant hour in Lewis Carroll's studio. + +Our "don" was very partial to great people, that is, the truly great, the +men and women who truly counted in the world, whether by birth and +breeding or by some accomplished deed or high aim. Being a cultured +gentleman himself, he had a vast respect for culture in other people--not +a bad trait when all is told, and setting very naturally upon an +Englishman born of gentle stock, with generations of ladies and gentlemen +at his back. One glance into the sensitive, refined face of Charles +Dodgson would convince us at once that no friendship he ever formed had +anything but the highest aim for him. He might have chosen for his motto-- + + "Only what thou art in thyself, not what thou hast, determines thy + value." + +Even among his girl friends, the "little lady," no matter how poor or +plain, was his first object; that was a strong enough foundation. The rest +was easy. + +But here we have been outside in the studio soaring a bit in the sky, when +our real destination is that suite of beautiful big rooms where Lewis +Carroll lived and wrote and entertained his many friends, for hospitality +was one of his greatest pleasures, and his dining-room and dinner parties +are well remembered by every child friend he knew, to say nothing of those +privileged elders who were sometimes allowed to join them. He was very +particular about his dinners and luncheons, taking care to have upon the +table only what his young guests could eat. + +He had four sitting rooms and quite as many bedrooms, to say nothing of +store-rooms, closets and so forth. His study was a great room, full of +comfortable sofas and chairs, and stools and tables, and cubby-holes and +cupboards, where many wonderfully interesting things were hidden from +view, to be brought forth at just the right moment for special +entertainment. + +Lewis Carroll had English ideas about comfortable surroundings. He loved +books, and his shelves were well filled with volumes of his own choosing; +a rare and valuable library, where each book was a tried friend. + +A man with so many sitting rooms must certainly have had use for them all, +and knowing how methodical he was we may feel quite sure that the room +where he wrote "Through the Looking-Glass" was not the sanctum where he +prepared his lectures and wrote his books on Logic and Higher Mathematics; +it _might_ have served for an afternoon frolic or a tea party of little +girls; _that_ would have been in keeping, as probably he received the +undergraduates in his sanctum. + +As for the other two sitting rooms, "let's pretend," as Alice herself +says, that one was dedicated to the writing of poetry, and the other to +the invention of games and puzzles; he had quite enough work of all kinds +on hand to keep every room thoroughly aired. We shall hear about these +rooms again from little girls whose greatest delight it was to visit them. +What we want to do now is to picture Lewis Carroll in his new quarters, +energetically pushing Alice through the Looking-Glass, while at the same +time he was busily writing "Phantasmagoria," a queer ghost poem which +attracted much attention. It was published with a great many shorter +poems in the early part of 1869, preceding the publication of the new +"Alice," on which he was working chapter by chapter with Sir John Tenniel. + +It was wonderful how closely the artist followed the queer mazes of Lewis +Carroll's thought. He was able to draw the strange animals and stranger +situations just as the author wished to have them, but there came a point +at which the artist halted and shook his head. + +"I don't like the 'Wasp Chapter,'" was the substance of a letter from +artist to author, and he could not see his way to illustrating it. Indeed, +even with his skill, a wasp in a wig was rather a difficult subject and, +as Lewis Carroll wouldn't take off the wig, they were at a standstill. +Rather than sacrifice the wig it was determined to cut out the chapter, +and as it was really not so good as the other chapters, it was not much +loss to the book, which rounded out very easily to just the dozen, full of +the cleverest illustrations Tenniel ever drew. It was his last attempt at +illustrating: the gift deserted him suddenly and never returned. His +original cartoon work was always excellent, but the "Alices" had brought +him a peculiar fame which would never have come to him through the columns +of _Punch_, and Lewis Carroll, always generous in praising others, was +quick to recognize the master hand which followed his thought. There was +something in every stroke which appealed to the laughter of children, and +the power of producing unthinkable animals amounted almost to inspiration. +No doubt there may be illustrators of the present day quite as clever in +their line, but Lewis Carroll stood alone in a new world which he created; +there were none before him and none followed him, and his Knight of the +Brush was faithful and true. + +"Through the Looking-Glass" was published in 1871, and at once took its +place as another "Alice" classic. There is much to be said about this +book--so much, indeed, that it requires a chapter of its own, for many +agree in considering it even more of a masterpiece than "Alice in +Wonderland," and though more carefully planned out than its predecessor, +there is no hint of hard labor in the brilliant nonsense. + +Those who have known and loved the man recognize in the "Alices" the best +and most attractive part of him. In spite of his persistent stammering, he +was a ready and natural talker, and when in the mood he could be as +irresistibly funny as any of the characters in his book. His knowledge of +English was so great that he could take the most ordinary expression and +draw from it a new and unexpected meaning; his habit of "playing upon +words" is one of his very funniest traits. When the _Mock Turtle_ said in +that memorable conversation with _Alice_ which we all know by heart: "no +wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise," he meant, of course, +without a _purpose_, and having made the joke he refused explanations and +seemed offended that _Alice_ needed any. Another humorous idea was that +the whitings always held their tails in their mouths. + +"The reason is," said the Gryphon, "that they _would_ go with the lobsters +to the dance. So they were thrown out to sea. So they had to fall a long +way. So they got their tails fast in their mouths. So they couldn't get +them out again. That's all." + +This is not the natural position of the whiting, as we all know, but the +device of the fishmonger to make his windows attractive, and _Alice_ +herself came perilously near saying that she had eaten them for dinner +cooked in that fashion and sprinkled over with bread crumbs. It was just +Lewis Carroll's funny way of viewing things, in much the same fashion that +one of his child-friends would look at them. His was a real child's mind, +full of wonder depths where all sorts of impossible things existed, +two-sided triangles, parallel lines that met in a point, whitings who had +their tails in their mouths, and many other delightful contradictions, +some of which he gave to the world. Others he stored away for the benefit +of the numberless little girls who had permission to rummage in the +store-house. + +"Alice through the Looking-Glass" made its bow with a flourish of +trumpets. All the "Nonsense" world was waiting for it, and for once +expectation was not disappointed and the author found himself almost +hidden beneath his mantle of glory. People praised him so much that it is +quite a wonder his head was not completely turned. Henry Kingsley, the +novelist, thought it "perfectly splendid," and indeed many others fully +agreed with him. + +As for the children--and after all they were his _real_ critics--the +little girl who thought "Through the Looking-Glass" "stupider" than +Wonderland, voiced the popular sentiment. Those who were old enough to +read the book themselves soon knew by heart all the fascinating poetry, +and if the story had no other merit, "The Jabberwocky" alone would have +been enough to recommend it. Of all the queer fancies of a queer mind, +this poem was the most remarkable, and even to-day, with all our clever +verse-makers and nonsense-rhymers, no one has succeeded in getting out of +apparently meaningless words so much real meaning and genuine fun as are +to be found in this one little classic. + +Many people have tried in vain to trace its origin; one enterprising lady +insisted on calling it a translation from the German. Someone else decided +there was a Scandinavian flavor about it, so he called it a "Saga." Mr. A. +A. Vansittart, of Trinity College, Cambridge, made an excellent Latin +translation of it, and hundreds of others have puzzled over the many +"wrapped up" meanings in the strange words. + +We shall meet the poem later on and discuss its many wonders. At present +we must follow Charles Dodgson back into his sanctum where he was eagerly +pursuing a new course--the study of anatomy and physiology. He was +presented with a skeleton, and laying in the proper supply of books, he +set to work in earnest. He bought a little book called "What to do in +Emergencies" and perfected himself in what we know to-day as "First Aid to +the Injured." He accumulated in this way some very fine medical and +surgical books, and had more than one occasion to use his newly acquired +knowledge. + +Most men labor all their lives to gain fame. Lewis Carroll was a hard +worker, but fame came to him without an effort. Along his line of work he +took his "vorpal" sword in hand and severed all the knots and twists of +the mathematical Jabberwocky. It was when he played that he reached the +heights; when he touched the realm of childhood he was all conquering, for +he was in truth a child among them, and every child felt the youthfulness +in his glance, in the wave of his hand, in the fitting of his mood to +theirs, and his entire sympathy in all their small joys sorrows--such +great important things in their child-world. He often declared that +children were three fourths of his life, and it seems indeed a pity that +none of his own could join the band of his ardent admirers. + +Here he was, a young man still in spite of his forty years, holding as his +highest delight the power he possessed of giving happiness to other +people's children. Yet had anyone ventured to voice this regret, he would +have replied like many another in his position: + +"Children--bless them! Of course I love them. I prefer other people's +children. All delight and no bother. One runs a fearful risk with one's +own." And he might have added with his whimsical smile, "And supposing +they _might_ have been boys!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +MORE OF "ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS." + + +Six years had passed since _Alice_ took her trip through Wonderland, and, +strange to say, she had not grown very much older, for Time has the trick +of standing still in Fairyland, and when Lewis Carroll pushed her through +the Looking-Glass she told everyone she met on the other side that she was +seven years and six months old, not very much older, you see, than the +Alice of Long Ago, with the elf-locks and the dreamy eyes. The real Alice +was in truth six years older now, but real people never count in +Fairyland, and surely no girl of a dozen years or more would have been +able to squeeze through the other side of a Looking-Glass. Still, though +so very young, _Alice_ was quite used to travel, and knew better how to +deal with all the queer people she met after her experiences in +Wonderland. + +Mirrors are strange things. _Alice_ had often wondered what lay behind the +big one over the parlor mantel, and _wondering_ with _Alice_ meant +_doing_, for presto! up she climbed to the mantelshelf. It was easy +enough to push through, for she did not have to use the slightest force, +and the glass melted at her touch into a sheet of mist and there she was +on the other side! + +In the interval between the two "Alices," a certain poetic streak had +become strongly marked in Lewis Carroll. To him a child's soul was like +the mirror behind which little _Alice_ peeped out from its "other side," +and gave us the reflection of her child-thoughts. + +"Only a dream," we may say, but then child-life is dream-life. So much is +"make-believe" that "every day" is dipped in its golden light. It was a +dainty fancy to hold us spellbound at the mirror, and many a little girl, +quite "unbeknownst" to the "grown-ups," has tried her small best to +squeeze through the looking-glass just as _Alice_ did. In the days of our +grandmothers, when the cheval glass swung in a frame, the "make believe" +came easier, for one could creep under it or behind it, instead of through +it, with much the same result. But nowadays, with looking-glasses built in +the walls, how _can_ one pretend properly! + +If fairies only knew what examples they were to the average small girl and +small boy, they would be very careful about the things they did. +Fortunately they are old-fashioned fairies, and have not yet learned to +ride in automobiles or flying-machines, else there's no telling what might +happen. + +_Alice_ was always lucky in finding herself in the very best +society--nothing more or less than royalty itself. But the Royal Court of +Cards was not to be compared with the Royal Court of Chessmen, which she +found behind the fireplace when she jumped down on the other side of the +mantel. Of course, it was only "pretending" from the beginning; a romp +with the kittens toward the close of a short winter's day, a little girl +curled up in an armchair beside the fire with the kitten in her lap, while +Dinah, the mother cat, sat near by washing little Snowdrop's face, the +snow falling softly without, _Alice_ was just the least bit drowsy, and so +she talked to keep awake. + +"Do you hear the snow against the window panes, Kitty? How nice and soft +it sounds! Just as if some one was kissing the window all over outside. I +wonder if the snow _loves_ the trees and fields that it kisses them so +gently? And then it covers them up snug you know with a white quilt; and +perhaps it says, 'Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again,' and +when they wake up in the summer, Kitty, they dress themselves all in +green, and dance about whenever the wind blows. 'Oh, that's very pretty!' +cried Alice, dropping the ball of worsted to clap her hands. 'I do so +_wish_ it was true. I'm sure the woods look sleepy in the autumn when the +leaves are getting brown.'" + +We are sure, too, _Alice_ was getting sleepy in the glow of the firelight +with the black kitten purring a lullaby on her lap. She had probably been +playing with the Chessmen and pretending as usual, so it is small wonder +that the heavy eyes closed, and the black kitten grew into the shape of +the _Red Queen_--and so the story began. + +It was the work of a few minutes to be on speaking terms with the whole +Chess Court which _Alice_ found assembled. The back of the clock on the +mantelshelf looked down upon the scene with the grinning face of an old +man, and even the vase wore a smiling visage. There was a good fire +burning in this looking-glass grate, but the flames went the other way of +course, and down among the ashes, back of the grate, the Chessmen were +walking about in pairs. + +Sir John Tenniel's picture of the assembled Chessmen is very clever. The +_Red King_ and the _Red Queen_ are in the foreground. The _White Bishop_ +is taking his ease on a lump of coal, with a smaller lump for a footstool, +while the two _Castles_ are enjoying a little promenade near by. In the +background are the _Red_ and _White Knights_ and _Bishops_ and all the +_Pawns_. He has put so much life and expression into the faces of the +little Chessmen that we cannot help regarding them as real people, and we +cannot blame _Alice_ for taking them very much in earnest. + +She naturally found difficulty in accustoming herself to Looking-Glass +Land, and the first thing she had to learn was how to read Looking-Glass +fashion. She happened to pick up a book that she found on a table in the +Looking-Glass Room, but when she tried to read it, it seemed to be written +in an unknown language. Here is what she saw: + +[Illustration] + +Then a bright thought occurred to her, and holding the book up before a +looking-glass, this is what she read in quite clear English, no matter how +it looks, for there is certainly no intelligent child who could fail to +understand it. + +JABBERWOCKY. + + 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves + Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: + All mimsy were the borogoves, + And the mome raths outgrabe. + + "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! + The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! + Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun + The frumious Bandersnatch!" + + He took his vorpal sword in hand: + Long time the manxome foe he sought-- + So rested he by the Tumtum tree, + And stood awhile in thought. + + And, as in uffish thought he stood, + The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, + Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, + And burbled as it came! + + One, two! One, two! And through and through + The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! + He left it dead, and with its head + He went galumphing back. + + "And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? + Come to my arms, my beamish boy! + O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" + He chortled in his joy. + + 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves + Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: + All mimsy were the borogoves, + And the mome raths outgrabe. + +_Alice_ of course puzzled over this for a long time. + +"'It seems very pretty,' she said when she had finished it, 'but it's +rather hard to understand!' (You see she didn't like to confess, even to +herself, that she couldn't make it out at all.) 'Somehow it seems to fill +my head with ideas, only I don't exactly know what they are! However, +_somebody_ killed _something_--that's clear at any rate.'" + +For pure cleverness the poem has no equal, we will not say in the English +language, but in any language whatsoever, for it seems to be a medley of +all languages. Lewis Carroll composed it on the spur of the moment during +an evening spent with his cousins, the Misses Wilcox, and with his +natural gift of word-making the result is most surprising. The only verse +that really needs explanation is the first, which is also the last of the +poem. Out of the twenty-three words the verse contains, there are but +twelve which are pure, honest English. + +In Mr. Collingwood's article in the _Strand Magazine_ we have Lewis +Carroll's explanation of the remaining eleven, written down in learned +fashion, brimful of his own quaint humor. For a real guide it cannot be +excelled, and, though we laugh at the absurdities, we learn the lesson. +Here it is: + + _Brillig_ (derived from the verb to _bryl_ or _broil_), "the time of + broiling dinner--i. e., the close of the afternoon." + + _Slithy_ (compounded of slimy and lithe), "smooth and active." + + _Tove_ (a species of badger). "They had smooth, white hair, long hind + legs, and short horns like a stag; lived chiefly on cheese." + + _Gyre_ (derived from Gayour or Giaour, a dog), "to scratch like a + dog." + + _Gymble_ (whence Gimblet), "to screw out holes in anything." + + _Wabe_ (derived from the verb to swab or soak), "the side of a hill" + (from its being _soaked_ by the rain). + + _Mimsy_ (whence mimserable and miserable), "unhappy." + + _Borogove_, "an extinct kind of parrot. They had no wings, beaks + turned up, and made their nests under sun-dials; lived on veal." + + _Mome_ (hence solemome, solemne, and solemn), "grave." + + _Raths._ "A species of land turtle, head erect, mouth like a shark; + the forelegs curved out so that the animal walked on his knees; + smooth green body; lived on swallows and oysters." + + _Outgrabe_ (past tense of the verb to outgribe; it is connected with + the old verb to grike or shrike, from which are derived "shriek" and + "creak"), "squeaked." + +"Hence the literal English of the passage is--'It was evening, and the +smooth active badgers were scratching and boring holes in the hillside; +all unhappy were the parrots, and the green turtles squeaked out.' There +were probably sun-dials on the top of the hill, and the borogoves were +afraid that their nests would be undermined. The hill was probably full of +the nests of 'raths' which ran out squeaking with fear on hearing the +'toves' scratching outside. This is an obscure yet deeply affecting relic +of ancient poetry." + + (Croft--1855. Ed.) + +This lucid explanation was evidently one of the editor's contributions to +_Misch-Masch_ during his college days, so this classic poem must have +"simmered" for many years before Lewis Carroll put it "Through the +Looking-Glass." But when _Alice_ questioned the all-wise _Humpty-Dumpty_ +on the subject he gave some simpler definitions. When asked the meaning of +"mome raths," he replied: + +"Well, _rath_ is a sort of green pig; but _mome_ I'm not certain about. I +think it's short for 'from home,' meaning they'd lost their way, you +know." + +Lewis Carroll called such words "portmanteaus" because there were two +meanings wrapped up in one word, and all through "Jabberwocky" these queer +"portmanteau" words give us the key to the real meaning of the poem. In +the preface to a collection of his poems, he gives us the rule for the +building of these "portmanteau" words. He says: "Take the two words +'fuming' and 'furious.' Make up your mind that you will say both words, +but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and +speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little toward 'fuming' you will +say 'fuming-furious'; if they turn by even a hair's breadth toward +'furious' you will say 'furious-fuming'; but if you have that rarest of +gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say 'frumious.'" + +It is hard to tell what he had in mind when he wrote of this deed of +daring--for such it was. Possibly, St. George and the Dragon inspired him, +and like the best of preachers he turned his sermon into wholesome +nonsense. The Jabberwock itself was a most awe-inspiring creature, and +Tenniel's drawing is most deliciously blood-curdling; half-snake, +half-dragon, with "jaws that bite and claws that scratch," it is yet saved +from being utterly terrible by having some nice homely looking buttons on +his waistcoat and upon his three-clawed feet, something very near akin to +shoes. + +The anxious father bids his brave son good-bye, little dreaming that he +will see him again. + + "Beware the Jubjub bird--and shun + The frumious Bandersnatch" + +are his last warning words, mostly "portmanteau" words, if one takes the +time to puzzle them out. Then the brave boy goes forth into the "tulgey +wood" and stands in "uffish thought" until with a "whiffling" sound the +"burbling" Jabberwock is upon him. + +Oh, the excitement of that moment when the "vorpal" sword went +"snicker-snack" through the writhing neck of the monster! Then one can +properly imagine the youth galloping in triumph (hence the "portmanteau" +word "galumphing," the first syllable of gallop and the last syllable of +triumph) back to the proud papa, who says: "Come to my arms, my 'beamish +boy' ... and 'chortles in his joy,'" But all the time these wonderful +things are happening, just around the corner, as it were, the "toves" and +the "borogoves" and the "mome raths" were pursuing their never-ending +warfare on the hillside, saying, with Tennyson's _Brook_: + + "Men may come and men may go-- + But _we_ go on forever," + +no matter how many "Jabberwocks" are slain nor how many "beamish boys" +take their "vorpal swords in hand." + +In preparing the second "Alice" book for publication, Lewis Carroll's +first idea was to use the "Jabberwocky" illustration as a frontispiece, +but, in spite of the reassuring buttons and shoes, he was afraid younger +children might be "scared off" from the real enjoyment of the book. So he +wrote to about thirty mothers of small children asking their advice on the +matter; they evidently voted against it, for, as we all know, the _White +Knight_ on his horse with its many trappings, with _Alice_ walking beside +him through the woods, was the final selection, and the smallest child has +grown to love the silly old fellow who tumbled off his steed every two +minutes, and did many other dear, ridiculous things that only children +could appreciate. + +Looking-glass walking puzzled _Alice_ at first quite as much as +looking-glass writing or reading. If she tried to walk downstairs in the +looking-glass house "she just kept the tips of her fingers on the hand +rail and floated gently down, without even touching the stairs with her +feet." Then when she tried to climb to the top of the hill to get a peep +into the garden, she found that she was always going backwards and in at +the front door again. Finally, after many attempts, she reached the +wished-for spot, and found herself among a talkative cluster of flowers, +who all began to criticise her in the most impertinent way. + +"Oh, Tiger-lily!" said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving +gracefully about in the wind, "I _wish_ you could talk!" + +"We can talk," said the Tiger-lily, "when there's anybody worth talking +to" ... At length, as the Tiger-lily went on waving about, she spoke again +in a timid voice, almost in a whisper: + +"And can _all_ the flowers talk?" + +"As well as _you_ can," said the Tiger-lily, "and a great deal louder." + +"It isn't manners for us to begin, you know," said the Rose, "and I really +was wondering when you'd speak! Said I to myself, 'Her face has got _some_ +sense in it though it's not a clever one!' Still you've the right color +and that goes a long way." + +"I don't care about the color," the Tiger-lily remarked. "If only her +petals curled up a little more, she'd be all right." + +Alice didn't like being criticised, so she began asking questions: + +"Aren't you sometimes frightened at being planted out here with nobody to +take care of you?" + +"There's the tree in the middle," said the Rose. "What else is it good +for?" + +"But what could it do if any danger came?" Alice asked. + +"It could bark," said the Rose. + +"It says 'bough-wough'," cried a Daisy. "That's why its branches are +called boughs." + +"Didn't you know that?" cried another Daisy. And here they all began +shouting together. + +Lewis Carroll loved this play upon words, and children, strange to say, +loved it too, and were quick to see the point of his puns. The _Red +Queen_, whom _Alice_ met shortly after this, was a most dictatorial +person. + +"Where do you come from?" she asked, "and where are you going? Look up, +speak nicely, and don't twiddle your fingers all the time." + +Alice attended to all these directions, and explained as well as she could +that she had lost her way. + +"I don't know what you mean by _your_ way," said the Queen. "All the ways +about here belong to _me_, but why did you come out here at all?" she +added in a kinder tone. "Curtsey while you're thinking what to say. It +saves time." + +Alice wondered a little at this, but she was too much in awe of the Queen +to disbelieve it. + +"I'll try it when I go home," she thought to herself, "the next time I'm a +little late for dinner." + +Evidently some little girls were often late for dinner. + +"It's time for you to answer now," the Queen said, looking at her watch; +"open your mouth a _little_ wider when you speak and always say 'Your +Majesty.'" + +"I only wanted to see what your garden was like, your Majesty." + +"That's right," said the Queen, patting her on the head, which Alice +didn't like at all, "though when you say 'garden,' _I've_ seen gardens +compared with which this would be a wilderness." + +Alice didn't dare to argue the point, but went on: "And I thought I'd try +and find my way to the top of that hill--" + +"When you say 'hill,'" the Queen interrupted, "_I_ could show you hills in +comparison with which you'd call this a valley." + +"No, I shouldn't," said Alice, surprised into contradicting her at last. +"A hill _can't_ be a valley you know. That would be nonsense--" + +The _Red Queen_ shook her head. + +"You may call it 'nonsense' if you like," she said, "but _I've_ heard +nonsense compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!" + +Which last remark seemed to settle the matter, for _Alice_ had nothing +further to say on the subject. + +Nonsense, indeed; and what delightful nonsense it is! Is it any wonder +that the little girls for whom Lewis Carroll labored so lovingly should +reward him with their laughter? + +_Alice_ entered Checker-Board Land in the _Red Queen's_ company; she was +apprenticed as a pawn, with the promise that when she entered the eighth +square she would become a queen [she probably was confusing chess with +checkers], and the _Red Queen_ explained how she would travel. + +"A pawn goes two squares in its first move, you know, so you'll go very +quickly through the third square, by railway, I should think, and you'll +find yourself in the fourth square in no time. Well, _that_ square belongs +to Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and the fifth is mostly water, the sixth +belongs to Humpty Dumpty, ... the seventh square is all forest. However, +one of the knights will show you the way, and in the eighth square we +shall be queens together, and its all feasting and fun." + +The rest of her adventures occurred on those eight squares--sometimes in +company with the _Red Queen_ or the _White Queen_ or both. Things went +more rapidly than in Wonderland, the people were brisker and smarter. When +the _Red Queen_ left her on the border of Checker-Board Land, she gave her +this parting advice: + +"Speak in French when you can't think of the English for a thing, turn out +your toes as you walk, and remember who you are!" + +How many little girls have had the same advice from their governesses or +their mamma--"Turn out your toes when you walk, and remember who you are!" + +This is what made Lewis Carroll so irresistibly funny--the way he had of +bringing in the most common everyday expressions in the most uncommon, +unexpected places. Only in _Alice's_ case it took her quite a long time to +remember who she was, just because the _Red Queen_ told her not to forget. +Children are very queer about that--little girls in particular--at least +those that Lewis Carroll knew, and he certainly was acquainted with a +great many who did remarkably queer things. + +_Alice's_ meeting with the two fat little men named _Tweedledum_ and +_Tweedledee_ recalled to her memory the old rhyme: + + Tweedledum and Tweedledee + Agreed to have a battle; + For Tweedledum said Tweedledee + Had spoiled his nice new rattle. + + Just then flew down a monstrous crow, + As black as a tar barrel; + Which frightened both the heroes so, + They quite forgot their quarrel. + +Fierce little men they were, one with _Dum_ embroidered on his collar, the +other showing _Dee_ on his. They were not accustomed to good society nor +fine grammar. They were exactly alike as they stood motionless before her, +their arms about each other. + +"I know what you're thinking about," said Tweedledum, "but it isn't +so--nohow." [Behold the _beautiful_ grammar.] + +"Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be; and if +it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic." + +Now, _Alice_ particularly wanted to know which road to take out of the +woods, but somehow or other her polite question was never answered by +either of the funny little brothers. They were very sociable and seemed +most anxious to keep her with them, so for her entertainment _Tweedledum_ +repeated that beautiful and pathetic poem called: + +THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER. + + The sun was shining on the sea, + Shining with all his might; + He did his very best to make + The billows smooth and bright-- + And this was odd, because it was + The middle of the night. + + The moon was shining sulkily, + Because she thought the sun + Had got no business to be there + After the day was done-- + "It's very rude of him," she said, + "To come and spoil the fun!" + + The sea was wet as wet could be, + The sands were dry as dry, + You could not see a cloud, because + No cloud was in the sky; + No birds were flying overhead-- + There were no birds to fly. + + The Walrus and the Carpenter + Were walking close at hand; + They wept like anything to see + Such quantities of sand; + "If this were only cleared away," + They said, "it _would_ be grand!" + + "If seven maids with seven mops + Swept it for half a year, + Do you suppose," the Walrus said, + "That they would get it clear?" + "I doubt it," said the Carpenter, + And shed a bitter tear. + +Then comes the sad and sober part of the tale, when the _Oysters_ were +tempted to stroll along the beach, in company with these wily two, who +lured them far away from their snug ocean beds. + + The Walrus and the Carpenter + Walked on a mile or so, + And then they rested on a rock + Conveniently low; + And all the little Oysters stood + And waited in a row. + + "The time has come," the Walrus said, + "To talk of many things; + Of shoes, and ships, and sealing-wax-- + Of cabbages and kings; + And why the sea is boiling hot, + And whether pigs have wings." + + "But wait a bit," the Oysters cried, + "Before we have our chat; + For some of us are out of breath, + And all of us are fat!" + "No hurry!" said the Carpenter. + They thanked him much for that. + + "A loaf of bread," the Walrus said, + "Is what we chiefly need; + Pepper and vinegar besides + Are very good, indeed; + Now, if you're ready, Oysters, dear, + We can begin to feed." + +Then the _Oysters_ became terrified, as they saw all these grewsome +preparations, and their fate loomed up before them. So the two old +weeping hypocrites sat on the rocks and calmly devoured their late +companions. + + "It seems a shame," the Walrus said, + "To play them such a trick, + After we've brought them out so far, + And made them trot so quick!" + The Carpenter said nothing but, + "The butter's spread too thick!" + + "I weep for you," the Walrus said, + "I deeply sympathize." + With sobs and tears he sorted out + Those of the largest size, + Holding his pocket-handkerchief + Before his streaming eyes. + + "O Oysters," said the Carpenter, + "You've had a pleasant run! + Shall we be trotting home again?" + But answer came there none. + And this was scarcely odd, because + They'd eaten every one. + +The poor dear little _Oysters_! How any little girl, with a heart under +her pinafore, could read these lines unmoved it is hard to say. Think of +those innocent young dears, standing before these dreadful ogres. + + All eager for the treat; + Their coats were brushed, their faces washed, + Their shoes were clean and neat; + And this was odd, because, you know, + They hadn't any feet. + +All the same, Tenniel has made most attractive pictures of them, feet and +all. And think--oh, horror! of _their_ supplying the treat! It was indeed +an awful tragedy. Yet behind it all there lurks some fun, though Lewis +Carroll was too clever to let us _quite_ into his secret. All the young +ones want is the story, but those who are old enough to love their Dickens +and to look for his special characters outside of his books will certainly +recognize in the _Walrus_ the hypocritical _Mr. Pecksniff_, whose tears +flowed on every occasion when he was not otherwise employed in robbing his +victims, and other little pleasantries. And as for the _Carpenter_, there +is something very scholarly in the set of his cap and the combing of his +scant locks; possibly a caricature of some shining light of Oxford, for we +know there were many in his books. Indeed, the whole poem may be something +of an allegory, representing examination; the _Oysters_, the undergraduate +victims before the college faculty (the _Walrus_ and the _Carpenter_) who +are just ready to "eat 'em alive"--poor innocent undergraduates! + +But whatever the hidden meaning, _Tweedledum_ and _Tweedledee_ were not +the sort of people to look deep into things, and _Alice_, being a little +girl and very partial to oysters, thought the _Walrus_ and the _Carpenter_ +were _very_ unpleasant characters and had no sympathy with them at all. + +Dreaming by a ruddy blaze in a big armchair keeps one much busier than if +one fell asleep in a rocking boat or on the river bank on a golden summer +day. + +The scenes and all the company changed so often in Looking-Glass Land that +_Alice_ had all she could do to keep pace with her adventures. For you see +all this time she was only a pawn, moving over an immense chess-board from +square to square, until in the end she should be made queen. The _White +Queen_ whom _Alice_ met shortly was a very lopsided person, quite unlike +the _Red Queen_, who was neat enough no matter how sharp her tongue. +_Alice_ had to fix her hair, and straighten her shawl, and set her right +and tidy. + +"Really, you should have a lady's maid," she remarked. + +"I'm sure I'll take _you_ with pleasure," the Queen said. "Twopence a +week, and jam every other day." + +Alice couldn't help laughing as she said: + +"I don't want you to hire _me_, and I don't care for jam." + +"It's very good jam," said the Queen. + +"Well, I don't want any _to-day_ at any rate." + +"You couldn't have it if you _did_ want it," the Queen said. "The rule +is--jam to-morrow and jam yesterday, but never jam _to-day_." + +"It _must_ come sometimes to 'jam to-day,'" Alice objected. + +"No, it can't," said the Queen. "It's jam every other day; to-day isn't +any _other_ day, you know." + +"I don't understand you," said Alice. "It's dreadfully confusing!" + +"That's the effect of living backwards," the Queen said, kindly. "It +always makes one a little giddy at first--" + +"Living backwards!" Alice remarked in great astonishment. "I never heard +of such a thing!" + +"But there's one great advantage in it, that one's memory works both +ways." + +"I'm sure _mine_ only works one way," Alice remarked. "I can't remember +things before they happen." + +"It's a poor memory that only works backwards," the Queen remarked. + +"What sort of things do _you_ remember best?" Alice ventured to ask. + +"Oh, the things that happened the week after next," the Queen replied in a +careless tone. "For instance, now," she went on, sticking a large piece of +plaster on her finger as she spoke, "there's the king's messenger. He's in +prison now, being punished, and the trial doesn't begin till next +Wednesday; and of course the crime comes last of all." Then the _Queen_ +for further illustration began to scream-- + +"Oh, oh, oh!" shouted the Queen.... "My finger's bleeding! Oh, oh, oh, +oh!" + +Her screams were so exactly like the whistle of a steam engine that Alice +had to hold both her hands over her ears. + +"What _is_ the matter?" she said.... "Have you pricked your finger?" + +"I haven't pricked it yet," the Queen said, "but I soon shall--oh, oh, +oh!" + +"When do you expect to do it?" Alice asked, feeling very much inclined to +laugh. + +"When I fasten my shawl again," the poor Queen groaned out, "the brooch +will come undone directly. Oh, oh!" As she said the words the brooch flew +open, and the Queen clutched wildly at it and tried to clasp it again. + +"Take care!" cried Alice, "you're holding it all crooked!" and she caught +at the brooch; but it was too late; the pin had slipped, and the Queen had +pricked her finger. + +"That accounts for the bleeding, you see," she said to Alice, with a +smile. "Now you understand the way things happen here." + +_Alice's_ meeting with _Humpty-Dumpty_ in the sixth square has gone down +in history. It has been played in nurseries and in private theatricals, +and many ingenious Humpty-Dumptys have been fashioned by clever people. + +Possibly the dear old rhyme which generations of childhood have handed +about as a riddle is responsible for our great interest in +_Humpty-Dumpty_. + + Humpty-Dumpty sat on the wall, + Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall, + All the King's horses and all the King's men, + Couldn't put Humpty-Dumpty in his place again. + +This is an old version, but modern children have made a better ending, +thus: + + Couldn't put Humpty-Dumpty up again. + +Then there's a mysterious pause, and some eager small boy or girl asks, +"Now _what_ is it?" and before one has time to answer, someone calls out-- + +"It's an egg; it's an egg!" and the riddle is a riddle no longer. + +One clever mechanical Humpty was made of barrel hoops covered with stiff +paper and muslin. The eyes, nose, and mouth were connected with various +tapes, which the inventor had in charge behind the scenes, and so well did +he work them that Humpty in his hands turned out a fine imitation of the +_Humpty-Dumpty_ Sir John Tenniel has made us remember; the same +_Humpty-Dumpty_ who asked _Alice_ her name and her business, and who +informed her proudly that if he did tumble off the wall, "_The King has +promised me with his very own mouth--to--to--_" + +"To send all his horses and all his men--" Alice interrupted rather +unwisely. + +"Now I declare that's too bad!" Humpty-Dumpty cried, breaking into a +sudden passion. "You've been listening at doors, and behind trees, and +down chimneys, or you wouldn't have known it." + +"I haven't, indeed!" Alice said, very gently. "It's in a book." + +"Ah, well! They may write such things in a _book_," Humpty-Dumpty said in +a calmer tone. "That's what you call a History of England, that is. Now +take a good look at me. I'm one that has spoken to a King, _I_ am; mayhap +you'll never see such another; and to show you I'm not proud you may shake +hands with me...." + +"Yes, all his horses and all his men," _Humpty-Dumpty_ went on. "They'd +pick me up in a minute, _they_ would. However, this conversation is going +on a little too fast; let's go back to the last remark but one." + +Such a nice, common old chap is _Humpty-Dumpty_, so "stuck-up" because he +has spoken to a King; and argue! Well, _Alice_ never heard anything like +it before, and found difficulty in keeping up a conversation that was +disputed every step of the way. She found him worse than the _Cheshire +Cat_ or even the _Duchess_ for that matter, and not half so well-bred. + +He too favored _Alice_ with the following poem, which he assured her was +written entirely for her amusement, and here it is, with enough of Lewis +Carroll's "nonsense" in it to let us know where it came from: + + In winter, when the fields are white, + I sing this song for your delight:-- + + In spring, when woods are getting green, + I'll try and tell you what I mean: + + In summer, when the days are long, + Perhaps you'll understand the song: + + In autumn, when the leaves are brown, + Take pen and ink, and write it down. + + I sent a message to the fish: + I told them: "This is what I wish." + + The little fishes of the sea, + They sent an answer back to me. + + The little fishes' answer was: + "We cannot do it, Sir, because----" + + I sent to them again to say: + "It will be better to obey." + + The fishes answered, with a grin: + "Why, what a temper you are in!" + + I told them once, I told them twice: + They would not listen to advice. + + I took a kettle large and new, + Fit for the deed I had to do. + + My heart went hop, my heart went thump: + I filled the kettle at the pump. + + Then someone came to me and said: + "The little fishes are in bed." + + I said to him, I said it plain: + "Then you must wake them up again." + + I said it very loud and clear: + I went and shouted in his ear. + + But he was very stiff and proud: + He said: "You needn't shout so loud!" + + And he was very proud and stiff: + He said: "I'd go and wake them, if----" + + I took a corkscrew from the shelf; + I went to wake them up myself. + + And when I found the door was locked, + I pulled and pushed and kicked and knocked. + + And when I found the door was shut, + I tried to turn the handle, but---- + +With which highly satisfactory ending _Humpty_ remarked: + +"That's all. Good-bye." + +Alice got up and held out her hand. + +"Good-bye till we meet again," she said, as cheerfully as she could. + +"I shouldn't know you if we _did_ meet," Humpty-Dumpty replied in a +discontented tone, giving her one of his fingers to shake. "You're so +exactly like other people." + +The next square--the seventh--took _Alice_ through the woods. Here she met +some old friends: the _Mad Hatter_ and the _White Rabbit_ of Wonderland +fame, mixed in with a great many new beings, including the _Lion_ and the +_Unicorn_, who, as the old ballad tells us, "were fighting for the +crown"; and then as the _Red Queen_ had promised from the beginning, the +_White Knight_--after a battle with the _Red Knight_ who held _Alice_ +prisoner--took her in charge to guide her through the woods. Whoever has +read the humorous and yet pathetic story of "Don Quixote" will see at once +where Lewis Carroll found his gentle, valiant old _White Knight_ and his +horse, so like yet so unlike the famous steed _Rosenante_. + +He, too, had a song for _Alice_, which he called "The Aged, Aged Man," and +which he sang to her, set to very mechancholy music. It is doubtful if +_Alice_ understood it for she wasn't thinking of age, you see. She was +only seven years and six months old, and probably paid no attention. She +was thinking instead of the strange kindly smile of the knight, "the +setting sun gleaming through his hair and shining on his armor in a blaze +of light that quite dazzled her; the horse quietly moving about with the +reins hanging loose on his neck, cropping the grass at her feet, and the +black shadows of the forest behind." Certainly Lewis Carroll could paint a +picture to remain with us always. The poem is rather too long to quote +here, but the experiences of this "Aged, Aged Man" are well worth reading. + +_Alice_ was now hastening toward the end of her journey and events were +tumbling over each other. She had reached the eighth square, where, oh, +joy! a golden crown awaited her, also the _Red Queen_ and the _White +Queen_ in whose company she traveled through the very stirring episodes of +that very famous dinner party, when the candles on the table all grew up +to the ceiling, and the glass bottles each took a pair of plates for +wings, and forks for legs, and went fluttering in all directions. +Everything was in the greatest confusion, and when the _White Queen_ +disappeared in the soup tureen, and the soup ladle began walking up the +table toward _Alice's_ chair, she could stand it no longer. She jumped up +"and seized the tablecloth with both hands; one good pull, and plates, +dishes, guests, and candles came crashing down together in a heap on the +floor." And then _Alice_ began to shake the _Red Queen_ as the cause of +all the mischief. + +"The Red Queen made no resistance whatever; only her face grew very small, +and her eyes got large and green; and still, as Alice went on shaking her, +she kept on growing shorter, and fatter, and softer, and rounder, and--and +it really _was_ a kitten after all." + +And _Alice_, opening her eyes in the red glow of the fire, lay snug in the +armchair, while the Looking-Glass on the mantel caught the reflection of a +very puzzled little face. The "dream-child" had come back to everyday, and +was trying to retrace her journey as she lay there blinking at the +firelight, and wondering if, back of the blaze, the Chessmen were still +walking to and fro. + +And Lewis Carroll, as he penned the last words of "Alice's Adventures +through the Looking-Glass," remembered once more the little girl who had +been his inspiration, and wrote a loving tribute to her at the very end of +the book, an acrostic on her name--Alice Pleasance Liddell. + + A boat, beneath a sunny sky + Lingering onward dreamily + In an evening of July. + + Children three that nestle near, + Eager eye and willing ear, + Pleased a simple tale to hear. + + Long has paled that sunny sky; + Echoes fade and memories die: + Autumn frosts have slain July. + + Still she haunts me, phantomwise, + Alice moving under skies, + Never seen by waking eyes. + + Children yet, the tale to hear, + Eager eye and willing ear, + Lovingly shall nestle near. + + In a Wonderland they lie, + Dreaming as the days go by, + Dreaming as the summers die: + + Ever drifting down the stream, + Lingering in the golden gleam, + Life, what is it but a dream? + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +"HUNTING THE SNARK" AND OTHER POEMS. + + +There is no doubt that the second "Alice" book was quite as successful as +the first, but regarding its merit there is much difference of opinion. As +a rule the "grown-ups" prefer it. They like the clever situations and the +quaint logic, no less than the very evident good writing; but this of +course did not influence the children in the least. They liked "Alice" and +the pretty idea of her trip through the Looking-Glass, but for real +delight "Wonderland" was big enough for them, and to whisk down into a +rabbit-hole on a summer's day was a much easier process than squeezing +through a looking-glass at the close of a short winter's afternoon, not +being _quite_ sure that one would not fall into the fire on the other +side. + +The very care that Lewis Carroll took in the writing of this book deprived +it of a certain charm of originality which always clings to the pages of +"Wonderland." Each chapter is so methodically planned and so well carried +out that, while we never lose sight of the author and his cleverness, +fairyland does not seem quite so real as in the book which was written +with no plan at all, but the earnest desire to please three children. Then +again there was a certain staidness in the prim little girl who pushed her +way through the Looking-Glass. And there were no wonderful cakes marked +"eat me," and bottles marked "drink me," which kept the Wonderland _Alice_ +in a perpetual state of growing or shrinking; so the fact that nothing +happened to _Alice_ at all during this second journey lessened its +interest somewhat for the young ones to whom constant change is the spice +of life. A very little girl, while she might enjoy the flower chapter, and +might be tempted to build her own fanciful tales about the rest of the +garden, would not be so attracted toward the insect chapter, which may +possibly have been written with the praiseworthy idea of teaching children +not to be afraid of these harmless buzzing things that are too busy with +their own concerns to bother them. + +There are, in truth, little "cut and dried" speeches in the Looking-Glass +"Alice," which we do not find in "Wonderland." A real hand is moving the +Chessman over the giant board, and the _Red_ and the _White Queen_ often +speak like automatic toys. We miss the savage "off with his head" of the +_Queen of Hearts_, who, for all her cardboard stiffness, seemed a thing of +flesh and blood. But the poetry in the two "Alices" is of very much the +same quality. + +In his prose "nonsense" anyone might notice the difference of years +between the two books, but Lewis Carroll's poetry never loses its youthful +tone. It was as easy for him to write verses as to teach mathematics, and +that was saying a good deal. It was as easy for him to write verses at +sixty as at thirty, and that is saying even more. From the time he could +hold a pencil he could make a rhyme, and his earlier editorial ventures, +as we know, were full of his own work which in after years made its way to +the public, either through the magazines or in collection of poems, such +as "Rhyme and Reason," "Phantasmagoria," and "The Three Sunsets." + +In _The Train_, that early English magazine before mentioned, are several +poems written by him and signed by his newly borrowed name of Lewis +Carroll, but they are very sentimental and high-flown, utterly unlike +anything he wrote either before or after. + +Between the publication of "Through the Looking-Glass" and "The Hunting of +the Snark" was a period of five years, during which, according to his +usual custom, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, in the seclusion of Christ Church, +calmly pursued his scholarly way, smiling sedately over the literary +antics of Lewis Carroll, for the Rev. Charles was a sober, over-serious +bachelor, whose one aim and object at that time was the proper treatment +of Euclid, for during those five years he wrote the following pamphlets: +"Symbols, etc., to be used in Euclid--Books I and II," "Number of +Propositions in Euclid," "Enunciations--Euclid I-VI," "Euclid--Book V. +Proved Algebraically," "Preliminary Algebra and Euclid--Book V," "Examples +in Arithmetic," "Euclid--Books I and II." + +He also wrote many other valuable pamphlets concerning the government of +Oxford and of Christ Church in particular, for the retiring "don" took a +keen interest in the University life, and his influence was felt in many +spicy articles and apt rhymes, usually brought forth as timely skits. +_Notes by an Oxford Chiel_, published at Oxford in 1874, included much of +this material, where his clever verses, mostly satirical, generally hit +the mark. + +And all this while, Lewis Carroll was gathering in the harvest yielded by +the two "Alices," and planning more books for his child-friends, who, we +may be sure, were growing in numbers. + +We find him at the Christmas celebration of 1874, at Hatfield, the home of +Lord Salisbury, as usual, the central figure of a crowd of happy children. +On this occasion he told them the story of _Prince Uggug_, which was +afterwards a part of "Sylvie and Bruno." Many of the chapters of this book +had been published as separate stories in _Aunt Judy's Magazine_ and other +periodicals, and, as such, they were very sweet and dainty as well as +amusing. It was Lewis Carroll's own special charm in telling these stories +which really lent them color and drew the children; they lost much in +print, for they lacked the sturdy foundations of nonsense on which the +"Alices" were built. + +On March 29, 1876, "The Hunting of the Snark" was published, a new effort +in "nonsense" verse-making, which stands side by side with "Jabberwocky" +in point of cleverness and interest. + +The beauty of Lewis Carroll's "nonsense" was that he never tried to be +funny or "smart." The queer words and the still queerer ideas popped into +his head in the simplest way. His command of language, including that +important knowledge of how to make "portmanteau" words, was his greatest +aid, and the poem which he called "An Agony in Eight Fits" depends +entirely upon the person who reads it for the cleverness of its meaning. +To children it is one big fairy tale where the more ridiculous the +situations, the more true to the rules of fairyland. The Snark, being a +"portmanteau" word, is a cross between a _snake_ and a _shark_, hence +_Snark_, and the fact that he dedicated this wonderful bit of word-making +to a little girl, goes far to prove that the poem was intended as much for +children as for "grown-ups." + +The little girl in this instance was Gertrude Chataway, and the verses are +an acrostic on her name: + + Girt with a boyish garb for boyish task, + Eager she wields her spade: yet loves as well + Rest on a friendly knee, intent to ask + The tale he loves to tell. + + Rude spirit of the seething outer strife, + Unmeet to read her pure and simple spright, + Deem, if you list, such hours a waste of life, + Empty of all delight! + + Chat on, sweet maid, and rescue from annoy, + Hearts that by wiser talk are unbeguiled; + Ah, happy he who owns that tenderest joy, + The heart-love of a child! + + Away, fond thoughts, and vex my soul no more! + Work claims my wakeful nights, my busy days, + Albeit bright memories of that sunlit shore + Yet haunt my dreaming gaze! + +There was scarcely a little girl who claimed friendship with Lewis Carroll +who was not the proud possessor of an acrostic poem written by him--either +on the title-page of some book that he had given her, or as the dedication +of some published book of his own. + +"The Hunting of the Snark" owed its existence to a country walk, when the +last verse came suddenly into the mind of our poet: + + "In the midst of the word he was trying to say, + In the midst of his laughter and glee, + He had softly and suddenly vanished away-- + For the Snark _was_ a Boojum, you see." + +In a very humorous preface to the book, Lewis Carroll attempted some sort +of an explanation, which leaves us as much in the dark as ever. He +writes: + +"If--and the thing is wildly possible--the charge of writing nonsense was +ever brought against the author of this brief but instructive poem, it +would be based, I feel convinced, on the line: + + "'Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes.' + +"In view of this painful possibility, I will not (as I might) appeal +indignantly to my other writings as a proof that I am incapable of such a +deed; I will not (as I might) point to the strong moral purpose of the +poem itself, to the arithmetical principles so cautiously inculcated in +it, or to its noble teachings in Natural History. I will take the more +prosaic course of simply explaining how it happened. + +"The Bellman, who was almost morbidly sensitive about appearances, used to +have the bowsprit unshipped once or twice a week to be revarnished; and +more than once it happened, when the time came for replacing it, that no +one on board could remember which end of the ship it belonged to. They +knew it was not of the slightest use to appeal to the Bellman about it--he +would only refer to his Naval Code and read out in pathetic tones +Admiralty Instructions which none of them had ever been able to +understand, so it generally ended in its being fastened on anyhow across +the rudder. The Helmsman used to stand by with tears in his eyes; _he_ +knew it was all wrong, but, alas! Rule 4, of the Code, '_No one shall +speak to the man at the helm_,' had been completed by the Bellman himself +with the words, '_and the man at the helm shall speak to no one_,' so +remonstrance was impossible and no steering could be done till the next +varnishing day. During these bewildering intervals the ship usually sailed +backward." + +Is it any wonder that a poem, based upon such an explanation, should be a +perfect bundle of nonsense? But we know from experience that Lewis +Carroll's nonsense was not stupidity, and that not one verse in all that +delightful bundle missed its own special meaning and purpose. + +We do not propose to find the key to this remarkable work--for two +reasons: first, because there are different keys for different minds; and +second, because the unexplainable things in many cases come nearer the +"mind's eye," as Shakespeare calls it, without words. We cannot tell _why_ +we understand such and such a thing, but we _do_ understand it, and that +is enough--quite according to Lewis Carroll's ideas, for he always appeals +to our imagination and that is never guided by rules. The higher it soars, +the more fantastic the region over which it hovers, the nearer it gets to +the land of "make believe," "let's pretend" and "supposing," the better +pleased is Lewis Carroll. In a delightful letter to some American +children, published in _The Critic_ shortly after his death, he gives his +own ideas as to the meaning of the _Snark_. + +"I'm very much afraid I didn't mean anything but nonsense," he wrote; +"still you know words mean more than we mean to express when we use them, +so a whole book ought to mean a great deal more than the writer means. So +whatever good meanings are in the book, I shall be glad to accept as the +meaning of the book. The best that I've seen is by a lady (she published +it in a letter to a newspaper) that the whole book is an allegory on the +search after happiness. I think this fits beautifully in many ways, +particularly about the bathing machines; when people get weary of life, +and can't find happiness in towns or in books, then they rush off to the +seaside to see what bathing machines will do for them." + +Taking this idea for the foundation of the poem, it is easy to explain +_Fit the First_, better named _The Landing_, though where they landed it +is almost impossible to say. + +"Just the place for a Snark," the Bellman cried, and, as he stated this +fact three distinct times, it was undoubtedly true. That was the +_Bellman's_ rule--once was uncertain, twice was possible, three times was +"dead sure." And the _Bellman_ being a person of some authority, ought to +have known. The crew consisted of a _Boots_, a _Maker of Bonnets and +Hoods_, a _Barrister_, a _Broker_, a _Billiard-marker_, a _Banker_, a +_Beaver_, a _Butcher_, and a nameless being who passed for the _Baker_, +and who, in the end, turned out to be the luckless victim of the Snark. He +is thus beautifully described: + + "There was one who was famed for a number of things + He forgot when he entered the ship: + His umbrella, his watch, all his jewels and rings, + And the clothes he had brought for the trip. + + "He had forty-two boxes, all carefully packed, + With his name painted clearly on each: + But, since he omitted to mention the fact, + They were all left behind on the beach. + + "The loss of his clothes hardly mattered, because + He had seven coats on when he came, + With three pair of boots--but the worst of it was, + He had wholly forgotten his name. + + "He would answer to 'Hi!' or to any loud cry, + Such as 'Fry me!' or 'Fritter my wig!' + To 'What-you-may-call-um!' or 'What-was-his-name!' + But especially 'Thing-um-a-jig!' + + "While, for those who preferred a more forcible word, + He had different names from these: + His intimate friends called him 'Candle-ends,' + And his enemies 'Toasted-cheese.' + + "'His form is ungainly, his intellect small' + (So the Bellman would often remark); + 'But his courage is perfect! and that, after all, + Is the thing that one needs with a Snark.' + + "He would joke with hyenas, returning their stare + With an impudent wag of the head: + And he once went a walk, paw-in-paw with a bear, + 'Just to keep up its spirits,' he said. + + "He came as a Baker: but owned when too late-- + And it drove the poor Bellman half-mad-- + He could only bake Bride-cake, for which I may state, + No materials were to be had." + +Notice how ingeniously the actors in this drama are introduced; all the +"B's," as it were, buzzing after the phantom of happiness, which eludes +them, no matter how hard they struggle to find it. Notice, too, that all +these beings are unmarried, a fact shown by the _Baker_ not being able to +make a bride-cake as there are no materials on hand. All these creatures, +while hunting for happiness, came to prey upon each other. The _Butcher_ +only killed _Beavers_, the _Barrister_ was hunting among his fellow +sailors for a good legal case. The _Banker_ took charge of all their cash, +for it certainly takes money to hunt properly for a _Snark_, and it is a +well-known fact that bankers need all the money they can get. + +_Fit the Second_ describes the _Bellman_ and why he had such influence +with his crew: + + The Bellman himself they all praised to the skies: + Such a carriage, such ease, and such grace! + Such solemnity, too! One could see he was wise, + The moment one looked in his face! + + He had bought a large map representing the sea, + Without the least vestige of land: + And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be + A map they could all understand. + + "What's the good of Mercator's North Poles and Equators, + Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?" + So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply, + "They are merely conventional signs!" + + "Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes! + But we've got our brave Captain to thank" + (So the crew would protest), "that he's bought _us_ the best-- + A perfect and absolute blank!" + +And true enough, the _Bellman's_ idea of the ocean was a big square basin, +with the latitude and longitude carefully written out on the margin. They +found, however, that their "brave Captain" knew very little about +navigation, he-- + + "Had only one notion for crossing the ocean, + And that was to tingle his bell." + +He thought nothing of telling his crew to steer starboard and larboard at +the same time, and then we know how-- + + The bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes. + "A thing," as the Bellman remarked, + "That frequently happens in tropical climes, + When a vessel is, so to speak, 'snarked.'" + +The _Bellman_ had hoped, when the wind blew toward the east, that the ship +would not travel toward the west, but it seems that with all his nautical +knowledge he could not prevent it; ships are perverse animals! + + "But the danger was past--they had landed at last, + With their boxes, portmanteaus, and bags: + Yet at first sight the crew were not pleased with the view, + Which consisted of chasms and crags." + +Now that they had reached the land of the Snark, the _Bellman_ proceeded +to air his knowledge on that subject. + +"A snark," he said, "had five unmistakable traits--its taste, 'meager and +mellow and crisp,' its habit of getting up late, its slowness in taking a +jest, its fondness for bathing machines, and, fifth and lastly, its +ambition." He further informed the crew that "the snarks that had feathers +could bite, and those that had whiskers could scratch," adding as an +afterthought: + + "'For although common Snarks do no manner of harm, + Yet I feel it my duty to say, + Some are Boojums--' The Bellman broke off in alarm, + For the Baker had fainted away." + +_Fit the Third_ was the _Baker's_ tale. + + "They roused him with muffins, they roused him with ice, + They roused him with mustard and cress, + They roused him with jam and judicious advice, + They set him conundrums to guess." + +Then he explained why it was that the name "Boojum" made him faint. It +seems that a dear uncle, after whom he was named, gave him some wholesome +advice about the way to hunt a snark, and this uncle seemed to be a man of +much influence: + + "'You may seek it with thimbles, and seek it with care; + You may hunt it with forks and hope; + You may threaten its life with a railway-share; + You may charm it with smiles and soap----'" + + "'That's exactly the method,' the Bellman bold + In a hasty parenthesis cried, + 'That's exactly the way I have always been told + That the capture of Snarks should be tried!'" + + "'But, oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day, + If your Snark be a Boojum! For then + You will softly and suddenly vanish away, + And never be met with again!'" + +This of course was a very sad thing to think of, for the man with no name, +who was named after his uncle, and called in courtesy the _Baker_, had +grown to be a great favorite with the crew; but they had no time to waste +in sentiment--they were in the Snark's own land, they had the _Bellman's_ +orders in _Fit the Fourth_--the Hunting: + + "To seek it with thimbles, to seek it with care; + To pursue it with forks and hope; + To threaten its life with a railway share; + To charm it with smiles and soap! + + "For the Snark's a peculiar creature, that won't + Be caught in a commonplace way. + Do all that you know, and try all that you don't: + Not a chance must be wasted to-day!" + +Then they all went to work according to their own special way, just as we +would do now in our hunt for happiness through the chasms and crags of +every day. + +_Fit the Fifth_ is the _Beaver's_ Lesson, when the _Butcher_ discourses +wisely on arithmetic and natural history, two subjects a butcher should +know pretty thoroughly, and this is proved: + + "While the Beaver confessed, with affectionate looks + More eloquent even than tears, + It had learned in ten minutes far more than all books + Would have taught it in seventy years." + +The _Barrister's_ Dream occupied _Fit the Sixth_, and here our poet's keen +wit gave many a slap at the law and the lawyers. + +The _Banker's_ Fate in _Fit the Seventh_ was sad enough; he was grabbed by +the Bandersnatch (that "frumious" "portmanteau" creature that we met +before in the _Lay of the Jabberwocky_) and worried and tossed about until +he completely lost his senses. Some bankers are that way in the pursuit of +fortune, which means happiness to them; but fortune may turn, like the +Bandersnatch, and shake their minds out of their bodies, and so they left +this _Banker_ to his fate. That is the way of people when bankers are in +trouble, because they were reckless and not always careful to + + "Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun + The frumious Bandersnatch." + +_Fit the Eighth_ treats of the vanishing of the Baker according to the +prediction of his prophetic uncle. All day long the eager searchers had +hunted in vain, but just at the close of the day they heard a shout in the +distance and beheld their _Baker_ "erect and sublime" on top of a crag, +waving his arms and shouting wildly; then before their startled and +horrified gaze, he plunged into a chasm and disappeared forever. + + "'It's a Snark!' was the sound that first came to their ears. + And seemed almost too good to be true. + Then followed a torrent of laughter and cheers, + Then the ominous words, 'It's a Boo----' + + "Then, silence. Some fancied they heard in the air + A weary and wandering sigh + That sounded like 'jum!' but the others declare + It was only a breeze that went by. + + "They hunted till darkness came on, but they found + Not a button, or feather, or mark + By which they could tell that they stood on the ground + Where the Baker had met with the Snark. + + "In the midst of the word he was trying to say, + In the midst of his laughter and glee, + He had softly and suddenly vanished away-- + For the Snark _was_ a Boojum, you see." + +What became of the _Bellman_ and his crew is left to our imagination. +Perhaps the _Baker's_ fate was a warning, or perhaps they are still +hunting--not _too_ close to the chasm. Lewis Carroll, always so particular +about proper endings, refuses any explanation. The fact that this special +Snark was a "Boojum" altered all the rules of the hunt. Nobody knows what +it is, but all the same nobody wishes to meet a "Boojum." That's all there +is about it. + +"Now how absurd to talk such nonsense!" some learned school girl may +exclaim; undoubtedly one who has high ideals about life and literature. +But is it nonsense we are talking, and does the quaint poem really teach +us nothing? Anything which brings a picture to the mind must surely have +some merit, and there is much homely common sense wrapped up in the queer +verses if we have but the wit to find it, and no one is too young nor too +old to join in this hunt for happiness. + +Read the poem over and over, put expression and feeling into it, treat the +_Bellman_ and his strange crew as if they were real human beings--there's +a lot of the human in them after all--and see if new ideas and new +meanings do not pop into your head with each reading, while the verses, +all unconsciously, will stick in your memory, where Tennyson or +Wordsworth or even Shakespeare fails to hold a place there. + +Of course, Lewis Carroll's own especial girlfriends understood "The +Hunting of the Snark" better than the less favored "outsiders." First of +all there was Lewis Carroll himself to read it to them in his own +expressive way, his pleasant voice sinking impressively at exciting +moments, and his clear explanation of each "portmanteau" word helping +along wonderfully. We can fancy the gleam of fun in the blue eyes, the +sweep of his hand across his hair, the sudden sweet smile with which he +pointed his jests or clothed his moral, as the case might be. Indeed, one +little girl was so fascinated with the poem which he sent her as a gift +that she learned the whole of it by heart, and insisted on repeating it +during a long country drive. + +"The Hunting of the Snark" created quite a sensation among his friends. +The first edition was finely illustrated by Henry Holiday, whose clever +drawings show how well he understood the poem, and what sympathy existed +between himself and the author. + +"Phantasmagoria," his ghost poem, deals with the friendly relations always +existing between ghosts and the people they are supposed to haunt; a +whimsical idea, carried out in Lewis Carroll's whimsical way, with lots of +fun and a good deal of simple philosophy worked out in the verses. One +canto is particularly amusing. Here are some of the verses: + + Oh, when I was a little Ghost, + A merry time had we! + Each seated on his favorite post, + We chumped and chawed the buttered toast + They gave us for our tea. + + "That story is in print!" I cried. + "Don't say it's not, because + It's known as well as Bradshaw's Guide!" + (The Ghost uneasily replied + He hardly thought it was.) + + It's not in Nursery Rhymes? And yet + I almost think it is-- + "Three little Ghostesses" were set + "On postesses," you know, and ate + Their "buttered toastesses." + +"The Three Voices," his next ambitious poem, is rather out of the realm of +childhood. A weak-minded man and a strong-minded lady met on the seashore, +she having rescued his hat from the antics of a playful breeze by pinning +it down on the sands with her umbrella, right through the center of the +soft crown. When she handed it to him in its battered state, he was +scarcely as grateful as he might have been--he was rude, in fact, + + For it had lost its shape and shine, + And it had cost him four-and-nine, + And he was going out to dine. + + "To dine!" she sneered in acid tone. + "To bend thy being to a bone + Clothed in a radiance not its own!" + + "Term it not 'radiance,'" said he: + "'Tis solid nutriment to me. + Dinner is Dinner: Tea is Tea." + + And she "Yea so? Yet wherefore cease? + Let thy scant knowledge find increase. + Say 'Men are Men, and Geese are Geese.'" + +The gentleman wanted to get away from this severe lady, but he could see +no escape, for she was getting excited. + + "To dine!" she shrieked, in dragon-wrath. + "To swallow wines all foam and froth! + To simper at a tablecloth! + + "Canst thou desire or pie or puff? + Thy well-bred manners were enough, + Without such gross material stuff." + + "Yet well-bred men," he faintly said, + "Are not unwilling to be fed: + Nor are they well without the bread." + + Her visage scorched him ere she spoke; + "There are," she said, "a kind of folk + Who have no horror of a joke. + + "Such wretches live: they take their share + Of common earth and common air: + We come across them here and there." + + "We grant them--there is no escape-- + A sort of semihuman shape + Suggestive of the manlike Ape." + +So the arguing went on--her Voice, his Voice, and the Voice of the Sea. He +tried to joke away her solemn mood with a pun. + + "The world is but a Thought," said he: + "The vast, unfathomable sea + Is but a Notion--unto me." + + And darkly fell her answer dread + Upon his unresisting head, + Like half a hundredweight of lead. + + "The Good and Great must ever shun + That reckless and abandoned one + Who stoops to perpetrate a pun. + + "The man that smokes--that reads the _Times_-- + That goes to Christmas Pantomimes-- + Is capable of _any_ crimes!" + +Anyone can understand these verses, but it is very plain that the poem is +a satire on the rise of the learned lady, who takes no interest in the +lighter, pleasanter side of life; a being much detested by Lewis Carroll, +who above all things loved a "womanly woman." As he grew older he became +somewhat precise and old-fashioned in his opinions--that is perhaps the +reason why he was so lovable. His ideals of womanhood and little girlhood +were fixed and beautiful dreams, untouched by the rush of the times. The +"new woman" puzzled and pained him quite as much as the pert, precocious, +up-to-date girl. Would there were more Lewis Carrolls in the world; quiet, +simple, old-fashioned, courteous gentlemen with ideals! + +Here is a clever little poem dedicated to girls, which he calls + +A GAME OF FIVES. + + Five little girls, of five, four, three, two, one: + Rolling on the hearthrug, full of tricks and fun. + + Five rosy girls, in years from ten to six: + Sitting down to lessons--no more time for tricks. + + Five growing girls, from fifteen to eleven: + Music, drawing, languages, and food enough for seven! + + Five winsome girls, from twenty to sixteen: + Each young man that calls I say, "Now tell me which you _mean_!" + + Five dashing girls, the youngest twenty-one: + But if nobody proposes, what is there to be done? + + Five showy girls--but thirty is an age + When girls may be _engaging_, but they somehow don't _engage_. + + Five dressy girls, of thirty-one or more: + So gracious to the shy young men they snubbed so much before! + + Five _passe_ girls. Their age? Well, never mind! + We jog along together, like the rest of human kind: + But the quondam "careless bachelor" begins to think he knows + The answer to that ancient problem "how the money goes!" + +There was no theme, in short, that Lewis Carroll did not fit into a rhyme +or a poem. Some of them were full of real feeling, others were sparkling +with nonsense, but all had their charm. No style nor meter daunted him; no +poet was too great for his clever pen to parody; no ode was too heroic for +a little earthly fun; and when the measure was rollicking the rhymer was +at his best. Of this last, _Alice's_ invitation to the Looking-Glass world +is a fair example: + + To the Looking-Glass world it was Alice that said, + "I've a scepter in hand, I've a crown on my head. + Let the Looking-Glass creatures, whatever they be, + Come and dine with the Red Queen, the White Queen, and me!" + + Then fill up the glasses as quick as you can, + And sprinkle the table with buttons and bran; + Put cats in the coffee, and mice in the tea, + And welcome Queen Alice with thirty-times-three! + + "O Looking-Glass creatures," quoth Alice, "draw near! + 'Tis an honor to see me, a favor to hear; + 'Tis a privilege high to have dinner and tea + Along with the Red Queen, the White Queen, and me!" + + Then fill up the glasses with treacle and ink, + Or anything else that is pleasant to drink; + Mix sand with the cider, and wool with the wine, + And welcome Queen Alice with ninety-times-nine! + +The real sentiment always cropped out in his verses to little girls; from +youth to age he was their "good knight and true" and all his fairest +thoughts were kept for them. Many a grown woman has carefully hoarded +among her treasures some bit of verse from Lewis Carroll, which her happy +childhood inspired him to write; but the dedication of "Alice through the +Looking-Glass" was to the unknown child, whom his book went forth to +please: + + Child of the pure, unclouded brow + And dreaming eyes of wonder! + Though time be fleet, and I and thou + Are half a life asunder, + Thy loving smile will surely hail + The love-gift of a fairy tale. + + I have not seen thy sunny face, + Nor heard thy silver laughter: + No thought of me shall find a place + In thy young life's hereafter, + Enough that now thou wilt not fail + To listen to my fairy tale. + + A tale begun in other days, + When summer suns were glowing, + A simple chime, that served to time + The rhythm of our rowing, + Whose echoes live in memory yet, + Though envious years would say "forget." + + Come, hearken then, ere voice of dread, + With bitter tidings laden, + Shall summon to unwelcome bed + A melancholy maiden! + We are but older children, dear, + Who fret to find our bedtime near. + + Without, the frost, the blinding snow, + The storm-wind's moody madness; + Within, the firelight's ruddy glow, + And childhood's nest of gladness. + The magic words shall hold thee fast; + Thou shalt not heed the raving blast. + + And though the shadow of a sigh + May tremble through the story, + For "happy summer days" gone by + And vanished summer glory, + It shall not touch, with breath of bale, + The pleasance of our fairy tale. + +These are only a meager handful of his many poems. Through his life this +gift stayed with him, with all its early spirit and freshness; the added +years but added grace and lightness to his touch, for in the "Story of +Sylvie and Bruno" there are some gems: but that is another chapter and we +shall hear them later. + +And so the years passed, and the writer of the "Alices" and the +"Jabberwocky" and "The Hunting of the Snark" and other poems fastened +himself slowly but surely into the loyal hearts of his many readers, and +the grave mathematical lecturer of Christ Church seemed just a trifle +older and graver than of yore. He was very reserved, very shy, and kept +somewhat aloof from his fellow "dons"; but let a little girl tap _ever_ so +faintly at his study door, the knock was heard, the door flung wide, +Charles Lutwidge Dodgson vanished into some inner sanctum, and Lewis +Carroll stood smiling on the threshold to welcome her with open arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +GAMES, RIDDLES, AND PROBLEMS. + + +Lewis Carroll had a mind which never rested in waking hours, and as is the +case with all such active thinkers, his hours of sleeping were often +broken by long stretches of wakefulness, during which time the thinking +machinery set itself in motion and spun out problems and riddles and odd +games and puzzles. + +"Puzzles and problems of all sorts were a delight to Mr. Dodgson," writes +Miss Beatrice Hatch in the _Strand Magazine_. "Many a sleepless night was +occupied by what he called a 'pillow problem'; in fact his mathematical +mind seemed always at work on something of the kind, and he loved to +discuss and argue a point connected with his logic, if he could but find a +willing listener. Sometimes, while paying an afternoon call, he would +borrow scraps of paper and leave neat little diagrams or word puzzles to +be worked out by his friends." + +Logic was a study of which he was very fond. After he gave up in 1881 the +lectureship of mathematics which he had held for twenty-five years he +determined to make literature a profession; to devote part of his time to +more serious study, and a fair portion to the equally fascinating work for +children. + +"In his estimation," says Miss Hatch, "logic was a most important study +for every one; no pains were spared to make it clear and interesting to +those who would consent to learn of him, either in a class that he begged +to be allowed to hold in a school or college, or to a single individual +girl who showed the smallest inclination to profit by his instructions." + +He took the greatest delight in his subject and wisely argued that all +girls should learn, not only to reason, but to reason properly--that is, +logically. With this end in view he wrote for their use a little book +which he called "The Game of Logic," and the girls, whose footsteps he had +guided in childish days through realms of nonsense, were willing in many +instances to journey with him into the byways of learning, feeling sure he +would not lead them into depths where they could not follow. The little +volume contains four chapters, and the whimsical headings show us at once +that Lewis Carroll was the author, and not Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. + + Chapter I.......New Lamps for Old. + Chapter II......Cross Questions. + Chapter III.....Crooked Answers. + Chapter IV......Hit or Miss. + +To be sure this is not a "play" book, and even as a "game" it is one which +requires a great deal of systematic thinking and reasoning. The girl who +has reached thinking and reasoning years and does not care to do either, +had better not even peep into the book; but if she is built on sturdier +lines and wishes to peep, she must do more--she must read it step by step +and study the carefully drawn diagrams, if she would follow intelligently +the clear, precise arguments. The book is dedicated-- + +TO MY CHILD-FRIEND. + + I charm in vain: for never again, + All keenly as my glance I bend, + Will memory, goddess coy, + Embody for my joy + Departed days, nor let me gaze + On thee, my Fairy Friend! + + Yet could thy face, in mystic grace, + A moment smile on me, 'twould send + Far-darting rays of light + From Heaven athwart the night, + By which to read in very deed + Thy spirit, sweetest Friend! + + So may the stream of Life's long dream + Flow gently onward to its end, + With many a floweret gay, + Adown its billowy way: + May no sigh vex nor care perplex + My loving little Friend! + +His preface is most enticing. He says: "This Game requires nine +Counters--four of one color and five of another; say four red and five +gray. Besides the nine Counters, it also requires one Player _at least_. I +am not aware of any game that can be played with _less_ than this number; +while there are several that require more; take Cricket, for instance, +which requires twenty-two. How much easier it is, when you want to play a +game, to find _one_ Player than twenty-two! At the same time, though one +Player is enough, a good deal more amusement may be got by two working at +it together, and correcting each other's mistakes. + +"A second advantage possessed by this Game is that, besides being an +endless source of amusement (the number of arguments that may be worked by +it being infinite), it will give the Players a little instruction as well. +But is there any great harm in that, so long as you get plenty of +amusement?" + +To explain the book thoroughly would take the wit and clever handling of +Lewis Carroll himself, but to the beginner of Logic a few of these +unfinished syllogisms may prove interesting: a syllogism in logical +language consists of what is known as two _Premisses_ and one +_Conclusion_, and is a very simple form of argument when you get used to +it. + +For instance, supposing someone says: "All my friends have colds"; someone +else may add: "No one can sing who has a cold"; then the third person +draws the conclusion, which is: "None of my friends can sing," and the +perfect logical argument would read as follows: + + 1. Premise--"All my friends have colds." + 2. Premise--"No one can sing who has a cold." + 3. Conclusion--"None of my friends can sing." + +That is what is called a perfect syllogism, and in Chapter IV, which he +calls _Hit or Miss_, Lewis Carroll has collected a hundred examples +containing the two _Premisses_ which need the _Conclusion_. Here are some +of them. Anyone can draw her own conclusions: + + Pain is wearisome; + No pain is eagerly wished for. + +In each case the student is required to fill up the third space. + + No bald person needs a hairbrush; + No lizards have hair. + + No unhappy people chuckle; + No happy people groan. + + All ducks waddle; + Nothing that waddles is graceful. + + Some oysters are silent; + No silent creatures are amusing. + + Umbrellas are useful on a journey; + What is useless on a journey should be left behind. + + No quadrupeds can whistle; + Some cats are quadrupeds. + + Some bald people wear wigs; + All your children have hair. + +The whole book is brimful of humor and simple everyday reasoning that the +smallest child could understand. + +Another "puzzle" book of even an earlier date is "A Tangled Tale"; this is +dedicated-- + +TO MY PUPIL. + + Beloved pupil! Tamed by thee, + Addish, Subtrac-, Multiplica-tion, + Division, Fractions, Rule of Three, + Attest the deft manipulation! + + Then onward! Let the voice of Fame, + From Age to Age repeat the story, + Till thou hast won thyself a name, + Exceeding even Euclid's glory! + +In the preface he says: "This Tale originally appeared as a serial in _The +Monthly Packet_, beginning in April, 1880. The writer's intention was to +embody in each Knot (like the medicine so deftly but ineffectually +concealed in the jam of our childhood) one or more mathematical questions, +in Arithmetic, Algebra, or Geometry, as the case might be, for the +amusement and possible edification of the fair readers of that Magazine. + + "October, 1885. L. C." + +These are regular mathematical problems and "posers," most of them, and it +seems that the readers, being more or less ambitious, set to work in right +good earnest to answer them, and sent in the solutions to the author under +assumed names, and then he produced the real problem, the real answer, and +all the best answers of the contestants. These problems were all called +_Knots_ and were told in the form of stories. + +Knot I was called _Excelsior_. It was written as a tale of adventure, and +ran as follows: + +"The ruddy glow of sunset was already fading into the somber shadows of +night, when two travelers might have been observed swiftly--at a pace of +six miles in the hour--descending the rugged side of a mountain; the +younger bounding from crag to crag with the agility of a fawn, while his +companion, whose aged limbs seemed ill at ease in the heavy chain armor +habitually worn by tourists in that district, toiled on painfully at his +side." + +Lewis Carroll is evidently imitating the style of some celebrated +writer--Henry James, most likely, who is rather fond of opening his story +with "two travelers," or perhaps Sir Walter Scott. He goes on: + +"As is always the case under such circumstances, the younger knight was +the first to break the silence. + +"'A goodly pace, I trow!' he exclaimed. 'We sped not thus in the ascent!' + +"'Goodly, indeed!' the other echoed with a groan. 'We clomb it but at +three miles in the hour.' + +"'And on the dead level our pace is--?' the younger suggested; for he was +weak in statistics, and left all such details to his aged companion. + +"'Four miles in the hour,' the other wearily replied. 'Not an ounce more,' +he added, with that love of metaphor so common in old age, 'and not a +farthing less!' + +"''Twas three hours past high noon when we left our hostelry,' the young +man said, musingly. 'We shall scarce be back by supper-time. Perchance +mine host will roundly deny us all food!' + +"'He will chide our tardy return,' was the grave reply, 'and such a rebuke +will be meet.' + +"'A brave conceit!' cried the other, with a merry laugh. 'And should we +bid him bring us yet another course, I trow his answer will be tart!' + +"'We shall but get our deserts,' sighed the older knight, who had never +seen a joke in his life, and was somewhat displeased at his companion's +untimely levity. ''Twill be nine of the clock,' he added in an undertone, +'by the time we regain our hostelry. Full many a mile have we plodded this +day!' + +"'How many? How many?' cried the eager youth, ever athirst for knowledge. + +"The old man was silent. + +"'Tell me,' he answered after a moment's thought, 'what time it was when +we stood together on yonder peak. Not exact to the minute!' he added, +hastily, reading a protest in the young man's face. 'An' thy guess be +within one poor half hour of the mark, 'tis all I ask of thy mother's son! +Then will I tell thee, true to the last inch, how far we shall have +trudged betwixt three and nine of the clock.' + +"A groan was the young man's only reply, while his convulsed features and +the deep wrinkles that chased each other across his manly brow revealed +the abyss of arithmetical agony into which one chance question had plunged +him." + +The problem in plain English is this: "Two travelers spend from three +o'clock till nine in walking along a level road, up a hill, and home +again, their pace on the level being four miles an hour, up hill three, +and down hill six. Find distance walked: also (within half an hour) the +time of reaching top of hill." + +_Answer._ "Twenty-four miles: half-past six." + +The explanation is very clear and very simple, but we will not give it +here. This first knot of "A Tangled Tale" offers attractions of its own, +for like the dream _Alice_ someone may exclaim, "A Knot! Oh, do let me +help to undo it!" + +The second problem or "Tale" is called _Eligible Apartments_, and deals +with the adventures of one _Balbus_ and his pupils, and contains two +"Knots." One is: "The Governor of ---- wants to give a _very_ small dinner +party, and he means to ask his father's brother-in-law, his brother's +father-in-law, and his brother-in-law's father, and we're to guess how +many guests there will be." The answer is _one_. Perhaps some ambitious +person will go over the ground and prove it. The second knot deals with +the _Eligible Apartments_ which _Balbus_ and his pupils were hunting. At +the end of their walk they found themselves in a square. + +"'It _is_ a Square!' was Balbus's first cry of delight as he gazed around +him. 'Beautiful! Beau-ti-ful! _And_ rectangular!' and as he plunged into +Geometry he also plunged into funny conversations with the average English +landlady, which we can better follow: + +"'Which there is _one_ room, gentlemen,' said the smiling landlady, 'and a +sweet room, too. As snug a little back room----' + +"'We will see it,' said Balbus gloomily as they followed her in. 'I knew +how it would be! One room in each house! No view I suppose.' + +"'Which indeed there _is_, gentlemen!' the landlady indignantly protested +as she drew up the blind, and indicated the back garden. + +"'Cabbages, I perceive,' said Balbus. 'Well, they're green at any rate.' + +"'Which the greens at the shops,' their hostess explained, 'are by no +means dependable upon. Here you has them on the premises, _and_ of the +best.' + +"'Does the window open?' was always Balbus's first question in testing a +lodging; and 'Does the chimney smoke?' his second. Satisfied on all +points, he secured the refusal of the room, and moved on to the next house +where they repeated the same performance, adding as an afterthought: 'Does +the cat scratch?' + +"The landlady looked around suspiciously as if to make sure the cat was +not listening. 'I will not deceive you, gentlemen,' she said, 'it _do_ +scratch, but not without you pulls its whiskers. It'll never do it,' she +repeated slowly, with a visible effort to recall the exact words between +herself and the cat, 'without you pulls its whiskers!' + +"'Much may be excused in a cat so treated,' said Balbus as they left the +house, ... leaving the landlady curtseying on the doorstep and still +murmuring to herself her parting words, as if they were a form of +blessing, 'not without you pulls its whiskers!'" + +He has given us a real Dickens atmosphere in the dialogue, but the +medicinal problem tucked into it all is too much like hard work. + +There were ten of these "Knots," each one harder than its predecessor, and +Lewis Carroll found much interest in receiving and criticising the +answers, all sent under fictitious names. + +This clever mathematician delighted in "puzzlers," and sometimes he found +a kindred soul among the guessers, which always pleased him. + +One of his favorite problems was one that as early as the days of the +_Rectory Umbrella_ he brought before his limited public. He called it +_Difficulty No. 1_. + +"Where in its passage round the earth does the day change its name?" + +This question pursued him all through his mathematical career, and the +difficulty of answering it has never lessened. Even in "A Tangled Tale" +neither Balbus nor his ambitious young pupils could do much with the +problem. + +_Difficulty No. 2_ is very humorous, and somewhat of a "catch" question. + +"Which is the best--a clock that is right only once a year, or a clock +that is right twice every day?" + +In March, 1897, _Vanity Fair_, a current English magazine, had the +following article entitled: + + _"A New Puzzle."_ + + "The readers of _Vanity Fair_ have, during the last ten years, shown + so much interest in Acrostics and Hard Cases, which were at first + made the object of sustained competition for prizes in the journal, + that it has been sought to invent for them an entirely new kind of + Puzzle, such as would interest them equally with those that have + already been so successful. The subjoined letter from Mr. Lewis + Carroll will explain itself, and will introduce a Puzzle so entirely + novel and withal so interesting that the transmutation [changing] of + the original into the final word of the Doublets may be expected to + become an occupation, to the full as amusing as the guessing of the + Double Acrostics has already proved." + + "Dear Vanity," Lewis Carroll writes:--"Just a year ago last Christmas + two young ladies, smarting under that sorest scourge of feminine + humanity, the having "nothing to do," besought me to send them "some + riddles." But riddles I had none at hand and therefore set myself to + devise some other form of verbal torture which should serve the same + purpose. The result of my meditations was a new kind of Puzzle, new + at least to me, which now that it has been fairly tested by a year's + experience, and commended by many friends, I offer to you as a newly + gathered nut to be cracked by the omnivorous teeth that have already + masticated so many of your Double Acrostics. + + "The rules of the Puzzle are simple enough. Two words are proposed, + of the same length; and the Puzzle consists in linking these together + by interposing other words, each of which shall differ from the next + word _in one letter only_. That is to say, one letter may be changed + in one of the given words, then one letter in the word so obtained, + and so on, till we arrive at the other given word. The letters must + not be interchanged among themselves, but each must keep to its own + place. As an example, the word 'head' may be changed into 'tail' by + interposing the words 'heal, teal, tell, tall.' I call the two given + words 'a Doublet,' the interposed words 'Links,' and the entire + series 'a Chain,' of which I here append an example: + + Head + heal + teal + tell + tall + Tail + + "It is perhaps needless to state that the links should be English + words, such as might be used in good society. + + "The easiest 'Doublets' are those in which the consonants in one word + answer to the consonants in the other, and the vowels to vowels; + 'head' and 'tail' constitute a Doublet of this kind. Where this is + not the case, as in 'head' and 'hare,' the first thing to be done is + to transform one member of the Doublet into a word whose consonants + and vowels shall answer to those in the other member ('head, herd, + here'), after which there is seldom much difficulty in completing the + 'Chain.'... + + "LEWIS CARROLL." + +"Doublets" was brought out in book form in 1880, and proved a very +attractive little volume. + +"The Game of Logic" and "A Tangled Tale" are also in book form, the latter +cleverly illustrated by Arthur B. Frost. + +It would take too long to name all the games and puzzles Lewis Carroll +invented. Some were carefully thought out, some were produced on the spur +of the moment, generally for the amusement of some special child friend. +Indeed, the puzzles and riddles and games had accumulated to such an +extent that he was arranging to publish a book of them with illustrations +by Miss E. Gertrude Thomson, but after his death the plans fell through, +and many literary projects were abandoned. + +Acrostic writing was one of his favorite pastimes, and he wrote enough of +these to have filled a good fat little volume. + +His Wonderland Stamp-Case, one of his own ingenious inventions, might come +under the head of "Puzzles and Problems," and, oddly enough, an +interesting description of this stamp-case was published only a short time +ago in _The Nation_. The writer describes his own copy which he bought +when it was new, some twenty years ago. There is first an envelope of red +paper, on which is printed: + + The "Wonderland" Postage Stamp-Case, + Invented by Louis Carroll, Oct. 29, 1888. + This case contains 12 separate packets for + Stamps of different values, and 2 Coloured + Pictorial Surprises, taken from "Alice in + Wonderland." It is accompanied with 8 or + 9 Wise Words about Letter-Writing. + + 1st, post-free, 13d. + +On the flap of the envelope is: + + Published by Emberlin & Son, + 4 Magdalen Street, Oxford. + +"The Stamp-Case," the writer tells us, "consists of a stiff paper folded +with the pockets on the inner leaves and a picture on each outer leaf. +This Case is inclosed in a sliding cover, and in this way the pictorial +surprise becomes possible. A picture of _Alice_ holding the _Baby_ is on +the front cover, and when this is drawn off, there is underneath a picture +of _Alice_ nursing a pig. On the back cover is the famous _Cat_, which +vanishes to a shadowy grin on the pictures beneath." + +The booklet which accompanied this little stamp-case found its way to many +of his girl friends. Now, whether they bought it, or whether, under guise +of giving a present, this clever friend of theirs sent them the stamp-case +with the "eight or nine words of advice" slyly tucked in, we cannot say, +but in the case of Isa Bowman and of Beatrice Hatch the booklet evidently +made a deep impression, for both quote from it very freely, and some of +the "wise words" are certainly worth heeding, for instance: + + "_Address and stamp the envelope._" + + "What! Before writing the letter?" + + "Most certainly; and I'll tell you what will happen if you don't. You + will go on writing till the last moment, and just in the middle of + the last sentence you will become aware that 'time's up!' Then comes + the hurried wind-up--the wildly scrawled signature--the hastily + fastened envelope which comes open in the post--the address--a mere + hieroglyphic--the horrible discovery that you've forgotten to + replenish your stamp-case--the frantic appeal to everyone in the + house to lend you a stamp--the headlong rush to the Post Office, + arriving hot and gasping, just after the box has been closed--and + finally, a week afterwards, the return of the letter from the dead + letter office, marked, 'address illegible.'" + + "_Write legibly._ + + "The average temper of the human race would be perceptibly sweetened + if everybody obeyed this rule. A great deal of bad writing in the + world comes simply from writing _too quickly_. Of course you reply, + 'I do it to save time.' A very good object no doubt; but what right + have you to do it at your friend's expense? Isn't his time as + valuable as yours? Years ago I used to receive letters from a + friend--and very interesting letters too--written in one of the most + atrocious hands ever invented. It generally took me about a week to + read one of his letters! I used to carry it about in my pocket and + take it out at leisure times to puzzle over the riddles which + composed it--holding it in different positions, till at last the + meaning of some hopeless scrawl would flash upon me, when I at once + wrote down the English under it; and when several had thus been + guessed, the context would help me with the others till at last the + whole series of hieroglyphics was deciphered. If all one's friends + wrote like that, life would be entirely spent in reading their + letters!" + + _"My Ninth Rule._--When you get to the end of a note-sheet, and find + you have more to say, take another piece of paper--a whole sheet or + a scrap, as the case may demand, but whatever you do, _don't cross_! + Remember the old proverb 'Cross-writing makes cross-reading.' 'The + _old_ proverb?' you say inquiringly. 'How old?' Why, not so _very_ + ancient, I must confess. In fact--I'm afraid I invented it while + writing this paragraph. Still, you know 'old' is a _comparative_ + term; I think you would be quite justified in addressing a chicken + just out of the shell as 'Old Boy!' _when compared_ with another + chicken that was only half out!" + + "Don't try to have the last word," he tells us--and again, "_Don't_ + fill more than a page and a half with apologies for not having + written sooner." + + "_On how to end a letter_," he advises the writer to "refer to your + correspondent's last letter, and make your winding up _at least as + friendly as his_; in fact, even if a shade more friendly, it will do + no harm." + + "When you take your letters to the post, _carry them in your hand_. + If you put them in your pocket, you will take a long country walk (I + speak from experience), passing the post office twice, going and + returning, and when you get home you will find them still in your + pocket." + +Letter-writing was as much a part of Lewis Carroll as games, and puzzles, +and problems, and mathematics, and nonsense, and little girls. Indeed, as +we view him through the stretch of years, we find him so many-sided that +he himself would have done well to draw a new geometrical figure to +represent a nature so full of strange angles and surprising shapes. If one +is fond of looking into a kaleidoscope, and watching the ever-changing +facets and colors and designs, one would be pretty apt to understand the +constant shifting of that active mind, always on the alert for new ideas, +but steady and fixed in many good old ones, which had become firm habits. + +He was fond of giving his child-friends "nuts to crack," and nothing +pleased him more than to be the center of some group of little girls, +firing his conundrums and puzzles into their minds, and watching the +bright young faces catching the glow of his thoughts. He knew just how far +to go, and when to turn some dawning idea into quaint nonsense, so that +the young mind could grasp and hold it. Dear maker of nonsense, dear +teacher and friend, dear lover of children, can they ever forget you! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A FAIRY RING OF GIRLS. + + +In a little poem called "A Sea Dirge," which Lewis Carroll wrote about +this time, we find some very strange, uncomplimentary remarks, considering +the fact that most of his vacations was spent at the seashore. Eastbourne, +in the summer time, was as much his home--during the last fifteen years of +his life--as Christ Church during the Oxford term. His pretty house in a +shady, quiet street was a familiar spot to every girl friend of his +acquaintance, and many of his closest and most interesting friendships +were begun by the sea, yet he says: + + There are certain things, as a spider, a ghost, + The income-tax, gout, an umbrella for three-- + That I hate, but the thing that I hate the most + Is a thing they call the Sea. + + Pour some salt water over the floor-- + Ugly I'm sure you'll allow it to be; + Suppose it extended a mile or more, + _That's_ very like the Sea. + + * * * * + + I had a vision of nursery maids; + Tens of thousands passed by me-- + All leading children with wooden spades, + And this way by the Sea. + + Who invented those spades of wood? + Who was it cut them out of the tree? + None, I think, but an idiot could-- + Or one that loved the Sea. + + * * * * + + If you like your coffee with sand for dregs, + A decided hint of salt in your tea, + And a fishy taste in the very eggs-- + By all means choose the Sea. + + And if, with these dainties to drink and eat, + You prefer not a vestige of grass or tree, + And a chronic state of wet in your feet, + Then--I recommend the Sea. + +Did he mean all this, we wonder, this genial gentleman, who haunted the +seashore in search of little girls, his pockets bulging with games and +puzzles? He had also a good supply of safety-pins, in case he saw someone +who wanted to wade in the sea, but whose skirts were in her way and who +had no pin handy. Then he would go gravely up to her and present her with +one of his stock. + +In the earlier days he used to go to Sandown, in the Isle of Wight, and +there he met little Gertrude Chataway, who must have been a very charming +child, for he promptly fell in love with her. This was in 1875, and, from +her description of him, he must have been a _very, very_ old +gentleman--forty-three at least. He happened to live next door to +Gertrude, and during those summer days she used to watch him with much +interest, for he had a way of throwing back his head and sniffing in the +salt air that fascinated Gertrude, whose joy bubbled over when at last he +spoke to her. The two became great friends. They used to sit for hours on +the steps of their house which led to the beach, and he would delight the +little girl with his wonderful stories, often illustrating them with a +pencil as he talked. The great charm of these stories lay in the fact that +some chance remark of Gertrude's would wind him up; some question she +asked would suggest a story, and as it spread out into "lovely nonsense" +she always felt in some way that she had helped to make it grow. + +This little girl was one of the child-friends who clung to the sweet +association all her life, just as the little Liddell girls never grew +quite away from his love and interest. It was to Gertrude that he +dedicated "The Hunting of the Snark," and she was the proud possessor not +only of his friendship, but of many interesting letters, covering a period +of at least ten years, during which time Gertrude passed from little +girlhood, though he never seemed to realize the change. + +Two of his prime favorites in the earlier days were Ellen Terry, the +well-known English actress, and her sister Kate, who was also an actress +of some note. + +Lewis Carroll, being always very fond of the drama, found it through life +his keenest delight, and it was his good fortune to see little Ellen Terry +in the first prominent part she ever took. This was in 1856, when Mr. and +Mrs. Charles Kean played in "The Winter's Tale," and Ellen took the +child's character of _Mamillius_, the little son of the King. Lewis +Carroll was carried away with the tiny actress, and it did not take him +long after that to make her acquaintance. This no doubt began in the usual +way, a chat with the child behind the scenes, a call upon her father and +mother, and, finally, an introduction to the whole family which, being +nearly as large as his own, could not fail to interest him deeply. + +There were two other little Terry girls, who attracted him and to whom he +was very kind, Florence and Marion. The boys, and there were five of them, +he never noticed of course, but the four little girls came in for a good +share of the most substantial petting. Many a day at the seaside he gave +them--these busy little actresses--many a feast in his own rooms, many a +daytime frolic, for night was their working time--not that they minded in +the least, for they loved their work. There was much talk in those days +about the harm in allowing children to act at night, when they should be +snug in their beds dreaming of fairies. But Lewis Carroll thought nothing +of the kind; he delighted in the children's acting, and he knew, being +half a child himself, that the youngsters took as much delight in their +work as he did in seeing them. He always contended that acting comes +naturally to children; from babyhood they "pretend," and if they happen, +as in Ellen Terry's case and the case of other little stage people he +knew, to be born in the profession, why, this "pretending" is the finest +kind of _play_ not _work_. So he was always on the side of the little +actors and actresses who did not want to be taken away from the theater +and put to bed. + +Ellen Terry proved also to be one of his lifelong friends; the talented +actress found his praise a most precious thing, and his criticism, always +so honest, and usually so keen and true, she accepted with the grace of +the great artist. Often, too, he asked her aid for some other girl friend +with dramatic talent, and she never failed to lend a helping hand when she +could. From first to last her acting charmed him. Often he would take a +little girl to some Shakespearean treat at the theater, and would raise +her to the "seventh heaven" of delight by penciling a note to Miss Terry +asking for an interview or perhaps a photograph for his small companion, +and these requests were never refused. + +Every Christmas the Rev. Charles Dodgson spent with his sisters, who since +their father's death had lived at Guildford, in a pretty house called _The +Chestnuts_. His coming at Christmas was always a great event, for of +course some very youthful ladies in the neighborhood were in a state of +suppressed excitement over his yearly arrival, which meant Christmas +jollity--with charades and tableaux and all sorts of odd and interesting +games, and, _of course_, stories. + +One of his special Guildford favorites was Gaynor Simpson, to whom he +wrote several of his clever letters. In one, evidently an answer to hers, +he begged her never again to leave out the g in the name Dodgson, asking +in a very plaintive manner what _she_ would think if he left out the G in +_her_ name and called her "Aynor" instead of Gaynor. + +In this same letter he confessed that he never danced except in his own +peculiar way, that the last house he danced in, the floors broke through, +but as the beams were only six inches thick, it was a very poor sort of +floor, when one came to think--that stone arches were much better for +_his_ sort of dancing. + +Indeed, the poem he wrote about the sea must have been just a bit of a +joke, for it was at Margate, another seaside resort, that he met Adelaide +Paine, another of his favorites, and to her he presented a copy of "The +Hunting of the Snark," with an acrostic on her name written on the fly +leaf. This little maid was further honored by receiving a photograph, not +of Lewis Carroll, but of Mr. Dodgson, and in a note to her mother he +begged in his usual odd way that she would never let any but her intimate +friends know anything about the name of "Lewis Carroll," as he did not +wish people who had heard of him to recognize him in the street. + +The friendships that were not cemented at the seaside or under the shelter +of old "Tom Quad" were very often begun in the railway train. English +trains are not like ours in America. In Lewis Carroll's time the +"first-class" accommodations were called _carriages_, in which four or +five people, often total strangers, were shut up for hours together, +actually locked in by the guard; and if one of these people chanced to be +Lewis Carroll, and another a restless, active little girl, why, in the +twinkling of an eye the sign of fellowship had flashed between them, and +they were friends. + +One special friend made in this fashion was a dear little maid named +Kathleen Eschwege, who stayed a child to him always during their eighteen +years of friendship, in spite of all the changes the years brought in +their train; her marriage among the rest, on which occasion he wrote her +that as he never gave wedding presents, he hoped the inclosed he sent in +his letter she would accept as an _unwedding_ present. + +This letter bore the date of January 20, 1892; five years later he wrote +to acknowledge a photograph she had sent him in January, 1892, also her +wedding-card in August of the same year. But he salved his conscience by +reminding her that a certain biscuit-box--decorated with "Looking-Glass" +pictures--which he had sent her in December, 1892, had never been +acknowledged by _her_. + +Our "don's" memory sometimes played him tricks we see, especially in later +years. On one occasion, failing to recognize someone who passed him on the +street, he was much chagrined to find out that he had been the gentleman's +guest at dinner only the night before. + +Another pleasant railway friendship was established with three little +Drury girls, as early as 1869. They did not know who he was until he sent +them a copy of "Alice in Wonderland"--with the following verse on the fly +leaf: + +TO THREE PUZZLED LITTLE GIRLS. + +(_From the Author._) + + Three little maidens weary of the rail, + Three pairs of little ears listening to a tale, + Three little hands held out in readiness + For three little puzzles very hard to guess. + Three pairs of little eyes and open wonder-wide + At three little scissors lying side by side, + Three little mouths that thanked an unknown friend + For one little book he undertook to send. + Though whether they'll remember a friend or book or day-- + In three little weeks is very hard to say. + +Edith Rix was another favorite but apparently beyond the usual age, for +his letters to her have quite a grown-up tone, and he helped her through +many girlish quandaries with his wholesome advice. + +There are scores of others--so many that their very names would mean +nothing to us unless we knew the circumstances which began the +acquaintance, and the numerous incidents which could only occur in the +company of Lewis Carroll. + +As we know, there were three great influences in his life: his reverence +for holy things, his fondness for mathematics, and his love of little +girls. It is this last trait which colors our picture of him and makes him +stand forth in our minds apart from other men of his time. There have been +many great preachers and eminent mathematicians, and these brilliant men +may have loved childhood in a certain way, but to step aside from their +high places to mingle with the children would never have occurred to them. +The small girls who were "seen and not heard" dropped their eyes bashfully +when the great ones passed, and bobbed a little old-fashioned curtsy in +return for a stately preoccupied nod. But not so Lewis Carroll. No +childish eyes ever sought his in vain. His own blue ones always smiled +back, and there was something so glowing in this smile which lit up his +whole face, that children, all unconsciously, drew near the warmth of it. + +His love for girls speaks well for the home-life and surroundings of his +earlier years, when in the company of his seven sisters he learned to know +girls pretty thoroughly. These girls of whom we have such scant knowledge +possessed, we are sure, some potent charm to make this "big brother" +forever afterwards the champion of little girls, and being a thoughtful +fellow, he must have watched with pleasure the way they bloomed from +childhood to girlhood and from girlhood to womanhood, in the sweet +seclusion of Croft Rectory. It was this intimacy and comradeship with his +sisters which made him so easily the intimate and comrade of so many +little girls, understanding all their traits and peculiarities and their +"girl nature" better sometimes than they did themselves. + +Some of his friends moved in royal circles. Princess Beatrice, who +received the second presentation copy of "Alice in Wonderland," was one of +them; but in later years the two children of the Duchess of Albany (Queen +Victoria's daughter-in-law), Alice and the young Duke, claimed his +friendship, and despite his preference for girls, Lewis Carroll could not +help liking the lad, whose gentle disposition and studious habits set him +somewhat apart from other boys. + +Near home, that is to say in Oxford, or more properly, within a stone's +throw of Christ Church itself, dwelt the Rev. E. Hatch and his bright and +interesting family of children, with all of whom Lewis Carroll was on the +most intimate terms, though his special favorite was Beatrice, better +known as Bee. This little girl came so close upon the Liddell children in +his long list of friends that she almost caught the echo of those happy +days of "Wonderland," and she has much to say about this association in +an interesting article published in the _Strand Magazine_ some years ago. + +"My earliest recollections of Mr. Dodgson," she writes, "are connected +with photography. He was very fond of this art at one time, though he had +entirely given it up for many years latterly. He kept various costumes and +'properties' with which to dress us up, and of course that added to the +fun. What child would not thoroughly enjoy personating a Japanese or a +beggar child or a gypsy or an Indian? Sometimes there were excursions to +the roof of the college, which was easily accessible from the windows of +the studio. Or you might stand by your tall friend's side in the tiny dark +room, and watch him while he poured the contents of several little +strong-smelling bottles on the glass picture of yourself that looked so +funny with its black face; and when you grew tired of this there were many +delights to be found in the cupboards in the big room downstairs. Musical +boxes of different colors and different tunes, the dear old woolly bear +that walked when he was wound up, toys, picture-books, and packets of +photographs of other children, who had also enjoyed these mornings of +bliss. + +"The following letter written to me in 1873, about a large wax doll that +Mr. Dodgson had presented to me, and which I left behind when I went on a +visit from home, is an interesting specimen. Emily and Mabel [referred to +in the letter] were other dolls of mine and known also by him, but though +they have long since departed this life, I need hardly say I still possess +_the_ doll 'Alice.' + +"'My dear Birdie: I met her just outside Tom Gate, walking very stiffly +and I think she was trying to find her way to my rooms. So I said, "Why +have you come here without Birdie?" So she said, "Birdie's gone! and +Emily's gone! and Mabel isn't kind to me!"' And two little waxy tears came +running down her cheeks. + +"Why, how stupid of me! I've never told who it was all the time! It was +your own doll. I was very glad to see her, and took her to my room, and +gave her some Vesta matches to eat, and a cup of nice melted wax to drink, +for the poor little thing was very hungry and thirsty after her long walk. +So I said, 'Come and sit by the fire and let's have a comfortable chat?' +'Oh, no! no!' she said, 'I'd _much_ rather not; you know I do melt so +_very_ easily!' And she made me take her quite to the other side of the +room, where it was _very_ cold; and then she sat on my knee and fanned +herself with a pen-wiper, because she said she was afraid the end of her +nose was beginning to melt. + +"'You have no _idea_ how careful we have to be--we dolls,' she said. 'Why, +there was a sister of mine--would you believe it?--she went up to the fire +to warm her hands, and one of her hands dropped right off! There now!' 'Of +course it dropped _right_ off,' I said, 'because it was the _right_ +hand.' 'And how do you know it was the _right_ hand, Mister Carroll?' the +doll said. So I said, 'I think it must have been the _right_ hand because +the other hand was _left_.' + +"The doll said, 'I shan't laugh. It's a very bad joke. Why, even a common +wooden doll could make a better joke than that. And besides they've made +my mouth so stiff and hard that I _can't_ laugh if I try ever so much.' +'Don't be cross about it,' I said, 'but tell me this: I'm going to give +Birdie and the other children one photograph each, whichever they choose; +which do you think Birdie will choose?' 'I don't know,' said the doll; +'you'd better ask her!' So I took her home in a hansom cab. Which would +you like, do you think? Arthur as Cupid? or Arthur and Wilfred together? +or you and Ethel as beggar children? or Ethel standing on a box? or, one +of yourself? + + "'Your affectionate friend, + "'LEWIS CARROLL.'" + +There were, as you see, special occasions when boys were accepted, or +rather tolerated, and special boys with whom he exchanged courtesies from +time to time. The little Hatch boys were favored, we cannot say for their +own small sakes, but because there were two little sisters and _their_ +feelings had to be considered. Lewis Carroll even took their pictures, and +went so far as to write a little prologue for Beatrice and her brother +Wilfred. The "grown-ups" were to give some private theatricals which the +children were to introduce in the following dialogue: + + (Enter Beatrice leading Wilfred. She leaves him at center [front], + and after going round on tiptoe to make sure they are not overheard, + returns and takes his arm.) + + B. Wiffie! I'm _sure_ that something is the matter! + All day there's been-oh, such a fuss and clatter! + Mamma's been trying on a funny dress-- + I never saw the house in such a mess! + (_Puts her arms around his neck._) + _Is_ there a secret, Wiffie? + + W. (_Shaking her off._) Yes, of course! + + B. And you won't tell it? (_Whimpers._) Then you're very cross! + (_Turns away from him and clasps her hands ecstatically._) + I'm sure of this! It's something _quite_ uncommon! + + W. (Stretching up his arms with a mock heroic air.) + Oh, Curiosity! Thy name is woman! + (_Puts his arm round her coaxingly._) + Well, Birdie, then I'll tell! (_Mysteriously._) + What should you say + If they were going to act--a little play? + + B. (_Jumping up and clapping her hands._) + I'd say, "How nice!" + + W. (_Pointing to audience._) + But will it please the rest? + + B. Oh, yes! Because, you know, they'll do their best! + (_Turns to audience._) + You'll praise them, won't you, when you've seen the play? + Just say, "How nice!" before you go away! + (_They run away hand in hand._) + +Of course the little girl had the last word, but then, as Lewis Carroll +himself would say, "Little girls usually had." + +This prologue, Miss Hatch tells us, was Lewis Carroll's only attempt in +the dramatic line, and the two tots made a pretty picture as they ran off +the stage. + +"Mr. Dodgson's chief form of entertaining," writes Miss Hatch, "was giving +dinner parties. Do not misunderstand me, nor picture to yourself a long +row of guests on either side of a gayly-decorated table. Mr. Dodgson's +theory was that it was much more enjoyable to have your friends singly, +consequently these 'dinner parties,' as he liked to call them, consisted +almost always of one guest only, and that one a child friend. One of his +charming and characteristic little notes, written in his clear writing, +often on a half sheet of note paper and signed with the C.L.D. monogram +[Monogram: CLD] would arrive, containing an invitation, of which the +following is a specimen." [Though written when Beatrice was no longer a +little girl.] + + Ch. Ch. Nov. 21, '96. + + "'MY DEAR BEE:--The reason I have for so long a time not visited the + hive is a _logical_ one," (he was busy on his symbolic _Logic_), + "'but is not (as you might imagine) that I think there is no more + honey in it! Will you come and dine with me? Any day would suit me, + and I would fetch you at 6:30. + + "'Ever your affectionate + "'C.L.D.' + +"Let us suppose this invitation has been accepted.... After turning in at +the door of No. 7 staircase, and mounting a rather steep and winding +stair, we find ourselves outside a heavy black door, of somewhat +prisonlike appearance, over which is painted 'The Rev. C. L. Dodgson.' +Then a passage, then a door with glass panels, and at last we reach the +familiar room that we love so well. It is large and lofty and extremely +cheerful-looking. All around the walls are bookcases and under them the +cupboards of which I have spoken, and which even now we long to see opened +that they may pour out their treasures. + +"Opposite to the big window with its cushioned seat is the fireplace; and +this is worthy of some notice on account of the lovely red tiles which +represent the story of 'The Hunting of the Snark.' Over the mantelpiece +hang three painted portraits of child friends, the one in the middle being +the picture of a little girl in a blue cap and coat who is carrying a pair +of skates." + +This picture is a fine likeness of Xie (Alexandra) Kitchin, the little +daughter of the Dean of Durham, another of his Oxford favorites. + +"Mr. Dodgson," continues Miss Hatch, "seats his guest in a corner of the +red sofa, in front of the fireplace, and the few minutes before dinner are +occupied with anecdotes about other child friends, small or grown up, or +anything in particular that has happened to himself.... Dinner is served +in the smaller room, which is also filled with bookcases and books.... +Those who have had the privilege of enjoying a college dinner need not be +told how excellent it is.... The rest of the evening slips away very +quickly, there is so much to be shown. You may play a game--one of Mr. +Dodgson's own invention-- ... or you may see pictures, lovely drawings of +fairies, whom your host tells you 'you can't be sure don't really exist.' +Or you may have music if you wish it." + +This was of course before the days of the phonograph, but Lewis Carroll +had the next best thing, which Miss Hatch describes as an organette, in a +large square box, through the side of which a handle is affixed. "Another +box holds the tunes, circular perforated cards, all carefully catalogued +by their owner. The picture of the author of 'Alice' keenly enjoying every +note as he solemnly turns the handle, and raises or closes the lid of the +box to vary the sound, is more worthy of your delight than the music +itself. Never was there a more delightful host for a 'dinner-party' or one +who took such pains for your entertainment, fresh and interesting to the +last." + +One of the first things a little girl learned in her intercourse with +Lewis Carroll was to be methodical and orderly, as he was himself, in the +arrangement of papers, photographs, and books; he kept lists and registers +of everything. Miss Hatch tells of a wonderful letter register of his own +invention "that not only recorded the names of his correspondents and the +dates of their letters, but also noted the contents of each communication, +so that in a few seconds he could tell you what you had written to him +about on a certain day in years gone by. + +"Another register contained a list of every menu supplied to every guest +who dined at Mr. Dodgson's table. Yet," she explains, "his dinners were +simple enough, never more than two courses. But everything that he did +must be done in the most perfect manner possible, and the same care and +attention would be given to other people's affairs, if in any way he could +assist or give them pleasure. + +"If he took you up to London to see a play, you were no sooner seated in +the railway carriage than a game was produced from his bag and all the +occupants were invited to join in playing a kind of 'Halma' or 'draughts' +of his own invention, on the little wooden board that had been specially +made at his design for railway use, with 'men' warranted not to tumble +down, because they fitted into little holes in the board." + +Children, little girls especially, remember through life the numberless +small kindnesses that are shown to them. Is it any wonder, then, that the +name of Lewis Carroll is held in such loving memory by the scores of +little girls he drew about him? Beatrice Hatch was only one among many to +feel the warmth of his love. This quiet, almost solitary, man whose home +was in the shadow of a great college, whose daily life was such a long +walk of dull routine, could yet find time to make his own sunshine and to +draw others into the light of it. + +But the children did _their_ part too. He grew dependent on them as the +years rolled on; a fairy circle of girls was always drawing him to them, +and he was made one of them. They told him their childish secrets feeling +sure of a ready sympathy and a quick appreciation. He seemed to know his +way instinctively to a girl's heart; she felt for him an affection, half +of comradeship, half of reverence, for there was something inspiring in +the fearless carriage of the head, the clear, serene look in the eyes, +that seemed to pierce far ahead upon the path over which their own young +feet were stumbling, perhaps. + +With the passing of the years, some of the seven sisters married, and a +fair crop of nieces and nephews shot up around him, also some small +cousins in whom he took a deep interest. It is to one of these that he +dedicated his poem called "Matilda Jane," in honor of the doll who bore +the name, which meant nothing in the world to such an unresponsive bit of +doll-dom. + + Matilda Jane, you never look + At any toy or picture book; + I show you pretty things in vain, + You must be blind, Matilda Jane! + + I ask you riddles, tell you tales, + But all our conversation fails; + You never answer me again, + I fear you're dumb, Matilda Jane! + + Matilda, darling, when I call, + You never seem to hear at all; + I shout with all my might and main, + But you're _so_ deaf, Matilda Jane! + + Matilda Jane, you needn't mind, + For though you're deaf and dumb and blind, + There's some one loves you, it is plain, + And that is _me_, Matilda Jane! + +A little tender-hearted, ungrammatical, motherly "_me_"--how well the +writer knew the small "Bessie" whose affection for this doll inspired the +verses! + +In after years when more serious work held him close to his study, and he +made a point of declining all invitations, he took care that no small girl +should be put on his black list. "If," says Miss Hatch, "you were very +anxious to get him to come to your house on any particular day, the only +chance was _not_ to _invite_ him, but only to inform him that you would be +at home; otherwise he would say 'As you have _invited_ me, I cannot come, +for I have made a rule to decline all _invitations_, but I will come the +next day,'" and in answer to an invitation to tea, he wrote her in his +whimsical way: + +"What an awful proposition! To drink tea from four to six would tax the +constitution even of a hardened tea-drinker. For me, who hardly ever +touches it, it would probably be fatal." + +If only we could read half the clever letters which passed between Lewis +Carroll and his girl friends, what a volume of wit and humor, of sound +common sense, of clever nonsense we should find! Yet behind it all, that +underlying seriousness which made his friendship so precious to those who +were so fortunate as to possess it. The "little girl" whose loving picture +of him tells us so much lived near him all her life; she felt his +influence in all the little things that go to make up a child's day, long +after the real childhood had passed her by. And so with all the girls who +knew and loved him, and even those to whom his name was but a suggestion +of what he really was. + +Surely this fairy ring of girls encircles the English-speaking world, the +girls whom Lewis Carroll loved, the hundreds he knew, the millions he had +never seen. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +"ALICE" ON THE STAGE AND OFF. + + +When the question of dramatizing the "Alice" books was placed before the +author, by Mr. Savile Clarke, who was to undertake the work, he consented +gladly enough. It was to be an operetta of two acts; the libretto, or +story part, by Mr. Clarke himself, the music by Mr. Walter Slaughter, and +the only condition Lewis Carroll made was that nothing should be written +or acted which should in any way be unsuitable for children. + +Of course, everything was done under his eye, and he wrote an extra song +for the ghosts of the _Oysters_, who had been eaten by the _Walrus_ and +the _Carpenter_; he also finished that poetic gem, "'Tis the Voice of the +Lobster." + + "'Tis the voice of the Lobster," I heard him declare, + "You baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair." + As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose, + Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes. + When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark + And talks with the utmost contempt of a shark; + But when the tide rises and sharks are around, + His words have a timid and tremulous sound. + + I passed by his garden, and marked with one eye + How the Owl and the Panther were sharing a pie: + The Panther took pie, crust and gravy and meat, + While the Owl had the dish, for his share of the treat. + When the pie was all finished, the Owl--as a boon + Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon; + While the Panther received knife and fork with a growl, + And concluded the banquet---- + +That is how the poem originally ended, but musically that would never do, +so the last two lines were altered in this fashion: + + "But the Panther obtained both the fork and the knife, + So when _he_ lost his temper, the Owl lost his life," + +and a rousing little song it made. + +The play was produced at the Prince of Wales' Theater, during Christmas +week of 1886, where it was a great success. Lewis Carroll himself +specially praises the Wonderland act, notably the Mad Tea Party. The +_Hatter_ was finely done by Mr. Sidney Harcourt, the _Dormouse_ by little +Dorothy d'Alcourt, aged six-and-a-half, and Phoebe Carlo, he tells us, +was a "splendid _Alice_." + +He went many times to see his "dream child" on the stage, and was always +very kind to the little actresses, whose dainty work made _his_ work such +a success. Phoebe Carlo became a very privileged young person and +enjoyed many treats of his giving, to say nothing of a personal gift of a +copy of "Alice" from the delighted author. + +After the London season, the play was taken through the English provinces +and was much appreciated wherever it went. On one occasion a company gave +a week's performance at Brighton, and Lewis Carroll happening to be there +one afternoon, came across three of the small actresses down on the beach +and spent several hours with them. "Happy, healthy little girls" he +called them, and no doubt that beautiful afternoon they had the time of +their lives. + +These children, he found--and he had made the subject quite a study--had +been acting every day in the week, and twice on the day before he met +them, and yet were energetic enough to get up each morning at seven for a +sea bath, to run races on the pier, and to be quite ready for another +performance that night. + +On December 26, 1888, there was an elaborate revival of "Alice" at the +Royal Globe Theater. In the _London Times_ the next morning appeared this +notice: + + "'Alice in Wonderland,' having failed to exhaust its popularity at + the Prince of Wales' Theater, has been revived at the Globe for a + series of matinees during the holiday season. Many members of the old + cast remain in the bill, but a new 'Alice' is presented in Miss Isa + Bowman, who is not only a wonderful actress for her years, but also a + nimble dancer. + + "In its new surroundings the fantastic scenes of the story--so + cleverly transferred from the book to the stage by Mr. Savile + Clarke--lose nothing of their original brightness and humor. 'Alice's + Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass' have the rare + charm of freshness for children and for their elders, and the many + strange personages concerned--the White Rabbit, the Caterpillar, the + Cheshire Cat, the Hatter, the Dormouse, the Gryphon, the Mock Turtle, + the Red and White Kings and Queens, the Walrus, Humpty-Dumpty, + Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and all the rest of them--being seen at + home, so to speak, and not on parade as in an ordinary pantomime. + Even the dreaded Jabberwock pays an unconventional visit to the + company from the 'flies,' and his appearance will not be readily + forgotten. As before, Mr. Walter Slaughter's music is an agreeable + element to the performance...." + +The programme of this performance certainly spreads a feast before the +children's eyes. First of all, think of a forest in autumn! (They had to +change the season a little to get the bright colors of red and yellow.) +Here it is that _Alice_ falls asleep and the Elves sing to her. Then there +is the awakening in Wonderland--such a Wonderland as few children dreamed +of. And then all our favorites appear and do just the things we always +thought they would do if they had the chance. The _Cheshire Cat_ grins and +vanishes, and then the grin appears without the cat, and then the cat +grows behind the grin, and everything is so impossible and wonderful that +one shivers with delight. There is a good old fairy tale that every child +knows; it is called "Oh! if I could but shiver!" and everyone who really +enjoys a fairy tale understands the feeling--the delight of shivering--to +see the Jabberwock pass before you in all his terrifying, delicious +ugliness, flapping his huge wings, rolling his bulging eyes, and opening +and shutting those dreadful jaws of his; and yet to know he isn't +"_really, real_" any more than Sir John Tenniel's picture of him in the +dear old "Alice" book at home, that you can actually go with _Alice_ +straight into Wonderland and back again, safe and sound, and really see +what happened just as she did, and actually squeeze through into +Looking-Glass Land, all made so delightfully possible by clever scenery +and acting. + +A more charming, dainty little "Alice" never danced herself into the heart +of anyone as Isa Bowman did into the heart of Lewis Carroll. She came into +his life when all of his best-beloved children had passed forever beyond +the portals of childhood, never to return; loved more in these later days +for the memory of what they had been. But here was a child who aroused all +the associations of earlier years, who had made "Alice" real again, whose +clever acting gave just that dreamlike, elfin touch which the real Alice +of Long Ago had suggested; a sweet-natured, lovable, most attractive +child, the child perhaps who won his deepest affections because she came +to him when the others had vanished, and clung to him in the twilight. + +There must have been several little Bowmans. We know of four little +sisters--Isa, Emsie, Nellie, and Maggie, and Master Charles Bowman was the +_Cheshire Cat_ in the revival of "Alice in Wonderland," and to all of +these--we are considering the girls of course, the boy never +counted--Lewis Carroll showed his sweetest, most lovable side. They called +him "Uncle," and a more devoted uncle they could not possibly have found. +As for Isa herself, there was a special niche all her own; she was, as he +often told her, "_his_ little girl," and in a loving memoir of him she has +given to the world of children a beautiful picture of what he really was. + +There was something in the grip of his firm white hands, in his glance so +deeply sympathetic, so tender and kind, that always stirred the little +girl just as her sharp eyes noted a certain peculiarity in his walk. His +stammer also impressed her, for it generally came when he least expected +it, and though he tried all his life to cure it, he never succeeded. + +His shyness, too, was very noticeable, not so much with children, except +just at first until he knew them well, but with grown people he was, as +she put it, "almost old-maidishly prim in his manner." This shyness was +shown in many ways, particularly in a morbid horror of having his picture +taken. As fond as he was of taking other people, he dreaded seeing his own +photograph among strangers, and once when Isa herself made a caricature of +him, he suddenly got up from his seat, took the drawing out of her hands, +tore it in small pieces and threw it into the fire without a word; then he +caught the frightened little girl in his strong arms and kissed her +passionately, his face, at first so flushed and angry, softening with a +tender light. + +Many and many a happy time she spent with him at Oxford. He found rooms +for her just outside the college gates, and a nice comfortable dame to +take charge of her. The long happy days were spent in his rooms, and every +night at nine she was taken over to the little house in St. Aldates ("St. +Olds") and put to bed by the landlady. + +In the morning the deep notes of "Great Tom" woke her and then began +another lovely day with her "Uncle." She speaks of two tiny turret rooms, +one on each side of his staircase in Christ Church. "He used to tell me," +she writes, "that when I grew up and became married, he would give me the +two little rooms, so that if I ever disagreed with my husband, we could +each of us retire to a turret until we had made up our quarrel." + +She, too, was fascinated by his collection of music-boxes, the finest, she +thought, to be found anywhere in the world. "There were big black ebony +boxes with glass tops, through which you could see all the works. There +was a big box with a handle, which it was quite hard exercise for a little +girl to turn, and there must have been twenty or thirty little ones which +could only play one tune. Sometimes one of the musical boxes would not +play properly and then I always got tremendously excited. Uncle used to +go to a drawer in the table and produce a box of little screw-drivers and +punches, and while I sat on his knee, he would unscrew the lid and take +out the wheels to see what was the matter. He must have been a clever +mechanist, for the result was always the same--after a longer or shorter +period, the music began again. Sometimes, when the musical boxes had +played all their tunes, he used to put them in the box backwards, and was +as pleased as I was at the comic effect of the music 'standing on its +head,' as he phrased it. + +"There was another and very wonderful toy which he sometimes produced for +me, and this was known as 'The Bat.' The ceilings of the rooms in which he +lived were very high, indeed, and admirably suited for the purposes of +'The Bat.' It was an ingeniously constructed toy of gauze and wire, which +actually flew about the room like a bat. It was worked by a piece of +twisted elastic, and it could fly for about half a minute. I was always a +little afraid of this toy because it was too lifelike, but there was a +fearful joy in it. When the music boxes began to pall, he would get up +from his chair and look at me with a knowing smile. I always knew what was +coming, even before he began to speak, and I used to dance up and down in +tremendous anticipation. + +"'Isa, my darling,' he would say, 'once upon a time there was someone +called Bob, the Bat! and he lived in the top left-hand drawer of the +writing table. What could he do when Uncle wound him up?'" + +"And then I would squeak out breathlessly: 'He could really _fly_!'" + +And Bob the Bat had many wonderful adventures. She tells us how, on a hot +summer morning when the window was wide open, Bob flew out into the garden +and landed in a bowl of salad that one of the servants was carrying to +someone's room. The poor fellow was so frightened by this sudden +apparition that he promptly dropped the bowl, breaking it into countless +pieces. + +Lewis Carroll never liked "his little girl" to exaggerate. "I remember," +she tells us, "how annoyed he once was when, after a morning's sea bathing +at Eastbourne, I exclaimed: 'Oh, this salt water, it always makes my hair +as stiff as a poker!' + +"He impressed upon me quite irritably that no little girl's hair could +ever possibly get as _stiff as a poker_. 'If you had said "as stiff as +wires" it would have been more like it, but even that would have been an +exaggeration.' And then seeing I was a little frightened, he drew for me a +picture of 'The little girl called Isa, whose hair turned into pokers +because she was always exaggerating things.' + +"'I nearly died of laughing' was another expression that he particularly +disliked; in fact, any form of exaggeration generally called from him a +reproof, though he was sometimes content to make fun. For instance, my +sisters and I had sent him 'millions of kisses' in a letter.' Here is his +answer: + + "'Ch. Ch. Oxford. Ap. 14, 1890. + + "'MY OWN DARLING: + + "'It's all very well for you and Nellie and Emsie to write in + millions of hugs and kisses, but please consider the _time_ it would + occupy your poor old very busy uncle! Try hugging and kissing Emsie + for a minute by the watch and I don't think you'll manage it more + than 20 times a minute. "Millions" must mean two millions at least.'" + + Then follows a characteristic example in arithmetic: + + 20)2,000,000 hugs and kisses. + ------------ + 60)100,000 minutes. + ---------- + 12)1,666 hours. + -------- + 6)138 days (at twelve hours a day). + ----- + 23 weeks. + + "I couldn't go on hugging and kissing more than 12 hours a day; and I + wouldn't like to spend _Sundays_ that way. So you see it would take + _23_ weeks of hard work. Really, my dear child, I cannot spare the + time. + + "Why haven't I written since my last letter? Why, how could I have + written _since the last time I did_ write? Now you just try it with + kissing. Go and kiss Nellie, from me, several times, and take care to + manage it so as to have kissed her _since the last time you did_ kiss + her. Now go back to your place and I'll question you. + + "'Have you kissed her several times?' + + "'Yes, darling Uncle.' + + "'What o'clock was it when you gave her the _last_ kiss?' + + "'Five minutes past 10, Uncle.' + + "'Very well, now, have you kissed her _since_?' + + "'Well--I--ahem! ahem! ahem! (excuse me, Uncle, I've got a bad cough) + I--think--that--I--that is, you know, I--' + + "'Yes, I see! "Isa" begins with "I," and it seems to me as if she was + going to _end_ with "I" _this_ time!'" + + The rest of the letter refers to Isa's visit to America, when she + went to play the little _Duke of York_ in "Richard III." + + "Mind you don't write me from there," he warns her. "Please, + _please_, no more horrid letters from you! I _do_ hate them so! And + as for kissing them when I get them, why, I'd just as soon + kiss--kiss--kiss--_you_, you tiresome thing! So there now! + + "Thank you very much for those 2 photographs--I liked + them--hum--_pretty_ well. I can't honestly say I thought them the + very best I had ever seen. + + "Please give my kindest regards to your mother, and 1/2 of a kiss to + Nellie, and 1/200 of a kiss to Emsie, 1/2000000 of a kiss to + yourself. So with fondest love, I am, my darling, + + "Your loving Uncle, + "C. L. DODGSON." + +And at the end of this letter, teeming with fun and laughter, could +anything be sweeter than this postscript? + +"I've thought about that little prayer you asked me to write for Nellie +and Emsie. But I would like first to have the words of the one I wrote for +_you_, and the words of what they say _now_, if they say any. And then I +will pray to our Heavenly Father to help me to write a prayer that will be +really fit for them to use." + +In letter-writing, and even in his story-telling, Lewis Carroll made +frequent use of italics. His own speech was so emphatic that his writing +would have looked odd without them, and many of his cleverest bits of +nonsense would have been lost but for their aid. + +Another time Isa ended a letter to him with "All join me in lufs and +kisses." Now Miss Isa was away on a visit and had no one near to join her +in such a message, but that is what she would have put had she been at +home, and this is the letter he wrote in reply: + + "7 Lushington Road, Eastbourne, + "Aug. 30, '90. + + "Oh, you naughty, naughty, bad, wicked little girl! You forgot to put + a stamp on your letter, and your poor old Uncle had to pay + _Twopence_! His _last_ Twopence! Think of that. I shall punish you + severely for this, once I get you here. So tremble! Do you hear? Be + good enough to tremble! + + "I've only time for one question to-day. Who in the world are the + 'all' that join you in 'lufs and kisses'? Weren't you fancying you + were at home and sending messages (as people constantly do) from + Nellie and Emsie, without their having given any? It isn't a good + plan--that sending messages people haven't given. I don't mean it's + in the least _untruthful_, because everybody knows how commonly they + are sent without having been given; but it lessens the pleasure of + receiving messages. My sisters write to me 'with best love from all.' + I know it isn't true, so don't value it much. The other day the + husband of one of my 'child-friends' (who always writes 'your + loving') wrote to me and ended with 'Ethel joins me in kindest + regards.' In my answer I said (of course in fun)--'I am not going to + send Ethel kindest regards, so I won't send her any message _at + all_.' Then she wrote to say she didn't even know he was writing. 'Of + course I would have sent best love,' and she added that she had + given her husband a piece of her mind. Poor Husband! + + "Your always loving Uncle, + "C.L.D." + +These initials were always joined as a monogram and written backward, +thus, [Monogram: CLD], which no doubt, after the years of practice he had, +he dashed off with an easy flourish. His general writing was not very +legible, but when he was writing for the press he was very careful. "Why +should the printers have to work overtime because my letters are +ill-formed and my words run into each other?" he once said, and Miss +Bowman has put in her little volume the facsimile of a diary he once wrote +for her, where every letter was carefully formed so that Isa could read +every word herself. + +"They were happy days," she writes, "those days in Oxford, spent with the +most fascinating companion that a child could have. In our walks about the +old town, in our visits to the Cathedral or Chapel Hall, in our visits to +his friends, he was an ideal companion, but I think I was always happiest +when we came back to his rooms and had tea alone; when the fire glow (it +was always winter when I stayed in Oxford) threw fantastic shadows about +the quaint room, and the thoughts of the prosiest people must have +wandered a little into fairyland. The shifting firelight seemed almost to +etherealize that kindly face, and as the wonderful stories fell from his +lips, and his eyes lighted on me with the sweetest smile that ever a man +wore, I was conscious of a love and reverence for Charles Dodgson that +became nearly an adoration." + +"He was very particular," she tells us, "about his tea, which he always +made himself, and in order that it should draw properly he would walk +about the room, swinging the teapot from side to side, for exactly ten +minutes. The idea of the grave professor promenading his book-lined study +and carefully waving a teapot to and fro may seem ridiculous, but all the +minutiae of life received an extreme attention at his hands." + +The diary referred to, which he so carefully printed for Isa, covered +several days' visit to Oxford in 1888, which oddly enough happened to be +in midsummer, and being her first, was never forgotten. It was written in +six "chapters" and jotted down faithfully the happenings of each day. What +little girl could resist the feast of fun and frolic he had planned for +those happy days! + +First, he met her at Paddington station; then he took her to see a +panorama of the Falls of Niagara, after which they had dinner with a Mrs. +Dymes, and two of her children, Helen and Maud, went with them to Terry's +Theater to see "Little Lord Fauntleroy" played by Vera Beringer, another +little actress friend of Lewis Carroll. After this they all took the +Metropolitan railway; the little Dymes girls got off at their station, but +Isa and the Aged Aged Man, as he called himself, went on to Oxford. There +they saw everything to be seen, beginning with Christ Church, where the +"A.A.M." lived, and here and there Lewis Carroll managed to throw bits of +history into the funny little diary. They saw all the colleges, and Christ +Church Meadow, and the barges which the Oxford crews used as boathouses, +and took long walks, and went to St. Mary's Church on Sunday, and lots of +other interesting things. + +Every year she stayed a while with him at Eastbourne, where she tells us +she was even happier if possible. Her day at Eastbourne began very early. +Her room faced his, and after she was dressed in the morning she would +steal into the little passage quiet as a mouse, and sit on the top stair, +her eye on his closed door, watching for the signal of admission into his +room; this was a newspaper pushed under his door. The moment she saw that, +she was at liberty to rush in and fling herself upon him, after which +excitement they went down to breakfast. Then he read a chapter from the +Bible and made her tell it to him afterwards as a story of her own, +beginning always with, "Once upon a time." After which there was a daily +visit to the swimming-bath followed by one to the dentist--he always +insisted on this, going himself quite as regularly. + +After lunch, which with him consisted of a glass of sherry and a biscuit, +while little Miss Isa ate a good substantial dinner, there was a game of +backgammon, of which he was very fond, and then a long, long walk to the +top of Beachy Head, which Isa hated. She says: + +"Lewis Carroll believed very much in a great amount of exercise, and said +one should always go to bed physically wearied with the exercise of the +day. Accordingly, there was no way out of it, and every afternoon I had to +walk to the top of Beachy Head. He was very good and kind. He would invent +all sorts of new games to beguile the tedium of the way. One very curious +and strange trait in his character was shown in these walks. I used to be +very fond of flowers and animals also. A pretty dog or a hedge of +honeysuckle was always a pleasant event upon our walk to me. And yet he +himself cared for neither flowers nor animals. Tender and kind as he was, +simple and unassuming in all his tastes, yet he did not like flowers.... +He knew children so thoroughly and well, that it is all the stranger that +he did not care for things that generally attract them so much.... When I +was in raptures over a poppy or a dog-rose, he would try hard to be as +interested as I was, but even to my childish eyes it was an effort, and he +would always rather invent some new game for us to play at. Once, and once +only, I remember him to have taken an interest in a flower, and that was +because of the folklore that was attached to it, and not because of the +beauty of the flower itself. + +"... One day while we sat under a great tree, and the hum of the myriad +insect life rivaled the murmur of the far-away waves, he took a foxglove +from the heap that lay in my lap, and told me the story of how it came by +its name; how in the old days, when all over England there were great +forests, like the forest of Arden that Shakespeare loved, the pixies, the +'little folks,' used to wander at night in the glades, like Titania and +Oberon and Puck, and because they took great pride in their dainty hands +they made themselves gloves out of the flowers. So the particular flower +that the 'little folks' used came to be called 'folks' gloves.' Then, +because the country people were rough and clumsy in their talk, the name +was shortened into 'foxgloves,' the name that everyone uses now." + +This special walk always ended in the coastguard's house, where they +partook of tea and rock cake, and here most of his prettiest stories were +told. The most thrilling part occurred when "the children came to a deep +dark wood," always described with a solemn dropping of the voice; by that +Isa knew that the exciting part was coming, then she crept nearer to him, +and he held her close while he finished the tale. Isa, as was quite +natural, was a most dramatic little person, so she always knew what +emotions would suit the occasion, and used them like the clever little +actress that she was. + +We find something very beautiful in this intimacy between the grave +scholar and the light-hearted, innocent little girl, who used to love to +watch him in some of those deep silences which neither cared to break. +This small maid understood his every mood. A beautiful sunset, she tells +us, touched him deeply. He would take off his hat and let the wind toss +his hair, and look seaward with a very grave face. Once she saw tears in +his eyes, and he gripped her hand very hard as they turned away. + +Perhaps, what caught her childish fancy more than anything else, was his +observance of Sunday. He always took Isa twice to church, and she went +because she wanted to go; he did not believe in forcing children in such +matters, but he made a point of slipping some interesting little book in +his pocket, so in case she got tired, or the sermon was beyond her, she +would have something pleasant to do instead of staring idly about the +church or falling asleep, which was just as bad. Another peculiarity, she +tells us, was his habit of keeping seated at the entrance of the choir. He +contended that the rising of the congregation made the choir-boys +conceited. + +One could go on telling anecdotes of Lewis Carroll and this well-beloved +child, but of a truth his own letters will show far better than any +description how he regarded this "star" child of his. So far as her acting +went, he never spared either praise or criticism where he thought it just. +Here is a letter criticising her acting as the little _Duke of York_: + + "Ch. Ch. Oxford. Ap. 4, '89. + + "MY LORD DUKE:--The photographs your Grace did me the honor of + sending arrived safely; and I can assure your Royal Highness that I + am very glad to have them, and like them _very_ much, particularly + the large head of your late Royal Uncle's little, little son. I do + not wonder that your excellent Uncle Richard should say 'off with his + head' as a hint to the photographer to print it off. Would your + Highness like me to go on calling you the Duke of York, or shall I + say 'my own darling Isa'? Which do you like best? + + "Now, I'm gong to find fault with my pet about her acting. What's the + good of an old Uncle like me except to find fault?" + + Then follows some excellent criticism on the proper emphasis of + words, explained so that the smallest child could understand; he also + notes some mispronounced words, and then he adds: + + "One thing more. (What an impertinent uncle! Always finding fault!) + You're not as _natural_ when acting the Duke as you were when you + acted Alice. You seemed to me not to forget _yourself_ enough. It was + not so much a real prince talking to his brother and uncle; it was + Isa Bowman talking to people she didn't care much about, for an + audience to listen to. I don't mean it was that all _through_, but + _sometimes_ you were _artificial_. Now, don't be jealous of Miss + Hatton when I say she was _sweetly_ natural. She looked and spoke + like a real Prince of Wales. And she didn't seem to know there was + any audience. If you ever get to be a _good_ actress (as I hope you + will) you must learn to forget 'Isa' altogether, and _be_ the + character you are playing. Try to think 'This is _really_ the Prince + of Wales. I'm his little brother and I'm _very_ glad to meet him, and + I love him _very_ much, and this is _really_ my uncle; he is very + kind and lets me say saucy things to him,' and _do_ forget that + there's anybody else listening! + + "My sweet pet, I _hope_ you won't be offended with me for saying what + I fancy might make your acting better. + + "Your loving old Uncle, + "CHARLES. + + "X for Nellie. + "X for Maggie. + "X for Emsie. + "X for Isa." + +The crosses were unmistakably kisses. He was certainly a most affectionate +"Uncle." He rarely signed his name "Charles." It was only on special +occasions and to very "special" people. + +Here is another letter written to Isa's sister Nellie, thanking her for a +"tidy" she made him. (He called it an Antimacassar.) "The only ordinary +thing about it," Isa tells us, "is the date." The letter reads backward. +One has to begin at the very bottom and read up, instead of reading from +the top downward: + + "Nov. 1, 1891. + + "C.L.D., Uncle loving your! Instead grandson his to it give to had + you that so, years 80 or 70 for it forgot you that was it pity a what + and; him of fond so were you wonder don't I and, gentleman old nice + very a was he. For it made you that _him_ been have _must_ it see you + so: _Grandfather_ my was, _then_ alive was that, 'Dodgson Uncle' only + the, born was _I_ before long was that see you then But. 'Dodgson + Uncle for pretty thing some make I'll now,' it began you when + yourself to said you that, me telling her without, knew I course of + and: ago years many great a it made had you said she. Me told Isa + what from was it? For meant was it who out made I how know you do! + Lasted has it well how and Grandfather my for made had you + Antimacassar pretty that me give to you of nice so was it, Nellie + dear my." + +He had often written a looking-glass letter which could only be read by +holding it up to a mirror, but this sort of writing was a new departure. + +In one of her letters Isa sent "sacks full of love and baskets full of +kisses." + +"How badly you _do_ spell your words!" he answered her. "I _was_ so +puzzled about the 'sacks full of love and baskets full of kisses.' But at +last I made out that, of course, you meant a 'sack full of _gloves_ and a +basket full of _kittens_.'" Then he composed a regular nonsense story on +the subject. Isa and her sisters called it the "glove and kitten letter" +and read it over and over with much delight, for it was full of quaint +fancies, such as Lewis Carroll loved to shower upon the children. + +When "Bootle's Baby" was put upon the stage, Maggie Bowman, though but a +tiny child, played the part of _Mignon_, the little lost girl, who walked +into the hearts of the soldiers, and especially one young fellow, to whom +she clung most of all. Lewis Carroll, besides taking a personal interest +in Maggie herself, was charmed with the play, which appealed to him +strongly, so when little Maggie came to Oxford with the company she was +treated like a queen. She stayed four days, during which time her "Uncle" +took her to see everything worth looking at, and made a rhyming diary for +her which he called-- + +MAGGIE'S VISIT TO OXFORD. + + When Maggie once to Oxford came + On tour as "Bootle's Baby," + She said: "I'll see this place of fame, + However dull the day be!" + + So with her friend she visited + The sights that it was rich in, + And first of all she poked her head + Inside the Christ Church Kitchen. + + The cooks around that little child + Stood waiting in a ring; + And every time that Maggie smiled, + Those cooks began to sing-- + Shouting the Battle-cry of Freedom! + + "Roast, boil, and bake, + For Maggie's sake! + Bring cutlets fine + For _her_ to dine; + Meringues so sweet + For _her_ to eat-- + For Maggie may be + Bootle's Baby." + +There are a great many verses describing her walks and what she saw, among +other wonders "a lovely Pussy Cat." + + And everywhere that Maggie went + That Cat was sure to go-- + Shouting the Battle-cry of Freedom! + + "Miaow! Miaow! + Come make your bow! + Take off your hats, + Ye Pussy Cats! + And purr and purr + To welcome _her_-- + For Maggie may be + Bootle's Baby!" + + So back to Christ Church-not too late + For them to go and see + A Christ Church Undergraduate, + Who gave them cakes and tea. + + * * * * + + In Magdalen Park the deer are wild + With joy that Maggie brings + Some bread, a friend had given the child, + To feed the pretty things. + + They flock round Maggie without fear, + They breakfast and they lunch, + They dine, they sup, those happy deer-- + Still as they munch and munch, + Shouting the Battle-cry of Freedom! + + "Yes, deer are we, + And dear is she. + We love this child + So sweet and mild: + We all are fed + With Maggie's bread-- + For Maggie may be + Bootle's Baby!" + + * * * * + + They met a Bishop on their way-- + A Bishop large as life-- + With loving smile that seemed to say + "Will Maggie be my wife?" + + Maggie thought _not_, because you see + She was so _very_ young, + And he was old as old could be-- + So Maggie held her tongue. + + "My Lord, she's Bootle's Baby; we + Are going up and down," + Her friend explained, "that she may see + The sights of Oxford-town." + + "Now, say what kind of place it is!" + The Bishop gayly cried, + "The best place in the Provinces!" + The little maid replied. + + * * * * + + Away next morning Maggie went + From Oxford-town; but yet + The happy hours she there had spent + She could not soon forget. + + * * * * + + "Oxford, good-bye! + She seemed to sigh, + You dear old City + With gardens pretty, + And lawns and flowers + And College towers, + And Tom's great Bell, + Farewell! farewell! + For Maggie may be + Bootle's Baby!" + +Here is just a piece of a letter which shows that Lewis Carroll could +tease when he liked. It is evident that Isa washed to buy the "Alice" book +in French, to give to a friend, so she naively wrote to headquarters to +ask the price. This is the reply: + + "Eastbourne. + + "MY OWN DARLING ISA,--The value of a copy of the French 'Alice' is + L45: but, as you want the 'cheapest' kind, and as you are a great + friend of mine, and as I am of a very noble, generous disposition, I + have made up my mind to a _great_ sacrifice, and have taken L3, 10s, + 0d, off the price, so that you do not owe me more than L41, 10s, 0d, + and this you can pay me, in gold or bank notes, _as soon as you ever + like_. Oh, dear! I wonder why I write such nonsense! Can you explain + to me, my pet, how it happens that when I take up my pen to write a + letter to _you_, it won't write sense. Do you think the rule is that + when the pen finds it has to write to a nonsensical, good-for-nothing + child it sets to work to write a nonsensical, good-for-nothing + letter? Well, now I'll tell you the real truth. As Miss Kitty Wilson + is a dear friend of yours, of course she's a _sort_ of a friend of + mine. So I thought (in my vanity) 'perhaps she would like to have a + copy "from the author" with her name written in it.' So I sent her + one--but I hope she'll understand that I do it because she's _your_ + friend, for you see I had never _heard_ of her before; so I wouldn't + have any other reason." + +When he published his last long story, "Sylvie and Bruno," the dedication +was to her, an acrostic on her name; but as "Sylvie and Bruno" will be +spoken of later on, perhaps it will be more interesting to give the dainty +little verses where they belong. He sent his pet a specially bound copy of +the new book, with the following letter: + + "Christ Church, May 16, '90. + + "DEAREST ISA:--I had this bound for you when the book first came out, + and it's been waiting here ever since Dec. 17, for I really didn't + dare to send it across the Atlantic--the whales are _so_ + inconsiderate. They'd have been sure to want to borrow it to show to + the little whales, quite forgetting that the salt water would be sure + to spoil it. + + "Also I've been waiting for you to get back to send Emsie the + 'Nursery Alice.' I give it to the youngest in a family generally, but + I've given one to Maggie as well, because she travels about so much, + and I thought she would like to have one to take with her. I hope + Nellie's eyes won't get _quite_ green with jealousy at two (indeed + three) of her sisters getting presents, and nothing for her! I've + nothing but my love to send her to-day, but she shall have _something + some_ day.--Ever your loving + + "UNCLE CHARLES." + +The "Nursery Alice" he refers to was arranged by himself for children +"from naught to five" as he quaintly puts it. It contained twenty +beautiful colored drawings from the Tenniel illustrations, with a cover +designed by E. Gertrude Thomson, of whose work he was very fond. The words +were simplified for nursery readers. + +In another letter to Isa he talks very seriously about "social position." + +"Ladies," he writes, "have to be _much_ more particular in observing the +distinctions of what is called 'social position,' and the _lower_ their +own position is (in the scale of 'lady' ship) the more jealous they seem +to be in guarding it.... Not long ago I was staying in a house with a +young lady (about twenty years old I should think) with a title of her +own, as she was an earl's daughter. I happened to sit next to her at +dinner, and every time I spoke to her she looked at me more as if she was +looking down on me from about a mile up in the air, and as if she was +saying to herself, 'How _dare_ you speak to _me_! Why you're not good +enough to black my shoes!' It was so unpleasant that next day at luncheon +I got as far from her as I could. + +"Of course we are all _quite_ equal in God's sight, but we _do_ make a lot +of distinctions (some of them quite unmeaning) among ourselves!" + +However, he was not always so unfortunate among great people, the "truly +great" that is. In Lord Salisbury's house he was always a welcome and +honored guest, for in a letter to "his little girl" from Hatfield House he +tells her of the Duchess of Albany and her two children. + +"She is the widow of Prince Leopold (the Queen's youngest son), so her +children are a Prince and a Princess; the girl is Alice, but I don't know +the boy's Christian name; they call him 'Albany' because he is the Duke of +Albany. + +"Now that I have made friends with a real live little Princess, I don't +intend ever to _speak_ to children who haven't any titles. In fact, I'm so +proud, and I hold my chin so high, that I shouldn't even _see_ you if we +met! No, darlings, you mustn't believe _that_. If I made friends with a +_dozen_ Princesses, I would love you better than all of them together, +even if I had them all rolled up into a sort of child-roly-poly. + +"Love to Nellie and Emsie.--Your loving Uncle, + + "C.L.D. + "XXXXXXX + "[kisses]." + +Nothing could give us a better glimpse of the wholesome nature of this +quiet "don" of ours than these letters to a little child; a wholesome +child like himself, whose every emotion was to him like the page of some +fairy book, to be read and read again. Isa Bowman could not know, child as +she was, _what_ she was to this man, who with all his busy life, and all +his gifts and talents, and all his many friendships, was so curiously +lonely. But later, when she was grown, and wrote the little book of +memories from which we have drawn so many sweet lessons, she doubtless +realized, as she rolled back the years, what they had been to her--and +what to Lewis Carroll. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A TRIP WITH SYLVIE AND BRUNO. + + + Is all our life, then, but a dream, + Seen faintly in the golden gleam + Athwart Time's dark resistless stream? + + Bowed to the earth with bitter woe, + Or laughing at some raree-show, + We flitter idly to and fro. + + Man's little day in haste we spend, + And from its merry noontide send + No glance to meet the silent end. + +This beautiful dedication to little Isa Bowman, on the front page of +"Sylvie and Bruno," was much prized by her on account of the double +acrostic cleverly woven in the lines. The first letter of each line read +downward was one way she could see her name, and the first three letters +in the first line of each verse was another, but naturally the +light-hearted child missed the note of deep sadness underlying the tuneful +words. Lewis Carroll had reached that milestone in a man's life, _not_ +when he pauses to look backward, but when his one desire is to press +forward to the heights--to the goal. His thoughts were not so much colored +by memories of earlier years as by anticipation, even dreams of what the +future might hold. Therefore, in our trip with _Sylvie_ and _Bruno_ into +the realms of dreamland, we must bear in mind in reading the story that +the _man_ is the dreamer, and not the _children_, nor does he see _quite_ +through their eyes in his views of men and things. Children, as a rule, +live in the present; neither the past nor the future perplexes them, and +"Mister Sir," as little _Bruno_ called their friend, the Dreamer, looked +on these fairy children, dainty _Sylvie_ and graceful _Bruno_, as gleams +of light in his shadowy way, little passing gleams, as elusive as they +were brilliant. + +The day of the irresponsible, bubbling nonsense is over; we catch flashes +of it now and then, but the fun is forced, and however much of a dear +_Sylvie_ may be, and however much of a darling _Bruno_ may be, they are +not _quite_ natural. + +In a very long and very serious preface, wholly unlike his usual style, +the author tells us something of the history of the book. As early as 1867 +the idea of "Sylvie and Bruno" first came to him in the shape of a little +fairy tale which he wrote for _Aunt Judy's Magazine_, but it was not until +long after the publication of "Alice Through the Looking-Glass" that he +determined to turn the adventures of these fairy children into something +more than stray stories. The public, at least, the insatiable children, +wanted something more from him, and as the second "Alice" had been so +satisfactory, he decided to venture again into the dream-world; he would +not hurry about it; he would take his time; he would pluck a flower here +and there as the years passed, and press it for safe-keeping; he would +create something poetic and beautiful in the way of children, culled from +the best of all the children he ever knew. This work should be a gem, cut +and polished until its luster eclipsed all other work of his. + +And so from 1874 to 1889, a period of fifteen years, he jotted down quaint +fancies and bits of dialogue which he thought would work well into the +story. During this interval he passed from the prime of life into serious +middle age, though there was so little change in his outward living and in +his general appearance (he was always very boyish-looking) that even he +himself failed to recognize the gulf of time between forty-two and +fifty-seven. + +In this interval he had become deeply interested in the study of logic and +when he began to gather together the mass of material he had collected for +his book, he found so much matter which stepped outside of childish realms +that he decided to please both the "grown-ups" and the youngsters by +weaving it all into a story, which he accordingly did, with the result +that he pleased no one. The children would not take the trouble to wade +through the interwoven love story, while their elders, who from +experience had expected something fresh and breezy from the pen of Lewis +Carroll, who longed to get away from the world of facts and logic and deep +discussions which buzzed about them, were even more sorely disappointed. + +All flights of genius are short and quick. Had our author sat down when +the idea of a long story first came to him, and written it off in his +natural style, "Sylvie and Bruno" might have been another of the world's +classics; but he put too much thought upon it, and the chapters show most +plainly where the pen was laid down and where taken up again. + +But for all that the book sold well, chiefly, indeed, because it was Lewis +Carroll who wrote it; though its popularity died down in a short time. +About six years ago, however (1904), the enterprising publishers brought +forth a new edition of the book, leaving out all the grown-up part, and +bringing the fairy children right before us in all their simple +loveliness. The experiment, so far as the story went, was most successful, +and to those who have not a previous acquaintance with "Sylvie and Bruno" +this little volume would give much more pleasure than the big two-volume +original. + +One of Lewis Carroll's special objects in writing this story was a sort of +tardy appreciation of the much-despised boy. In the character of _Bruno_ +he has given us a sweet little fellow, but we cannot get over the feeling +that he is a girl in boy's clothes, his bits of mischief are all so +dainty and alluring; but we would like to beat him with, say, a spray of +goldenrod for such a fairy child, every time he says politely and +priggishly "Mister Sir" to his invisible companion. What boy was _ever_ +guilty of using such a term! The street urchin would naturally say +"Mister," but the well-bred home boy would say "Sir," so the combination +sounds absurd. + +_Sylvie_ and _Bruno_ were supposed to be the fairies that teach children +to be good, and to do this they wandered pretty well over the earth in +their fairy way. Somehow we miss the real children through all their +dainty play and laughter, but the pictures of the two children, by Harry +Furniss, are beautiful enough to make us really believe in fairies. There +is a question Lewis Carroll asks quite gravely in his book--"What is the +best time for seeing Fairies?" And he answers it in truly Lewis Carroll +style: + +"The first rule is, that it must be a _very_ hot day--that we may consider +as settled: and you must be a _little_ sleepy--but not too sleepy to keep +your eyes open, mind. Well, and you ought to feel a little what one may +call 'fairyish' the Scotch call it 'eerie,' and perhaps that's a prettier +word; if you don't know what it means, I'm afraid I can hardly explain it; +you must wait till you meet a Fairy and then you'll know. + +"And the last rule is, that the crickets should not be chirping. I can't +stop to explain that; you must take it on trust for the present. + +"So, if all these things happen together, you have a good chance of seeing +a Fairy, or at least a much better chance than if they didn't." + +Later on he tells us the rule about the crickets. "They always leave off +chirping when a Fairy goes by, ... so whenever you're walking out and the +crickets suddenly leave off chirping you may be sure that they see a +Fairy." + +Another dainty description is _Bruno's_ singing to the accompaniment of +tuneful harebells, and the song was a regular serenade: + + Rise, oh, rise! The daylight dies, + The owls are hooting, ting, ting, ting! + Wake, oh, wake! Beside the lake + The elves are fluting, ting, ting, ting! + Welcoming our Fairy King, + We sing, sing, sing. + + Hear, oh, hear! From far and near + The music stealing, ting, ting, ting! + Fairy bells adorn the dells + Are merrily pealing, ting, ting, ting! + Welcoming our Fairy King, + We ring, ring, ring. + + See, oh, see! On every tree + What lamps are shining, ting, ting, ting! + They are eyes of fiery flies + To light our dining, ting, ting, ting! + Welcoming our Fairy King, + They swing, swing, swing. + + Haste, oh, haste, to take and taste + The dainties waiting, ting, ting, ting! + Honey-dew is stored---- + +But here _Bruno's_ song came to a sudden end and was never finished. +Fairies have the oddest ways of doing things, but then _Sylvie_ was coming +through the long grass, that charming woodland child that little _Bruno_ +loved and teased. + +The artist put all his skill into the drawing of this tiny maiden, skill +assisted by Lewis Carroll's own ideas of what a fairy-girl should look +like, and the fact that Mr. Furniss took _seven years_ to illustrate this +book to the author's satisfaction and his own, shows how very particular +both were to get at the spirit of the story. + +Indeed, the great trouble with the story is that it is all spirit; there +is no _real_ story to it, and this the keen scent of everyday children +soon discovered. + +But in one thing it excels: the verses are every bit as charming as either +the Wonderland or Looking-Glass verses, with all the old-time delicious +nonsense. Take, for instance-- + +THE GARDENER'S SONG. + + He thought he saw an Albatross + That fluttered round the lamp; + He looked again, and found it was + A Penny-Postage-Stamp. + "You'd best be getting home," he said: + "The nights are very damp!" + + He thought he saw an Argument + That proved he was the Pope; + He looked again, and found it was + A Bar-of-Mottled-Soap. + "A fact so dread," he faintly said, + "Extinguishes all hope!" + + He thought he saw a Banker's-Clerk + Descending from the Bus; + He looked again, and found it was + A Hippopotamus. + "If this should stay to dine," he said, + "There won't be much for us!" + + He thought he saw a Buffalo + Upon the chimney-piece; + He looked again, and found it was + His Sister's-Husband's-Niece. + "Unless you leave this house," he said, + "I'll send for the police!" + + He thought he saw a Coach-and-Four + That stood beside his bed; + He looked again, and found it was + A Bear without a head. + "Poor thing!" he said, "poor, silly thing! + It's waiting to be fed!" + + He thought he saw a Garden-Door + That opened with a key; + He looked again, and found it was + A Double-Rule-of-Three. + "And all its mystery," he said, + "Is clear as day to me!" + + He thought he saw a Kangaroo + That worked a coffee-mill; + He looked again, and found it was + A Vegetable-Pill. + "Were I to swallow this," he said, + "I should be very ill!" + + He thought he saw a Rattlesnake + That questioned him in Greek; + He looked again, and found it was + The Middle-of-Next-Week. + "The one thing I regret," he said, + "Is that it cannot speak!" + +The gardener was a very remarkable person, whose time was spent raking the +beds and making up extra verses to this beautiful poem; the last one ran: + + He thought he saw an Elephant + That practiced on a fife; + He looked again, and found it was + A letter from his wife. + "At length I realize," he said, + "The bitterness of Life!" + +"What a wild being it was who sung these wild words! A gardener he seemed +to be, yet surely a mad one by the way he brandished his rake, madder by +the way he broke ever and anon into a frantic jig, maddest of all by the +shriek in which he brought out the last words of the stanza. + +"It was so far a description of himself that he had the _feet_ of an +elephant, but the rest of him was skin and bone; and the wisps of loose +straw that bristled all about him suggested that he had been originally +stuffed with it, and that nearly all the stuffing had come out." + +In "Sylvie and Bruno," probably to a greater extent than in all his other +books, are some clever caricatures of well-known people. The two +professors are certainly taken from life, probably from Oxford. One is +called "The Professor" and one "The Other Professor." The _Baron_, the +_Vice-Warden_ and _my Lady_ were all too real, and as for the fat _Prince +Uggug_, well, any kind feeling Lewis Carroll may have had toward boys when +he fashioned _Bruno_ had entirely vanished when _Prince Uggug_ came upon +the scene. All the ugly, rough, ill-mannered, bad boys Lewis Carroll had +ever heard of were rolled into this wretched, fat, pig of a prince; but +the story of this prince proved fascinating to the _real_ little royalties +to whom he told it during one Christmas week at Lord Salisbury's. Most +likely he selected this story with an object, in order to show how +necessary it was that those of royal blood should behave like true princes +and princesses if they would be truly loved. Our good "don" was fond of +pointing a moral now and then. _Uggug_, with all his badness, somehow +appeals to the human child, far more than _Bruno_, with his baby talk and +his old-man wisdom and his odd little "fay" ways. _Sylvie_ was much more +natural. _Bruno_, however, was a sweet little songster; it needed no +urging to set him to music, and he always sang quite plainly when he had +real rhymes to tackle. One of his favorites was called: + +THE BADGERS AND THE HERRINGS. + + There be three Badgers on a mossy stone, + Beside a dark and covered way. + Each dreams himself a monarch on his throne, + And so they stay and stay-- + Though their old Father languishes alone, + They stay, and stay, and stay. + + There be three Herrings loitering around, + Longing to share that mossy seat. + Each Herring tries to sing what she has found + That makes life seem so sweet + Thus, with a grating and uncertain sound, + They bleat, and bleat, and bleat. + + The Mother-Herring, on the salt sea-wave, + Sought vainly for her absent ones; + The Father-Badger, writhing in a cave, + Shrieked out, "Return, my sons! + You shall have buns," he shrieked, "if you'll behave! + Yea buns, and buns, and buns!" + + "I fear," said she, "your sons have gone astray. + My daughters left me while I slept." + "Yes'm," the Badger said, "it's as you say. + They should be better kept." + Thus the poor parents talked the time away, + And wept, and wept, and wept. + +But the thoughtless young ones, who had wandered from home, are having a +good time, a rollicking good time, for the _Herrings_ sing: + + Oh, dear, beyond our dearest dreams, + Fairer than all that fairest seems! + To feast the rosy hours away, + To revel in a roundelay! + How blest would be + A life so free-- + Ipwergis pudding to consume + And drink the subtle Azzigoom! + + And if in other days and hours, + 'Mid other fluffs and other flowers, + The choice were given me how to dine-- + "Name what thou wilt: it shall be thine!" + Oh, then I see + The life for me-- + Ipwergis pudding to consume + And drink the subtle Azzigoom! + + The Badgers did not care to talk to Fish; + They did not dote on Herrings' songs; + They never had experienced the dish + To which that name belongs. + "And, oh, to pinch their tails" (this was their wish) + "With tongs, yea, tongs, and tongs!" + + "And are not these the Fish," the eldest sighed, + "Whose mother dwells beneath the foam?" + "They _are_ the Fish!" the second one replied, + "And they have left their home!" + "Oh, wicked Fish," the youngest Badger cried, + "To roam, yea, roam, and roam!" + + Gently the Badgers trotted to the shore-- + The sandy shore that fringed the bay. + Each in his mouth a living Herring bore-- + Those aged ones waxed gay. + Clear rang their voices through the ocean's roar. + "Hooray, hooray, hooray!'" + +Most of Lewis Carroll's best nonsense rhymes abounded with all sorts of +queer animals. In earlier years he had made quite a study of natural +history, so that he knew enough about the habits of the animals who +figured in his verses to make humorous portraits of them. Yet we know, +apart from the earth-worms and snails of "little boy" days, he never cared +to cultivate their acquaintance except in a casual way. He was never +unkind to them, and fought with all his might against vivisection (which +in plain English means cutting up live animals for scientific purposes), +as well as against the cruel pastime of English cross-country hunting, +where one poor little fox is run to earth and torn in pieces by the savage +hounds. Big hunting, where the object was a man-eating lion or some other +animal which menaced human life, he heartily approved of, but wanton +cruelty he could not abide. Yet the dog he might use every effort to save +from the knife of science did not appeal to him as a pet; he preferred a +nice, plump, rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed, ringleted little girl--if _she_ +liked dogs, why, very well, only none of them in _his_ rooms, thank you! + +These fairy children, _Sylvie_ and _Bruno_, travel many leagues in the +story, for good fairies must be able to go from place to place very +quickly. We find them in Elfland, and Outland, and even Dogland. + +A quaint episode in this book is the loss of Queen Titania's baby. + +"We put it in a flower," Sylvie explained, with her eyes full of tears. +"Only we can't remember _which_!" And there's a real fairy hunt for the +missing baby, which must have been found somewhere, for fairies are never +completely lost. All through this fairy tale move real people doing real +things, acting real parts, coming often in contact with their good +fairies, but parting always on the borderland, bearing with them but a +memory of the beautiful children, and an echo of _Sylvie's_ song as it +dies away in the distance. + + Say, what is the spell, when her fledglings are cheeping, + That lures the bird home to her nest? + Or wakes the tired mother, whose infant is weeping, + To cuddle and croon it to rest? + What's the magic that charms the glad babe in her arms, + Till it cooes with the voice of the dove? + 'Tis a secret, and so let us whisper it low-- + And the name of the secret is Love! + For I think it is Love, + For I feel it is Love, + For I'm sure it is nothing but Love! + + Say, whence is the voice that, when anger is burning, + Bids the whirl of the tempest to cease? + That stirs the vexed soul with an aching--a yearning + For the brotherly hand-grip of peace? + + Whence the music that fills all our being--that thrills + Around us, beneath, and above? + 'Tis a secret; none knows how it comes, how it goes; + But the name of the secret is Love! + For I think it is Love, + For I feel it is Love, + For I'm sure it is nothing but Love! + + Say, whose is the skill that paints valley and hill, + Like a picture so fair to the sight? + That decks the green meadow with sunshine and shadow, + Till the little lambs leap with delight? + 'Tis a secret untold to hearts cruel and cold, + Though 'tis sung by the angels above, + In notes that ring clear for the ears that can hear-- + And the name of the secret is Love! + For I think it is Love, + For I feel it is Love, + For I'm sure it is nothing but Love! + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +LEWIS CARROLL--MAN AND CHILD. + + +Love was indeed the keynote of Lewis Carroll's life. It was his rule, +which governed everything he did, whether it was a lecture on mathematics +or a "nonsense" story to a group of little girls. It was, above all, his +religion, and meant much more to him than mere church forms, though the +beautiful services at Oxford always impressed him deeply. Living as he +did, apart from the stir and bustle of a great city, in a beautiful old +town, full of historic associations, the heart and center of English +learning, where men had time for high thoughts and high deeds, it is no +wonder that his ideals should soar beyond the limits of an everyday world, +and no one who watched the daily routine of this quiet, self-contained, +precise "don" could imagine how the great heart beneath the student's +clerical coat craved the love of those for whom he truly cared. + +Outsiders saw only a busy scholar, absorbed in his work, to all +appearances somewhat of a recluse. It is true, however, that his last busy +years, devoted to a book on "Symbolic Logic," kept him tied to his study +during most of the Oxford term, and that in consequence he had little time +for sociability, if he wished to complete his work. + +The first part of "Symbolic Logic" was published in 1896, and although +sixty-four years old at the time, his writing and his reasoning were quite +as clear as in the earlier days. He never reached the point of "going down +hill." Everything that he undertook showed the vigorous strain in him, and +though the end of his life was not far off, those who loved him were never +tortured by a long and painful illness. As he said of himself, his life +had been so singularly free from the cares and worries that assail most +people, the current flowed so evenly that his mental and physical health +endured till the last. + +In later years the tall, slim figure, the clean-shaven, delicate, refined +face, the quiet, courteous, rather distant manner, were much commented +upon alike by friends and strangers. With "grown-ups" he had always the +air of the absent-minded scholar, but no matter how occupied, the presence +of a little girl broke down the crust of his reserve and he became +immediately the sunny companion, the fascinating weaver of tales, the old, +enticing Lewis Carroll. + +But he was above all things what we would call "a settled old bachelor." +He had little "ways" essentially his own, little peculiarities in which +no doubt he took a secret and childish pride. With children these were +always more or less amusing. + +If he was going on a railway journey, for instance, he mapped out every +minute of his time; then he would calculate the amount of money to be +spent, and he always carried two purses, arranging methodically the sums +for cabs, porters, newspapers, refreshments, and so forth, in different +partitions, so he always had the correct change and always secured the +best of service. In packing he was also very particular; everything in his +trunk had to be separately wrapped up in a piece of paper, and his luggage +(he probably traveled with several trunks) always preceded him by a day or +so, while his only encumbrance was a well-known little black bag which he +always carried himself. + +In dress, he was also a trifle "odd." He was scrupulously neat and very +scholarly in appearance, with frock coat and immaculate linen, but he +never wore an overcoat no matter how cold the weather, and in all seasons +he wore a pair of gray and black cotton gloves and a tall hat. + +He had a horror of staring colors, especially in little girls' dresses. He +loved pink and gray, but any child visiting him, who dared to bring with +her a dress of startling hue, such as red or green or yellow, was +forbidden to wear it in his company. + +His appetite was unusually small, and he used to marvel at the good solid +food his girl friends managed to consume. Once, when he took a special +favorite out to dine, he warned his hostess to be careful in helping her +as she ate far too much. + +In writing, he seldom sat down; how he managed we are not told, but most +likely his desk was a high one. + +He was a great walker in all winds and weather. Sometimes he overdid it, +and came home with blistered feet and aching joints, sometimes soaked to +the skin when overtaken by an unexpected rain; but always elated over the +distance he had traveled. He forgot, in the sheer delight of active +exercise, that he was not absolutely proof against illness, and that added +years needed added care; and as we find that the many severe colds which +now constantly attacked him came usually in the winter, there is every +reason to believe that human imprudence weakened a very strong +constitution, and that Lewis Carroll minus an overcoat meant Lewis Carroll +plus a very bad cold. + +On one occasion (February, 1895) he was laid up with a ten days' attack of +influenza, with very high and alarming fever. Yet as late as December, +1897, a few weeks before his death, he boasted of sitting in his large +room with no fire, an open window, and a temperature of 54 deg. + +Another time he had a severe attack of illness which prevented him from +spending his usual Christmas with his sisters at Guildford. He was a +prisoner in his room for over six weeks, but in writing to one of his +beloved child friends he joked over it all, his only regret being the loss +of the Christmas plum pudding. + +From the time of the publication of "Alice in Wonderland" Lewis Carroll +was a man of independent means; had he wished, he might have lived in +great style and luxury, but being simple and unassuming in his tastes, he +was content with his spacious book-lined rooms, with their air of solid, +old-fashioned comfort. The things around him, which he cared for most, +were things endeared by association, from the pictures of his girl friends +upon the walls to that delightful and mysterious cupboard in which +generations of children had loved to rummage. + +He was fond, too, of practicing little economies where one would least +expect them. In giving those enjoyable dinners of his, he kept neatly cut +pieces of cardboard to slip under the plates and dishes; table mats he +considered a needless luxury and a mere waste of money, while the +cardboard could be renewed from time to time, with little trouble or +expense. But if he wished to buy books for himself or take some little +girl pet off for a treat, he never seemed to count the cost, and he gave +so generously that many a child of the old days has cause to remember. On +one occasion he found a crowd of ragamuffins surrounding the window of a +shop where they were cooking cakes. Something in the wistful glances of +the little street urchins stirred him strangely as he was passing by, a +little girl on either side of him. Suddenly he darted into the shop, and +before long came out, his arms piled with the freshly made cakes, which he +passed around to the hungry, big-eyed little fellows, leaving the small +girls inside the shop, where they could enjoy the pretty scene which +stamped itself forever in their memories. + +His charities were never known, save that he gave freely in many +directions. He was opposed to _lending_ money, but if the case was worthy +he was willing to _give_ whatever was necessary, and this he did with a +kindliness and grace peculiarly his own. He was interested in hospitals, +especially the children's wards, and many a donation of books and pictures +and games and puzzles found their way to these pathetic little sufferers, +whose heavy hours were lightened by his thoughtfulness. Hundreds of the +"Alice" books were given in this fashion and many a generous check +anonymously sent eased the pain of a great big sorrowful world of sick +children. After his death his old friends, wishing that something special +should be done to honor his memory, subscribed a sum of money to endow a +cot in the Children's Hospital in Great Ormond Street. This was called the +"Alice in Wonderland" cot, and is devoted to little patients connected +with the stage, in which he had always shown such an interest. + +Much has been said of Lewis Carroll's reverence for sacred things; from +the days of his solemn little boyhood this was a most noticeable trait of +his character. He had, as we have seen, no "cut and dried" notions +regarding religion, but he was old-fashioned in many of his ideas, and +while he did not believe in making the Sabbath a day of dull, monotonous +ordeal, he set it apart from other days, and made of it a beautiful day of +rest. He put from him the weekly cares and worries, brushing aside all +work, and requiring others connected with him to do likewise. He wrote to +Miss E. Gertrude Thomson, who was illustrating "The Three Sunsets"--his +last collection of poems--(published in 1898), that she would oblige him +greatly by making no drawings or photographs for him on a Sunday. + +When he could, especially during the last years of his life, he gave a +sermon, either at Guildford, Eastbourne, or at Oxford. It was through his +influence that the Sunday dinner hour at the University was changed from +seven to six o'clock, in order that the servants might be able to attend +services. These he often conducted himself, and sometimes, in his direct +and earnest talks, appealed to many who were hard to reach. Above all, +however, a flock of children inspired his best efforts, and the simple +fact that he always practiced what he preached made his words all the more +impressive. In short, but for the impediment in his speech, he would have +made a great preacher. + +It was this simple, childlike faith of his that kept him always young--in +touch with the youth about him. Old age was never associated with him, and +constant exercise made him as lithe and active as a boy. There is an +amusing tale of some distinguished personage who went to call on the Rev. +Mr. Hatch, and while waiting for his host, he heard a great commotion +under the dining table. Stooping down he saw children's legs waving +frantically below, and, diving down himself to join the fun, he came face +to face with Lewis Carroll, who had been the foundation of this animated, +wriggling mass. + +On another occasion Lewis Carroll went to call upon a friend, and finding +her out, was about to turn away, when the maid, who had come from the +front door to answer the bell at the gate, gave a startled cry--for the +door had blown shut, and she was locked out of the house. Lewis Carroll +was, as usual, equal to the occasion; he borrowed a ladder from some kind +neighbor, climbed in at the drawing-room window, and after performing +numerous acrobatic feats of the "small boy" type, managed to open the +front door for the anxious maid. + +His constant association with children made his activity in many ways +equal to theirs. He certainly could outwalk them, for eighteen to twenty +miles could not daunt him, and many a small girl who was brave enough to +accompany him on what he called "a short walk" had tired feet and aching +joints when the walk was over. + +On December 23, 1897, he made ready for his yearly visit to Guildford, +where he spent the usual happy Christmas, but in the early part of the New +Year a slight hoarseness heralded the return of his old enemy--influenza. +At first there seemed to be nothing alarming in his illness, but the +disease spread very rapidly. The labored breathing, the short, painful +gasps, quickly sapped his strength. On January 14, 1898, before his +anxious family could quite realize it, the blow had fallen; the life which +had meant so much to them, to everyone, went out, as Lewis Carroll folded +his hands, closed his eyes, and said with that unquestioning faith, which +had been his mainstay through the years: "Father, Thy will be done!" + +Through the land there was mourning. Countless children bowed their sunny +heads as the storm of grief passed over them, and it seemed as if, during +the quiet funeral, a hush had come upon the world. They laid him to rest +beneath the shadow of a tall pine, and a pure white cross bearing his own +name and the name of "Lewis Carroll" rose to mark the spot, that the +children who passed by might never forget their friend. + +It seems, indeed, now that the years have passed, that the Angel of Death +was very gentle with this fair soul. After all, does he not live in the +happy fun and laughter he has left behind him, and will not the coming +generations of children find in the wonder tales the same fascination that +held the children of long ago? While childhood lasts on earth, while the +memory of him lives in millions of childish hearts, Lewis Carroll can +never die. + + +THE END. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +The illustration noted on page 150 is the title and first stanza of the +poem "Jabberwocky" printed as a mirror image. + +Punctuation has been corrected without note. + +The following misprints have been corrected: + "remakable" corrected to "remarkable" (page 16) + "heartrug" corrected to "hearthrug" (page 197) + "Cupil" corrected to "Cupid" (page 233) + "childen" corrected to "children" (page 242) + "perfomance" corrected to "performance" (page 244) + "ememy" corrected to "enemy" (page 295) + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lewis Carroll in Wonderland and at Home, by +Belle Moses + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEWIS CARROLL IN WONDERLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 35418.txt or 35418.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/4/1/35418/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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