This page contains affiliate links. As Amazon Associates we earn from qualifying purchases.
Language:
Form:
Genre:
Published:
  • 1898
Collection:
Tags:
Buy it on Amazon Listen via Audible FREE Audible 30 days

Madam, I’m very sorry to say your little girl has got _no health at all_! I never saw such a thing in my life!” “Oh, I can easily explain it!” your mother will say. “You see she would go and make friends with a strange gentleman, and yesterday he drank her health!” “Well, Mrs. Chataway,” he will say, “the only way to cure her is to wait till his next birthday, and then for _her_ to drink _his_ health.”

And then we shall have changed healths. I wonder how you’ll like mine! Oh, Gertrude, I wish you wouldn’t talk such nonsense!…

Your loving friend,

Lewis Carroll.

Christ Church, Oxford, _Dec_. 9, 1875.

My dear Gertrude,–This really will _not_ do, you know, sending one more kiss every time by post: the parcel gets so heavy it is quite expensive. When the postman brought in the last letter, he looked quite grave. “Two pounds to pay, sir!” he said. “_Extra weight_, sir!” (I think he cheats a little, by the way. He often makes me pay two _pounds_, when I think it should be _pence_). “Oh, if you please, Mr. Postman!” I said, going down gracefully on one knee (I wish you could see me go down on one knee to a postman–it’s a very pretty sight), “do excuse me just this once! It’s only from a little girl!”

“Only from a little girl!” he growled. “What are little girls made of?” “Sugar and spice,” I began to say, “and all that’s ni–” but he interrupted me. “No! I don’t mean _that_. I mean, what’s the good of little girls, when they send such heavy letters?” “Well, they’re not _much_ good, certainly,” I said, rather sadly.

“Mind you don’t get any more such letters,” he said, “at least, not from that particular little girl. _I know her well, and she’s a regular bad one!”_ That’s not true, is it? I don’t believe he ever saw you, and you’re not a bad one, are you? However, I promised him we would send each other _very_ few more letters–“Only two thousand four hundred and seventy, or so,” I said. “Oh!” he said, “a little number like _that_ doesn’t signify. What I meant is, you mustn’t send _many_.”

So you see we must keep count now, and when we get to two thousand four hundred and seventy, we mustn’t write any more, unless the postman gives us leave.

I sometimes wish I was back on the shore at Sandown; don’t you?

Your loving friend,

Lewis Carroll.

Why is a pig that has lost its tail like a little girl on the sea-shore?

Because it says, “I should like another tale, please!”

Christ Church, Oxford, _July_ 21, 1876.

My dear Gertrude,–Explain to me how I am to enjoy Sandown without _you_. How can I walk on the beach alone? How can I sit all alone on those wooden steps? So you see, as I shan’t be able to do without you, you will have to come. If Violet comes, I shall tell her to invite you to stay with her, and then I shall come over in the Heather-Bell and fetch you.

If I ever _do_ come over, I see I couldn’t go back the same day, so you will have to engage me a bed somewhere in Swanage; and if you can’t find one, I shall expect _you_ to spend the night on the beach, and give up your room to _me_. Guests of course must be thought of before children; and I’m sure in these warm nights the beach will be quite good enough for _you_. If you _did_ feel a little chilly, of course you could go into a bathing-machine, which everybody knows is _very_ comfortable to sleep in–you know they make the floor of soft wood on purpose. I send you seven kisses (to last a week) and remain

Your loving friend,

Lewis Carroll.

Christ church, Oxford, _October_ 28, 1876.

My dearest Gertrude,–You will be sorry, and surprised, and puzzled, to hear what a queer illness I have had ever since you went. I sent for the doctor, and said, “Give me some medicine, for I’m tired.” He said, “Nonsense and stuff! You don’t want medicine: go to bed!” I said, “No; it isn’t the sort of tiredness that wants bed. I’m tired in the _face_.” He looked a little grave, and said, “Oh, it’s your _nose_ that’s tired: a person often talks too much when he thinks he nose a great deal.” I said, “No; it isn’t the nose. Perhaps it’s the _hair_.” Then he looked rather grave, and said, “_Now_ I understand: you’ve been playing too many hairs on the piano-forte.” “No, indeed I haven’t!” I said, “and it isn’t exactly the _hair_: it’s more about the nose and chin.” Then he looked a good deal graver, and said, “Have you been walking much on your chin lately?” I said, “No.” “Well!” he said, “it puzzles me very much. Do you think that it’s in the lips?” “Of course!” I said. “That’s exactly what it is!” Then he looked very grave indeed, and said, “I think you must have been giving too many kisses.” “Well,” I said, “I did give _one_ kiss to a baby child, a little friend of mine.” “Think again,” he said; “are you sure it was only _one_?” I thought again, and said, “Perhaps it was eleven times.” Then the doctor said, “You must not give her _any_ more till your lips are quite rested again.” “But what am I to do?” I said, “because you see, I owe her a hundred and eighty-two more.” Then he looked so grave that the tears ran down his cheeks, and he said, “You may send them to her in a box.” Then I remembered a little box that I once bought at Dover, and thought I would some day give it to _some_ little girl or other. So I have packed them all in it very carefully. Tell me if they come safe, or if any are lost on the way.

Reading Station, _April_ 13, 1878.

My dear Gertrude,–As I have to wait here for half an hour, I have been studying Bradshaw (most things, you know, ought to be studied: even a trunk is studded with nails), and the result is that it seems I could come, any day next week, to Winckfield, so as to arrive there about one; and that, by leaving Winckfield again about half-past six, I could reach Guildford again for dinner. The next question is, _How far is it from Winckfield to Rotherwick?_ Now do not deceive me, you wretched child! If it is more than a hundred miles, I can’t come to see you, and there is no use to talk about it. If it is less, the next question is, _How much less?_ These are serious questions, and you must be as serious as a judge in answering them. There mustn’t be a smile in your pen, or a wink in your ink (perhaps you’ll say, “There can’t be a _wink_ in _ink_: but there _may_ be _ink_ in a
_wink_”–but this is trifling; you mustn’t make jokes like that when I tell you to be serious) while you write to Guildford and answer these two questions. You might as well tell me at the same time whether you are still living at Rotherwick–and whether you are at home–and whether you get my letter–and whether you’re still a child, or a grown-up person–and whether you’re going to the seaside next summer–and anything else (except the alphabet and the multiplication table) that you happen to know. I send you 10,000,000 kisses, and remain.

Your loving friend,

C. L. Dodgson.

The Chestnuts, Guildford, _April_ 19, 1878.

My dear Gertrude,–I’m afraid it’s “no go”–I’ve had such a bad cold all the week that I’ve hardly been out for some days, and I don’t think it would be wise to try the expedition this time, and I leave here on Tuesday. But after all, what does it signify? Perhaps there are ten or twenty gentlemen, all living within a few miles of Rotherwick, and any one of them would do just as well! When a little girl is hoping to take a plum off a dish, and finds that she can’t have that one, because it’s bad or unripe, what does she do? Is she sorry, or disappointed? Not a bit! She just takes another instead, and grins from one little ear to the other as she puts it to her lips! This is a little fable to do you good; the little girl means _you_–the bad plum means _me_–the other plum means some other friend–and all that about the little girl putting plums to her lips means–well, it means–but you know you can’t expect _every bit_ of a fable to mean something! And the little girl grinning means that dear little smile of yours, that just reaches from the tip of one ear to the tip of the other!

Your loving friend,

C.L. Dodgson.

I send you 4-3/4 kisses.

The next letter is a good example of the dainty little notes Lewis Carroll used to scribble off on any scrap of paper that lay to his hand:–

Chestnuts, Guildford, _January_ 15, 1886.

Yes, my child, if all be well, I shall hope, and you may fear, that the train reaching Hook at two eleven, will contain

Your loving friend,

C.L. Dodgson.

Only a few years ago, illness prevented him from fulfilling his usual custom of spending Christmas with his sisters at Guildford. This is the allusion in the following letter:–

My dear old Friend,–(The friendship is old, though the child is young.) I wish a very happy New Year, and many of them, to you and yours; but specially to you, because I know you best and love you most. And I pray God to bless you, dear child, in this bright New Year, and many a year to come. … I write all this from my sofa, where I have been confined a prisoner for six weeks, and as I dreaded the railway journey, my doctor and I agreed that I had better not go to spend Christmas with my sisters at Guildford. So I had my Christmas dinner all alone, in my room here, and (pity me, Gertrude!) it wasn’t a Christmas dinner at all–I suppose the cook thought I should not care for roast beef or plum pudding, so he sent me (he has general orders to send either fish and meat, or meat and pudding) some fried sole and some roast mutton! Never, never have I dined before, on Christmas Day, without _plum pudding_. Wasn’t it sad? Now I think you must be content; this is a longer letter than most will get. Love to Olive. My clearest memory of her is of a little girl calling out “Good-night” from her room, and of your mother taking me in to see her in her bed, and wish her good-night. I have a yet clearer memory (like a dream of fifty years ago) of a little bare-legged girl in a sailor’s jersey, who used to run up into my lodgings by the sea. But why should I trouble you with foolish reminiscences of _mine_ that _cannot_ interest you?

Yours always lovingly,

C. L. Dodgson.

It was a writer in _The National Review_ who, after eulogising the talents of Lewis Carroll, and stating that _he_ would never be forgotten, added the harsh prophecy that “future generations will not waste a single thought upon the Rev. C.L. Dodgson.”

If this prediction is destined to be fulfilled, I think my readers will agree with me that it will be solely on account of his extraordinary diffidence about asserting himself. But such an unnatural division of Lewis Carroll, the author, from the Rev. C.L. Dodgson, the man, is forced in the extreme. His books are simply the expression of his normal habit of mind, as these letters show. In literature, as in everything else, he was absolutely natural.

To refer to such criticisms as this (I am thankful to say they have been very few) is not agreeable; but I feel that it is owing to Mr. Dodgson to do what I can to vindicate the real unity which underlay both his life and all his writings.

Of many anecdotes which might be adduced to show the lovable character of the man, the following little story has reached me through one of his child-friends:–

My sister and I [she writes] were spending a day of delightful sightseeing in town with him, on our way to his home at Guildford, where we were going to pass a day or two with him. We were both children, and were much interested when he took us into an American shop where the cakes for sale were cooked by a very rapid process before your eyes, and handed to you straight from the cook’s hands. As the preparation of them could easily be seen from outside the window, a small crowd of little ragamuffins naturally assembled there, and I well remember his piling up seven of the cakes on one arm, and himself taking them out and doling them round to the seven hungry little youngsters. The simple kindness of his act impressed its charm on his child-friends inside the shop as much as on his little stranger friends outside.

It was only to those who had but few personal dealings with him that he seemed stiff and “donnish”; to his more intimate acquaintances, who really understood him, each little eccentricity of manner or of habits was a delightful addition to his charming and interesting personality. That he was, in some respects, eccentric cannot be denied; for instance he hardly ever wore an overcoat, and always wore a tall hat, whatever might be the climatic conditions. At dinner in his rooms small pieces of cardboard took the place of table-mats; they answered the purpose perfectly well, he said, and to buy anything else would be a mere waste of money. On the other hand, when purchasing books for himself, or giving treats to the children he loved, he never seemed to consider expense at all.

He very seldom sat down to write, preferring to stand while thus engaged. When making tea for his friends, he used, in order, I suppose, to expedite the process, to walk up and down the room waving the teapot about, and telling meanwhile those delightful anecdotes of which he had an inexhaustible supply.

Great were his preparations before going a journey; each separate article used to be carefully wrapped up in a piece of paper all to itself, so that his trunks contained nearly as much paper as of the more useful things. The bulk of the luggage was sent on a day or two before by goods train, while he himself followed on the appointed day, laden only with his well-known little black bag, which he always insisted on carrying himself.

He had a strong objection to staring colours in dress, his favourite combination being pink and grey. One little girl who came to stay with him was absolutely forbidden to wear a red frock, of a somewhat pronounced hue, while out in his company.

At meals he was very abstemious always, while he took nothing in the middle of the day except a glass of wine and a biscuit. Under these circumstances it is not very surprising that the healthy appetites of his little friends filled him with wonder, and even with alarm. When he took a certain one of them out with him to a friend’s house to dinner, he used to give the host or hostess a gentle warning, to the mixed amazement and indignation of the child, “Please be careful, because she eats a good deal too much.”

Another peculiarity, which I have already referred to, was his objection to being invited to dinners or any other social gatherings; he made a rule of never accepting invitations. “Because you have invited me, therefore I cannot come,” was the usual form of his refusal. I suppose the reason of this was his hatred of the interference with work which engagements of this sort occasion.

He had an extreme horror of infection, as will appear from the following illustration. Miss Isa Bowman and her sister, Nellie, were at one time staying with him at Eastbourne, when news came from home that their youngest sister had caught the scarlet fever. From that day every letter which came from Mrs. Bowman to the children was held up by Mr. Dodgson, while the two little girls, standing at the opposite end of the room, had to read it as best they could. Mr. Dodgson, who was the soul of honour, used always to turn his head to one side during these readings, lest he might inadvertently see some words that were not meant for his eyes.

Some extracts from letters of his to a child-friend, who prefers to remain anonymous, follow:

_November_ 30, 1879.

I have been awfully busy, and I’ve had to write _heaps_ of letters–wheelbarrows full, almost. And it tires me so that generally I go to bed again the next minute after I get up: and sometimes I go to bed again a minute _before_ I get up! Did you ever hear of any one being so tired as _that?_…

_November_ 7, 1882.

My dear E–, How often you must find yourself in want of a pin! For instance, you go into a shop, and you say to the man, “I want the largest penny bun you can let me have for a halfpenny.” And perhaps the man looks stupid, and doesn’t quite understand what you mean. Then how convenient it is to have a pin ready to stick into the back of his hand, while you say, “Now then! Look sharp, stupid!”… and even when you don’t happen to want a pin, how often you think to yourself, “They say Interlacken is a very pretty place. I wonder what it looks like!” (That is the place that is painted on this pincushion.)

When you don’t happen to want either a pin or pictures, it may just remind you of a friend who sometimes thinks of his dear little friend E–, and who is just now thinking of the day he met her on the parade, the first time she had been allowed to come out alone to look for him….

_December_ 26, 1886.

My dear E–, Though rushing, rapid rivers roar between us (if you refer to the map of England, I think you’ll find that to be correct), we still remember each other, and feel a sort of shivery affection for each other….

_March_ 31, 1890.

I _do_ sympathise so heartily with you in what you say about feeling shy with children when you have to entertain them! Sometimes they are a real _terror_ to me–especially boys: little girls I can now and then get on with, when they’re few enough. They easily become “de trop.” But with little _boys_ I’m out of my element altogether. I sent “Sylvie and Bruno” to an Oxford friend, and, in writing his thanks, he added, “I think I must bring my little boy to see you.” So I wrote to say “_don’t_,” or words to that effect: and he wrote again that he could hardly believe his eyes when he got my note. He thought I doted on _all_ children. But I’m _not_ omnivorous!–like a pig. I pick and choose….

You are a lucky girl, and I am rather inclined to envy you, in having the leisure to read Dante–_I_ have never read a page of him; yet I am sure the “Divina Commedia” is one of the grandest books in the world–though I am _not_ sure whether the reading of it would _raise_ one’s life and give it a nobler purpose, or simply be a grand poetical treat. That is a question you are beginning to be able to answer: I doubt if _I_ shall ever (at least in this life) have the opportunity of reading it; my life seems to be all torn into little bits among the host of things I want to do! It seems hard to settle what to do _first. One_ piece of work, at any rate, I am clear ought to be done this year, and it will take months of hard work: I mean the second volume of “Sylvie and Bruno.” I fully _mean_, if I have life and health till Xmas next, to bring it out then. When one is close on sixty years old, it seems presumptuous to count on years and years of work yet to be done….

She is rather the exception among the hundred or so of child-friends who have brightened my life. Usually the child becomes so entirely a different being as she grows into a woman, that our friendship has to change too: and _that_ it usually does by gliding down from a loving intimacy into an acquaintance that merely consists of a smile and a bow when we meet!…

_January_ 1, 1895.

… You are quite correct in saying it is a long time since you have heard from me: in fact, I find that I have not written to you since the 13th of last November. But what of that? You have access to the daily papers. Surely you can find out negatively, that I am all right! Go carefully through the list of bankruptcies; then run your eye down the police cases; and, if you fail to find my name anywhere, you can say to your mother in a tone of calm satisfaction, “Mr. Dodgson is going on _well_.”

* * * * *

CHAPTER XI

(THE SAME–_continued_.)

Books for children–“The Lost Plum-Cake”–“An Unexpected Guest”–Miss Isa Bowman–Interviews–“Matilda Jane”–Miss Edith Rix–Miss Kathleen Eschwege.

Lewis Carroll’s own position as an author did not prevent him from taking a great interest in children’s books and their writers. He had very strong ideas on what was or was not suitable in such books, but, when once his somewhat exacting taste was satisfied, he was never tired of recommending a story to his friends. His cousin, Mrs. Egerton Allen, who has herself written several charming tales for young readers, has sent me the following letter which she received from him some years ago:–

Dear Georgie,–_Many_ thanks. The book was at Ch. Ch. I’ve done an unusual thing, in thanking for a book, namely, _waited to read it_. I’ve read it _right through_! In fact, I found it very refreshing, when jaded with my own work at “Sylvie and Bruno” (coming out at Xmas, I hope) to lie down on the sofa and read a chapter of “Evie.” I like it very much: and am so glad to have helped to bring it out. It would have been a real loss to the children of England, if you had burned the MS., as you once thought of doing….

[Illustration: Xie Kitchin as a Chinaman. _From a photograph by Lewis Carroll_.]

The very last words of his that appeared in print took the form of a preface to one of Mrs. Allen’s tales, “The Lost Plum-Cake,” (Macmillan & Co., 1898). So far as I know, this was the only occasion on which he wrote a preface for another author’s book, and his remarks are doubly interesting as being his last service to the children whom he loved. No apology, then, is needed for quoting from them here:–

Let me seize this opportunity of saying one earnest word to the mothers in whose hands this little book may chance to come, who are in the habit of taking their children to church with them. However well and reverently those dear little ones have been taught to behave, there is no doubt that so long a period of enforced quietude is a severe tax on their patience. The hymns, perhaps, tax it least: and what a pathetic beauty there is in the sweet fresh voices of the children, and how earnestly they sing! I took a little girl of six to church with me one day: they had told me she could hardly read at all–but she made me find all the places for her! And afterwards I said to her elder sister “What made you say Barbara couldn’t read? Why, I heard her joining in, all through the hymn!” And the little sister gravely replied, “She knows the _tunes_, but not the _words_.” Well, to return to my subject–children in church. The lessons, and the prayers, are not wholly beyond them: often they can catch little bits that come within the range of their small minds. But the sermons! It goes to one’s heart to see, as I so often do, little darlings of five or six years old, forced to sit still through a weary half-hour, with nothing to do, and not one word of the sermon that they can understand. Most heartily can I sympathise with the little charity-girl who is said to have written to some friend, “I think, when I grows up, I’ll never go to church no more. I think I’se getting sermons enough to last me all my life!” But need it be so? Would it be so _very_ irreverent to let your child have a story-book to read during the sermon, to while away that tedious half-hour, and to make church-going a bright and happy memory, instead of rousing the thought, “I’ll never go to church no more”? I think not. For my part, I should love to see the experiment tried. I am quite sure it would be a success. My advice would be to _keep_ some books for that special purpose. I would call such books “Sunday-treats”–and your little boy or girl would soon learn to look forward with eager hope to that half-hour, once so tedious. If I were the preacher, dealing with some subject too hard for the little ones, I should love to see them all enjoying their picture-books. And if _this_ little book should ever come to be used as a “Sunday-treat” for some sweet baby reader, I don’t think it could serve a better purpose.

Lewis Carroll.

Miss M.E. Manners was another writer for children whose books pleased him. She gives an amusing account of two visits which he paid to her house in 1889:–

_An Unexpected Guest._

“Mr. Dobson wants to see you, miss.”

I was in the kitchen looking after the dinner, and did not feel that I particularly wished to see anybody.

“He wants a vote, or he is an agent for a special kind of tea,” thought I. “I don’t know him; ask him to send a message.”

Presently the maid returned–

“He says he is Mr. Dodgson, of Oxford.”

“Lewis Carroll!” I exclaimed; and somebody else had to superintend the cooking that day.

My apologies were soon made and cheerfully accepted. I believe I was unconventional enough to tell the exact truth concerning my occupation, and matters were soon on a friendly footing. Indeed I may say at once that the stately college don we have heard so much about never made his appearance during our intercourse with him.

He did not talk “Alice,” of course; authors don’t generally _talk_ their books, I imagine; but it was undoubtedly Lewis Carroll who was present with us.

A portrait of Ellen Terry on the wall had attracted his attention, and one of the first questions he asked was, “Do you ever go to the theatre?” I explained that such things were done, occasionally, even among Quakers, but they were not considered quite orthodox.

“Oh, well, then you will not be shocked, and I may venture to produce my photographs.” And out into the hall he went, and soon returned with a little black bag containing character portraits of his child-friends, Isa and Nellie Bowman.

“Isa used to be Alice until she grew too big,” he said. “Nellie was one of the oyster-fairies, and Emsie, the tiny one of all, was the Dormouse.”

“When ‘Alice’ was first dramatised,” he said, “the poem of the ‘Walrus and the Carpenter’ fell rather flat, for people did not know when it was finished, and did not clap in the right place; so I had to write a song for the ghosts of the oysters to sing, which made it all right.”

[Illustration: Alice and the Dormouse. _From a photograph by Elliott & Fry_.]

He was then on his way to London, to fetch Isa to stay with him at Eastbourne. She was evidently a great favourite, and had visited him before. Of that earlier time he said:–

“When people ask me why I have never married, I tell them I have never met the young lady whom I could endure for a fortnight–but Isa and I got on so well together that I said I should keep her a month, the length of the honeymoon, and we didn’t get tired of each other.”

Nellie afterwards joined her sister “for a few days,” but the days spread to some weeks, for the poor little dormouse developed scarlet fever, and the elder children had to be kept out of harm’s way until fear of infection was over.

Of Emsie he had a funny little story to tell. He had taken her to the Aquarium, and they had been watching the seals coming up dripping out of the water. With a very pitiful look she turned to him and said, “Don’t they give them any towels?” [The same little girl commiserated the bear, because it had got no tail.]

Asked to stay to dinner, he assured us that he never took anything in the middle of the day but a glass of wine and a biscuit; but he would be happy to sit down with us, which he accordingly did and kindly volunteered to carve for us. His offer was gladly accepted, but the appearance of a rather diminutive piece of neck of mutton was somewhat of a puzzle to him. He had evidently never seen such a joint in his life before, and had frankly to confess that he did not know how to set about carving it. Directions only made things worse, and he bravely cut it to pieces in entirely the wrong fashion, relating meanwhile the story of a shy young man who had been asked to carve a fowl, the joints of which had been carefully wired together beforehand by his too attentive friends.

The task and the story being both finished, our visitor gazed on the mangled remains, and remarked quaintly: “I think it is just as well I don’t want anything, for I don’t know where I should find it.”

At least one member of the party felt she could have managed matters better; but that was a point of very little consequence.

A day or two after the first call came a note saying that he would be taking Isa home before long, and if we would like to see her he would stop on the way again.

Of course we were only too delighted to have the opportunity, and, though the visit was postponed more than once, it did take place early in August, when he brought both Isa and Nellie up to town to see a performance of “Sweet Lavender.” It is needless to remark that we took care, this time, to be provided with something at once substantial and carvable.

The children were bright, healthy, happy and childlike little maidens, quite devoted to their good friend, whom they called “Uncle”; and very interesting it was to see them together.

But he did not allow any undue liberties either, as a little incident showed.

He had been describing a particular kind of collapsible tumbler, which you put in your pocket and carried with you for use on a railway journey.

“There now,” he continued, turning to the children, “I forgot to bring it with me after all.”

“Oh Goosie,” broke in Isa; “you’ve been talking about that tumbler for days, and now you have forgotten it.”

He pulled himself up, and looked at her steadily with an air of grave reproof.

Much abashed, she hastily substituted a very subdued “Uncle” for the objectionable “Goosie,” and the matter dropped.

The principal anecdote on this occasion was about a dog which had been sent into the sea after sticks. He brought them back very properly for some time, and then there appeared to be a little difficulty, and he returned swimming in a very curious manner. On closer inspection it appeared that he had caught hold of his own tail by mistake, and was bringing it to land in triumph.

This was told with the utmost gravity, and though we had been requested beforehand not to mention “Lewis Carroll’s” books, the temptation was too strong. I could not help saying to the child next me–

“That was like the Whiting, wasn’t it?”

Our visitor, however, took up the remark, and seemed quite willing to talk about it.

“When I wrote that,” he said, “I believed that whiting really did have their tails in their mouths, but I have since been told that fishmongers put the tail through the eye, not in the mouth at all.”

He was not a very good carver, for Miss Bremer also describes a little difficulty he had–this time with the pastry: “An amusing incident occurred when he was at lunch with us. He was requested to serve some pastry, and, using a knife, as it was evidently rather hard, the knife penetrated the d’oyley beneath–and his consternation was extreme when he saw the slice of linen and lace he served as an addition to the tart!”

It was, I think, through her connection with the “Alice” play that Mr. Dodgson first came to know Miss Isa Bowman. Her childish friendship for him was one of the joys of his later years, and one of the last letters he wrote was addressed to her. The poem at the beginning of “Sylvie and Bruno” is an acrostic on her name–

Is all our Life, then, but a dream, Seen faintly in the golden gleam
Athwart Times’s dark, resistless stream?

Bowed to the earth with bitter woe, Or laughing at some raree-show,
We flutter idly to and fro.

Man’s little Day in haste we spend, And, from the merry noontide, send
No glance to meet the silent end.

Every one has heard of Lewis Carroll’s hatred of interviewers; the following letter to Miss Manners makes one feel that in some cases, at least, his feeling was justifiable:–

If your Manchester relatives ever go to the play, tell them they ought to see Isa as “Cinderella”–she is evidently a success. And she has actually been “interviewed” by one of those dreadful newspapers reporters, and the “interview” is published with her picture! And such rubbish he makes her talk! She tells him that something or other was “tacitly conceded”: and that “I love to see a great actress give expression to the wonderful ideas of the immortal master!”

(N.B.–I never let her talk like that when she is with _me_!)

Emsie recovered in time to go to America, with her mother and Isa and Nellie: and they all enjoyed the trip much; and Emsie has a London engagement.

Only once was an interviewer bold enough to enter Lewis Carroll’s _sanctum_. The story has been told in _The Guardian_ (January 19, 1898), but will bear repetition:–

Not long ago Mr. Dodgson happened to get into correspondence with a man whom he had never seen, on some question of religious difficulty, and he invited him to come to his rooms and have a talk on the subject. When, therefore, a Mr. X– was announced to him one morning, he advanced to meet him with outstretched hand and smiles of welcome. “Come in Mr. X–, I have been expecting you.” The delighted visitor thought this a promising beginning, and immediately pulled out a note-book and pencil, and proceeded to ask “the usual questions.” Great was Mr. Dodgson’s disgust! Instead of his expected friend, here was another man of the same name, and one of the much-dreaded interviewers, actually sitting in his chair! The mistake was soon explained, and the representative of the Press was bowed out as quickly as he had come in.

It was while Isa and one of her sisters were staying at Eastbourne that the visit to America was mooted. Mr. Dodgson suggested that it would be well for them to grow gradually accustomed to seafaring, and therefore proposed to take them by steamer to Hastings. This plan was carried out, and the weather was unspeakably bad–far worse than anything they experienced in their subsequent trip across the Atlantic. The two children, who were neither of them very good sailors, experienced sensations that were the reverse of pleasant. Mr. Dodgson did his best to console them, while he continually repeated, “Crossing the Atlantic will be much worse than this.”

However, even this terrible lesson on the horrors of the sea did not act as a deterrent; it was as unsuccessful as the effort of the old lady in one of his stories: “An old lady I once knew tried to check the military ardour of a little boy by showing him a picture of a battlefield, and describing some of its horrors. But the only answer she got was, ‘I’ll be a soldier. Tell it again!'”

The Bowman children sometimes came over to visit him at Oxford, and he used to delight in showing them over the colleges, and pointing out the famous people whom they encountered. On one of these occasions he was walking with Maggie, then a mere child, when they met the Bishop of Oxford, to whom Mr. Dodgson introduced his little guest. His lordship asked her what she thought of Oxford. “I think,” said the little actress, with quite a professional _aplomb,_ “it’s the best place in the Provinces!” At which the Bishop was much amused. After the child had returned to town, the Bishop sent her a copy of a little book called “Golden Dust,” inscribed “From W. Oxon,” which considerably mystified her, as she knew nobody of that name!

Another little stage-friend of Lewis Carroll’s was Miss Vera Beringer, the “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” whose acting delighted all theatre-goers eight or nine years ago. Once, when she was spending a holiday in the Isle of Man, he sent her the following lines:–

There was a young lady of station, “I love man” was her sole exclamation; But when men cried, “You flatter,”
She replied, “Oh! no matter,
Isle of Man is the true explanation.”

Many of his friendships with children began in a railway carriage, for he always took about with him a stock of puzzles when he travelled, to amuse any little companions whom chance might send him. Once he was in a carriage with a lady and her little daughter, both complete strangers to him. The child was reading “Alice in Wonderland,” and when she put her book down, he began talking to her about it. The mother soon joined in the conversation, of course without the least idea who the stranger was with whom she was talking. “Isn’t it sad,” she said, “about poor Mr. Lewis Carroll? He’s gone mad, you know.” “Indeed,” replied Mr. Dodgson, “I had never heard that.” “Oh, I assure you it is quite true,” the lady answered. “I have it on the best authority.” Before Mr. Dodgson parted with her, he obtained her leave to send a present to the little girl, and a few days afterwards she received a copy of “Through the Looking-Glass,” inscribed with her name, and “From the Author, in memory of a pleasant journey.”

When he gave books to children, he very often wrote acrostics on their names on the fly-leaf. One of the prettiest was inscribed in a copy of Miss Yonge’s “Little Lucy’s Wonderful Globe,” which he gave to Miss Ruth Dymes:–

R ound the wondrous globe I wander wild, U p and down-hill–Age succeeds to youth– T oiling all in vain to find a child H alf so loving, half so dear as Ruth.

In another book, given to her sister Margaret, he wrote:–

M aidens, if a maid you meet
A lways free from pout and pet, R eady smile and temper sweet,
G reet my little Margaret.
A nd if loved by all she be
R ightly, not a pampered pet,
E asily you then may see
‘Tis my little Margaret.

Here are two letters to children, the one interesting as a specimen of pure nonsense of the sort which children always like, the other as showing his dislike of being praised. The first was written to Miss Gertrude Atkinson, daughter of an old College friend, but otherwise unknown to Lewis Carroll except by her photograph:–

My dear Gertrude,–So many things have happened since we met last, really I don’t know _which_ to begin talking about! For instance, England has been conquered by William the Conqueror. We haven’t met since _that_ happened, you know. How did you like it? Were you frightened?

And one more thing has happened: I have got your photograph. Thank you very much for it. I like it “awfully.” Do they let you say “awfully”? or do they say, “No, my dear; little girls mustn’t say ‘awfully’; they should say ‘very much indeed'”?

I wonder if you will ever get as far as Jersey? If not, how _are_ we to meet?

Your affectionate friend,

C.L. Dodgson.

From the second letter, to Miss Florence Jackson, I take the following extract:–

I have two reasons for sending you this fable; one is, that in a letter you wrote me you said something about my being “clever”; and the other is that, when you wrote again you said it again! And _each_ time I thought, “Really, I _must_ write and ask her _not_ to say such things; it is not wholesome reading for me.”

The fable is this. The cold, frosty, bracing air is the treatment one gets from the world generally–such as contempt, or blame, or neglect; all those are very wholesome. And the hot dry air, that you breathe when you rush to the fire, is the praise that one gets from one’s young, happy, rosy, I may even say _florid_ friends! And that’s very bad for me, and gives pride–fever, and conceit–cough, and such-like diseases. Now I’m sure you don’t want me to be laid up with all these diseases; so please don’t praise me _any_ more!

The verses to “Matilda Jane” certainly deserve a place in this chapter. To make their meaning clear, I must state that Lewis Carroll wrote them for a little cousin of his, and that Matilda Jane was the somewhat prosaic name of her doll. The poem expresses finely the blind, unreasoning devotion which the infant mind professes for inanimate objects:–

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!

In an earlier chapter I gave some of Mr. Dodgson’s letters to Miss Edith Rix; the two which follow, being largely about children, seem more appropriate here:–

My dear Edith,–Would you tell your mother I was aghast at seeing the address of her letter to me: and I would much prefer “Rev. C.L. Dodgson, Ch. Ch., Oxford.” When a letter comes addressed “Lewis Carroll, Ch. Ch.,” it either goes to the Dead Letter Office, or it impresses on the minds of all letter-carriers, &c., through whose hands it goes, the very fact I least want them to know.

Please offer to your sister all the necessary apologies for the liberty I have taken with her name. My only excuse is, that I know no other; and how _am_ I to guess what the full name is? It _may_ be Carlotta, or Zealot, or Ballot, or Lotus-blossom (a very pretty name), or even Charlotte. Never have I sent anything to a young lady of whom I have a more shadowy idea. Name, an enigma; age, somewhere between 1 and 19 (you’ve no idea how bewildering it is, alternately picturing her as a little toddling thing of 5, and a tall girl of 15!); disposition–well, I _have_ a fragment of information on _that_ question–your mother says, as to my coming, “It must be when Lottie is at home, or she would never forgive us.” Still, I _cannot_ consider the mere fact that she is of an unforgiving disposition as a complete view of her character. I feel sure she has some other qualities besides.

Believe me,

Yrs affectionately,

C.L. Dodgson.

My dear child,–It seems quite within the bounds of possibility, if we go on long in this style, that our correspondence may at last assume a really friendly tone. I don’t of course say it will actually do so–that would be too bold a prophecy, but only that it may tend to shape itself in that direction.

Your remark, that slippers for elephants _could_ be made, only they would not be slippers, but boots, convinces me that there is a branch of your family in _Ireland_. Who are (oh dear, oh dear, I am going distracted! There’s a lady in the opposite house who simply sings _all_ day. All her songs are wails, and their tunes, such as they have, are much the same. She has one strong note in her voice, and she knows it! I _think_ it’s “A natural,” but I haven’t much ear. And when she gets to that note, she howls!) they? The O’Rixes, I suppose?

About your uninteresting neighbours, I sympathise with you much; but oh, I wish I had you here, that I might teach you _not_ to say “It is difficult to visit one’s district regularly, like every one else does!”

And now I come to the most interesting part of your letter– May you treat me as a perfect friend, and write anything you like to me, and ask my advice? Why, _of course_ you may, my child! What else am I good for? But oh, my dear child-friend, you cannot guess how such words sound to _me_! That any one should look up to _me_, or think of asking _my_ advice–well, it makes one feel humble, I think, rather than proud–humble to remember, while others think so well of me, what I really _am_, in myself. “Thou, that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?” Well, I won’t talk about myself, it is not a healthy topic. Perhaps it may be true of _any_ two people, that, if one could see the other through and through, love would perish. I don’t know. Anyhow, I like to _have_ the love of my child-friends, tho’ I know I don’t deserve it. Please write as freely as _ever_ you like.

I went up to town and fetched Phoebe down here on Friday in last week; and we spent _most_ of Saturday upon the beach–Phoebe wading and digging, and “as happy as a bird upon the wing” (to quote the song she sang when first I saw her). Tuesday evening brought a telegram to say she was wanted at the theatre next morning. So, instead of going to bed, Phoebe packed her things, and we left by the last train, reaching her home by a quarter to 1 a.m. However, even four days of sea-air, and a new kind of happiness, did her good, I think. I am rather lonely now she is gone. She is a very sweet child, and a thoughtful child, too. It was very touching to see (we had a little Bible-reading every day: I tried to remember that my little friend had a soul to be cared for, as well as a body) the far-away look in her eyes, when we talked of God and of heaven–as if her angel, who beholds His face continually, were whispering to her.

Of course, there isn’t _much_ companionship possible, after all, between an old man’s mind and a little child’s, but what there is is sweet–and wholesome, I think.

Three letters of his to a child-friend, Miss Kathleen Eschwege, now Mrs. Round, illustrate one of those friendships which endure: the sort of friendship that he always longed for, and so often failed to secure:–

[Illustrations and: Facsimile of a “Looking-Glass Letter” from Lewis Carroll to Miss Edith Ball.]

Ch. Ch., Oxford, _October_ 24, 1879.

My dear Kathleen,–I was really pleased to get your letter, as I had quite supposed I should never see or hear of you again. You see I knew only your Christian name–not the ghost of a surname, or the shadow of an address–and I was not prepared to spend my little all in advertisements–“If the young lady, who was travelling on the G.W. Railway, &c.” –or to devote the remainder of my life to going about repeating “Kathleen,” like that young woman who came from some foreign land to look for her lover, but only knew that he was called “Edward” (or “Richard” was it? I dare say you know History better than I do) and that he lived in England; so that naturally it took her some time to find him. All I knew was that _you_ could, if you chose, write to me through Macmillan: but it is three months since we met, so I was _not_ expecting it, and it was a pleasant surprise.

Well, so I hope I may now count you as one of my child-friends. I am fond of children (except boys), and have more child-friends than I could possibly count on my fingers, even if I were a centipede (by the way, _have_ they fingers? I’m afraid they’re only feet, but, of course, they use them for the same purpose, and that is why no other insects, _except centipedes_, ever succeed in doing _Long Multiplication_), and I have several not so very far from you–one at Beckenham, two at Balham, two at Herne Hill, one at Peckham–so there is every chance of my being somewhere near you _before the year_ 1979. If so, may I call? I am _very_ sorry your neck is no better, and I wish they would take you to Margate: Margate air will make _any_ body well of _any_ thing.

It seems you have already got my two books about “Alice.” Have you also got “The Hunting of the Snark”? If not, I should be very glad to send you one. The pictures (by Mr. Holiday) are pretty: and you needn’t read the verses unless you like.

How do you pronounce your surname? “esk-weej”? or how? Is it a German name?

If you can do “Doublets,” with how many links do you turn KATH into LEEN?

With kind remembrances to your mother, I am

Your affectionate friend,

Charles L. Dodgson

(_alias_ “Lewis Carroll”).

Ch. Ch., Oxford, _January_ 20, 1892.

My dear Kathleen,–Some months ago I heard, from my cousin, May Wilcox, that you were engaged to be married. And, ever since, I have cherished the intention of writing to offer my congratulations. Some might say, “Why not write _at once?”_ To such unreasoning creatures, the obvious reply is, “When you have bottled some peculiarly fine Port, do you usually begin to drink it _at once?”_ Is not that a beautiful simile? Of course, I need not remark that my congratulations are like fine old Port–only finer, and _older!_

Accept, my dear old friend, my _heartiest_ wishes for happiness, of all sorts and sizes, for yourself, and for him whom you have chosen as your other self. And may you love one another with a love second only to your love for God–a love that will last through bright days and dark days, in sickness and in health, through life and through death.

A few years ago I went, in the course of about three months, to the weddings of three of my old child-friends. But weddings are not very exhilarating scenes for a miserable old bachelor; and I think you’ll have to excuse me from attending _yours_.

However, I have so far concerned myself in it that I actually _dreamed_ about it a few nights ago! I dreamed that you had had a photograph done of the wedding-party, and had sent me a copy of it. At one side stood a group of ladies, among whom I made out the faces of Dolly and Ninty; and in the foreground, seated in a boat, were two people, a gentleman and a lady I _think_ (could they have been the bridegroom and the bride?) engaged in the natural and usual occupation for a riverside picnic–pulling a Christmas cracker! I have no idea what put such an idea into my head. _I_ never saw crackers used in such a scene!

I hope your mother goes on well. With kindest regards to her and your father, and love to your sisters–and to yourself too, if HE doesn’t object!–I am,

Yours affectionately,

C.L. Dodgson.

P.S.–I never give wedding-presents; so please regard the enclosed as an _unwedding_ present.

Ch. Ch., Oxford, _December_ 8, 1897.

My dear Kathleen,–Many thanks for the photo of yourself and your _fiance_, which duly reached me January 23, 1892. Also for a wedding-card, which reached me August 28, 1892. Neither of these favours, I fear, was ever acknowledged. Our only communication since, has been, that on December 13, 1892, I sent you a biscuit-box adorned with “Looking-Glass” pictures. This _you_ never acknowledged; so I was properly served for my negligence. I hope your little daughter, of whose arrival Mrs. Eschwege told me in December, 1893, has been behaving well? How quickly the years slip by! It seems only yesterday that I met, on the railway, a little girl who was taking a sketch of Oxford!

Your affectionate old friend,

C.L. Dodgson.

The following verses were inscribed in a copy of “Alice’s Adventures,” presented to the three Miss Drurys in August, 1869:–

_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, 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.

He took the same three children to German Reed’s entertainment, where the triple bill consisted of “Happy Arcadia,” “All Abroad,” and “Very Catching.” A few days afterwards he sent them “Phantasmagoria,” with a little poem on the fly-leaf to remind them of their treat:–

Three little maids, one winter day, While others went to feed,
To sing, to laugh, to dance, to play, More wisely went to–Reed.

Others, when lesson-time’s begun, Go, half inclined to cry,
Some in a walk, some in a run;
But _these_ went in a–Fly.

I give to other little maids
A smile, a kiss, a look,
Presents whose memory quickly fades, I give to these–a Book.

_Happy Arcadia _may blind,
While _all abroad,_ their eyes; At home, this book (I trust) they’ll find A _very catching_ prize.

The next three letters were addressed to two of Mr. Arthur Hughes’ children. They are good examples of the wild and delightful nonsense with which Lewis Carroll used to amuse his little friends:–

My dear Agnes,–You lazy thing! What? I’m to divide the kisses myself, am I? Indeed I won’t take the trouble to do anything of the sort! But I’ll tell _you_ how to do it. First, you must take _four_ of the kisses, and–and that reminds me of a very curious thing that happened to me at half-past four yesterday. Three visitors came knocking at my door, begging me to let them in. And when I opened the door, who do you think they were? You’ll never guess. Why, they were three cats! Wasn’t it curious? However, they all looked so cross and disagreeable that I took up the first thing I could lay my hand on (which happened to be the rolling-pin) and knocked them all down as flat as pan-cakes! “If _you_ come knocking at _my_ door,” I said, “_I_ shall come knocking at _your_ heads.” “That was fair, wasn’t it?”

Yours affectionately,

Lewis Carroll.

My dear Agnes,–About the cats, you know. Of course I didn’t leave them lying flat on the ground like dried flowers: no, I picked them up, and I was as kind as I could be to them. I lent them the portfolio for a bed–they wouldn’t have been comfortable in a real bed, you know: they were too thin–but they were _quite_ happy between the sheets of blotting-paper–and each of them had a pen-wiper for a pillow. Well, then I went to bed: but first I lent them the three dinner-bells, to ring if they wanted anything in the night.

You know I have _three_ dinner-bells–the first (which is the largest) is rung when dinner is _nearly_ ready; the second (which is rather larger) is rung when it is quite ready; and the third (which is as large as the other two put together) is rung all the time I am at dinner. Well, I told them they might ring if they happened to want anything–and, as they rang _all_ the bells _all_ night, I suppose they did want something or other, only I was too sleepy to attend to them.

In the morning I gave them some rat-tail jelly and buttered mice for breakfast, and they were as discontented as they could be. They wanted some boiled pelican, but of course I knew it wouldn’t be good _for_ them. So all I said was “Go to Number Two, Finborough Road, and ask for Agnes Hughes, and if it’s _really_ good for you, she’ll give you some.” Then I shook hands with them all, and wished them all goodbye, and drove them up the chimney. They seemed very sorry to go, and they took the bells and the portfolio with them. I didn’t find this out till after they had gone, and then I was sorry too, and wished for them back again. What do I mean by “them”? Never mind.

How are Arthur, and Amy, and Emily? Do they still go up and down Finborough Road, and teach the cats to be kind to mice? I’m _very_ fond of all the cats in Finborough Road.

Give them my love.
Who do I mean by “them”?
Never mind.

Your affectionate friend,

Lewis Carroll.

[Illustration: Arthur Hughes and his daughter Agnes. _From a photograph by Lewis Carroll._]

My dear Amy,–How are you getting on, I wonder, with guessing those puzzles from “Wonderland”? If you think you’ve found out any of the answers, you may send them to me; and if they’re wrong, I won’t tell you they’re right!

You asked me after those three cats. Ah! The dear creatures! Do you know, ever since that night they first came, they have _never left me?_ Isn’t it kind of them? Tell Agnes this. She will be interested to hear it. And they _are_ so kind and thoughtful! Do you know, when I had gone out for a walk the other day, they got _all_ my books out of the bookcase, and opened them on the floor, to be ready for me to read. They opened them all at page 50, because they thought that would be a nice useful page to begin at. It was rather unfortunate, though: because they took my bottle of gum, and tried to gum pictures upon the ceiling (which they thought would please me), and by accident they spilt a quantity of it all over the books. So when they were shut up and put by, the leaves all stuck together, and I can never read page 50 again in any of them!

However, they meant it very kindly, so I wasn’t angry. I gave them each a spoonful of ink as a treat; but they were ungrateful for that, and made dreadful faces. But, of course, as it was given them as a treat, they had to drink it. One of them has turned black since: it was a white cat to begin with.

Give my love to any children you happen to meet. Also I send two kisses and a half, for you to divide with Agnes, Emily, and Godfrey. Mind you divide them fairly.

Yours affectionately,

C.L. Dodgson.

The intelligent reader will make a discovery about the first of the two following letters, which Miss Maggie Cunningham, the “child-friend” to whom both were addressed, perhaps did not hit upon at once. Mr. Dodgson wrote these two letters in 1868:–

Dear Maggie,–I found that _the friend, _that the little girl asked me to write to, lived at Ripon, and not at Land’s End–a nice sort of place to invite to! It looked rather suspicious to me–and soon after, by dint of incessant inquiries, I found out that _she_ was called Maggie, and lived in a Crescent! Of course I declared, “After that” (the language I used doesn’t matter), “I will _not_ address her, that’s flat! So do not expect me to flatter.”

Well, I hope you will soon see your beloved Pa come back–for consider, should you be quite content with only Jack? Just suppose they made a blunder! (Such things happen now and then.) Really, now, I shouldn’t wonder if your “John” came home again, and your father stayed at school! A most awkward thing, no doubt. How would you receive him? You’ll say, perhaps, “you’d turn him out.” That would answer well, so far as concerns the boy, you know–but consider your Papa, learning lessons in a row of great inky schoolboys! This (though unlikely) might occur: “Haly” would be grieved to miss him (don’t mention it to _her_).

No _carte_ has yet been done of me, that does real justice to my _smile_; and so I hardly like, you see, to send you one. However, I’ll consider if I will or not–meanwhile, I send a little thing to give you an idea of what I look like when I’m lecturing. The merest sketch, you will allow–yet still I think there’s something grand in the expression of the brow and in the action of the hand.

Have you read my fairy tale in _Aunt Judy’s Magazine?_ If you have you will not fail to discover what I mean when I say “Bruno yesterday came to remind me that _he_ was my god-son!”–on the ground that I “gave him a name”!

Your affectionate friend,

C.L. Dodgson.

P.S.–I would send, if I were not too shy, the same message to “Haly” that she (though I do not deserve it, not I!) has sent through her sister to me. My best love to yourself–to your Mother my kindest regards–to your small, fat, impertinent, ignorant brother my hatred. I think that is all.

[Illustration: What I look like when I’m Lecturing. _From a drawing, by Lewis Carroll._]

My dear Maggie,–I am a very bad correspondent, I fear, but I hope you won’t leave off writing to me on that account. I got the little book safe, and will do my best about putting my name in, if I can only manage to remember what day my birthday is–but one forgets these things so easily.

Somebody told me (a little bird, I suppose) that you had been having better photographs done of yourselves. If so, I hope you will let me buy copies. Fanny will pay you for them. But, oh Maggie, how _can_ you ask for a better one of me than the one I sent! It is one of the best ever done! Such grace, such dignity, such benevolence, such–as a great secret (please don’t repeat it) the _Queen_ sent to ask for a copy of it, but as it is against my rule to give in such a case, I was obliged to answer–

“Mr. Dodgson presents his compliments to her Majesty, and regrets to say that his rule is never to give his photograph except to _young_ ladies.” I am told she was annoyed about it, and said, “I’m not so old as all that comes to!” and one doesn’t like to annoy Queens; but really I couldn’t help it, you know.

I will conclude this chapter with some reminiscences of Lewis Carroll, which have been kindly sent me by an old child-friend of his, Mrs. Maitland, daughter of the late Rev. E.A. Litton, Rector of Naunton, and formerly Fellow of Oriel College and Vice-Principal of Saint Edmund’s Hall:–

To my mind Oxford will be never quite the same again now that so many of the dear old friends of one’s childhood have “gone over to the great majority.”

Often, in the twilight, when the flickering firelight danced on the old wainscotted wall, have we–father and I–chatted over the old Oxford days and friends, and the merry times we all had together in Long Wall Street. I was a nervous, thin, remarkably ugly child then, and for some years I was left almost entirely to the care of Mary Pearson, my own particular attendant. I first remember Mr. Dodgson when I was about seven years old, and from that time until we went to live in Gloucestershire he was one of my most delightful friends.

I shall never forget how Mr. Dodgson and I sat once under a dear old tree in the Botanical Gardens, and how he told me, for the first time, Hans Andersen’s story of the “Ugly Duckling.” I cannot explain the charm of Mr. Dodgson’s way of telling stories; as he spoke, the characters seemed to be real flesh and blood. This particular story made a great impression upon me, and interested me greatly, as I was very sensitive about my ugly little self. I remember his impressing upon me that it was better to be good and truthful and to try not to think of oneself than to be a pretty, selfish child, spoiled and disagreeable; and, after telling me this story, he gave me the name of “Ducky.” “Never mind, little Ducky,” he used often to say, “perhaps some day you will turn out a swan.”

I always attribute my love for animals to the teaching of Mr. Dodgson: his stories about them, his knowledge of their lives and histories, his enthusiasm about birds and butterflies enlivened many a dull hour. The monkeys in the Botanical Gardens were our special pets, and when we fed them with nuts and biscuits he seemed to enjoy the fun as much as I did.

Every day my nurse and I used to take a walk in Christ Church Meadows, and often we would sit down on the soft grass, with the dear old Broad Walk quite close, and, when we raised our eyes, Merton College, with its walls covered with Virginian creeper. And how delighted we used to be to see the well-known figure in cap and gown coming, so swiftly, with his kind smile ready to welcome the “Ugly Duckling.” I knew, as he sat beside me, that a book of fairy tales was hidden in his pocket, or that he would have some new game or puzzle to show me–and he would gravely accept a tiny daisy-bouquet for his coat with as much courtesy as if it had been the finest hot-house _boutonniere_.

Two or three times I went fishing with him from the bank near the Old Mill, opposite Addison’s Walk, and he quite entered into my happiness when a small fish came wriggling up at the end of my bent pin, just ready for the dinner of the little white kitten “Lily,” which he had given me.

My hair was a great trouble to me, as a child, for it would tangle, and Mary was not too patient with me, as I twisted about while she was trying to dress it. One day I received a long blue envelope addressed to myself, which contained a story-letter, full of drawings, from Mr. Dodgson. The first picture was of a little girl–with her hat off and her tumbled hair very much in evidence–asleep on a rustic bench under a big tree by the riverside, and two birds, holding what was evidently a very important conversation, above in the branches, their heads on one side, eyeing the sleeping child. Then there was a picture of the birds flying up to the child with twigs and straw in their beaks, preparing to build their nest in her hair. Next came the awakening, with the nest completed, and the mother-bird sitting on it; while the father-bird flew round the frightened child. And then, lastly, hundreds of birds–the air thick with them–the child fleeing, small boys with tin trumpets raised to their lips to add to the confusion, and Mary, armed with a basket of brushes and combs, bringing up the rear! After this, whenever I was restive while my hair was being arranged, Mary would show me the picture of the child with the nest on her head, and I at once became “as quiet as a lamb.”

I had a daily governess, a dear old soul, who used to come every morning to teach me. I disliked particularly the large-lettered copies which she used to set me; and as I confided this to Mr. Dodgson, he came and gave me some copies himself. The only ones which I can remember were “Patience and water-gruel cure gout” (I always wondered what “gout” might be) and “Little girls should be seen and not heard” (which I thought unkind). These were written many times over, and I had to present the pages to him, without one blot or smudge, at the end of the week.

One of the Fellows of Magdalen College at that time was a Mr. Saul, a friend of my father’s and of Mr. Dodgson, and a great lover of music–his rooms were full of musical instruments of every sort. Mr. Dodgson and father and I all went one afternoon to pay him a visit. At that time he was much interested in the big drum, and we found him when we arrived in full practice, with his music-book open before him. He made us all join in the concert. Father undertook the ‘cello, and Mr. Dodgson hunted up a comb and some paper, and, amidst much fun and laughter, the walls echoed with the finished roll, or shake, of the big drum–a roll that was Mr. Saul’s delight.

My father died on August 27, 1897, and Mr. Dodgson on January 14, 1898. And we, who are left behind in this cold, weary world can only hope we may some day meet them again. Till then, oh! Father, and my dear old childhood’s friend, _requiescalis in pace!_

* * * * *

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“NOTES ON THE FIRST TWO BOOKS OF EUCLID.” 1860 Oxford: Parker. 8vo. 6d

“PHOTOGRAPHS.” (?)1860 (Printed for private circulation; a
list of negatives taken by the Rev. C. L. Dodgson.) Pp. 4, 4to

“A SYLLABUS OF PLANE ALGEBRAICAL GEOMETRY,” 1860 systematically arranged, with formal definitions, postulates, and axioms. By Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Part I. Containing Points, Right Lines, Rectilinear Figures, Pencils and Circles. Oxford: Parker. Pp. xvi + 164, 8vo. Cloth, paper label. 5s

“RULES FOR COURT CIRCULAR.” 1860 (A new game, invented by the Rev. C.L. Dodgson.) Pp. 4. (Reprinted in 1862).

“THE FORMULAE OF PLANE TRIGONOMETRY,” 1861 printed with symbols (instead of words) to express the “goniometrical ratios.” By Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Oxford: Parker. Pp. 19, 4to. Stitched, 1s.

“NOTES ON THE FIRST PART OF ALGEBRA.” 1861 Oxford: Parker. 8vo. 6d

“INDEX TO ‘IN MEMORIAM.'” 1862 [Suggested and edited by the Rev. C.L. Dodgson; much of the actual work of compilation was done by his sisters]
London: Moxon.

“THE ENUNCIATIONS OF EUCLID, Books I. and II.” 1863 Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“GENERAL LIST OF (MATHEMATICAL) SUBJECTS, AND 1863 CYCLE FOR WORKING EXAMPLES.”
Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“CROQUET CASTLES.” 1863 (A new game invented by the Rev. C.L. Dodgson). London(?) Pp. 4. (Reprinted, with additions and alterations, in 1866 at Oxford.)

“THE NEW EXAMINATION STATUTE.” 1864 (A letter to the Vice-Chancellor.)
Pp. 2, 4 to. Oxford.

“A GUIDE TO THE MATHEMATICAL STUDENT IN READING, 1864 REVIEWING, AND WORKING EXAMPLES.” By Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Part I. Pure Mathematics. Oxford: Parker. Two leaves and pp. 27, 8vo. Stitched, 1s.

“THE DYNAMICS OF A PARTI-CLE, with an Excursus on 1865 the New Method of Evaluation as applied to pi.” Oxford: Vincent. Pp. 28, 8vo. (Three editions).

“ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND.” By Lewis 1865 Carroll, with forty-two illustrations by John Tenniel. London: Macmillan. Pp. 192, cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges. 6s.
The 1st edition (recalled) was printed in Oxford, and is very rare; all subsequent editions (1865 onwards) by Richard Clay in London. Now in its 86th thousand. [People’s Edition, price 2s. 6d.; first published in 1887. Now in its 70th thousand.]

“CONDENSATION OF DETERMINANTS,” being a new and 1866 brief method for computing their arithmetical values. By the Rev. C.L. Dodgson. From “The Proceedings of the Royal Society, No. 84, 1866.” London: Taylor and Francis. Pp. 8, 8vo.

“AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON DETERMINANTS.” 1867 London: Macmillan. (Printed in Oxford.) Pp. viii + 143, 4to. Cloth. 10s. 6d.

“THE FIFTH BOOK OF EUCLID TREATED ALGEBRAICALLY, 1868 SO FAR AS IT RELATES TO COMMENSURABLE MAGNITUDES.” With notes. By Charles L. Dodgson. Oxford and London: Parker. Two leaves and pp. 37, 8vo. In wrapper, 1s. 6d.

“ALGEBRAICAL FORMULAE FOR RESPONSIONS.” 1868 Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“THE TELEGRAPH CIPHER.” (?)1868 (Invented, in 1868, by the Rev. C.L. Dodgson.)

“PHANTASMAGORIA AND OTHER POEMS.” 1869 By Lewis Carroll.
London: Macmillan. (Printed in Oxford.) Pp. viii + 202, small 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges.

“AVENTURES D’ALICE AU PAYS DE MERVEILLES.” 1869 Par Lewis Carroll, ouvrage illustre de 42 vignettes par John Tenniel. Traduit de l’anglais, par H. Bue. London: Macmillan. Pp. 196, cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges. 6s. (Now in its 2nd thousand.)

“ALICE’S ABENTEUER IM WUNDERLAND.” Von Lewis 1869 Carroll, mit zweiundvierzig Illustrationen von John Tenniel. Uebersetzt von Antonie Zimmermann. London: Macmillan. Pp. 178, cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges. 6s.

“GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY.” 1870 Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“ALGEBRAICAL FORMULAE AND RULES.” 1870 Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“ARITHMETICAL FORMULAE AND RULES.” 1870 Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“TO ALL CHILD READERS OF ‘ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN 1871 WONDERLAND.'” Pp. 4

“THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS AND WHAT ALICE FOUND 1871 THERE.” By Lewis Carroll. With fifty illustrations by John Tenniel.
London: Macmillan. Pp. 224., cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges. 6s. Now in its 61st thousand [People’s edition. Price 2s. 6d. First
published in 1887. Now in its 46th thousand.]

“LE AVVENTURE D’ALICE NEL PAESE DELLA MERAVIGLIE.” 1872 Per Lewis Carroll. Tradotte dall’inglese da T. Pietrocola-Rossetti. Con 42 vignette di Giovanni Tenniel.
London: Macmillan. Pp. 189, cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges. 6s.

CIRCULAR TO HOSPITALS OFFERING COPIES OF THE TWO 1872 “ALICE” BOOKS.
London: Macmillan.

“SYMBOLS, &c., TO BE USED IN EUCLID, 1872 Books I. and II.”
Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“NUMBER OF PROPOSITIONS IN EUCLID.” Oxford: 1872 Printed at the University Press.

“THE NEW BELFRY OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.” A 1872 Monograph. By D.C.L.
Oxford: Parker. Pp. 2 + 31, cr. 8vo. In wrapper. 6d. (Five editions.)

“ENUNCIATIONS, EUCLID, I.-VI.” 1873 Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“OBJECTIONS, SUBMITTED TO THE GOVERNING BODY of 1873 Christ Church, Oxford, against certain proposed alterations in the Great Quadrangle.”
Oxford: Printed at the University Press. Pp. 4, 4to. [Printed for Private Circulation.]

“THE VISION OF THE THREE T’s.” A Threnody. By the 1873 Author of “The New Belfry.”
Oxford. Parker. Pp. 37 + 3, 8vo. In wrapper, 9d. (Three editions.)

“A DISCUSSION OF THE VARIOUS MODES OF PROCEDURE IN 1873 CONDUCTING ELECTIONS.”
Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“EUCLID, BOOK V. PROVED ALGEBRAICALLY,” so far as 1874 it relates to Commensurable Magnitudes. To which is prefixed a summary of all the necessary algebraical operations, arranged in order of difficulty. By Charles L. Dodgson.
Oxford: Parker.
Pp. viii + 62, 8vo. Cloth. 3s. 6d.

“SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE BEST METHOD OF TAKING VOTES, 1874 where more than two Issues are to be voted on.” Oxford: Hall and Stacy. Pp. 8, 8vo.

“THE BLANK CHEQUE.” A Fable. By the Author of “The 1874 New Belfry,” and “The Vision of The Three T’s” Oxford: Parker. Pp. 14 + 2, cr. 8vo. In wrapper. 4d.

“PRELIMINARY ALGEBRA, AND EUCLID Book V.” 1874 Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“THE DYNAMICS OF A PARTI-CLE.” 1874 Oxford: Parker. Pp. 24, cr. 8vo. In wrapper. 6d.

“THE NEW METHOD OF EVALUATION AS APPLIED TO pi.” 1874 Oxford: Parker. Pp. 16, cr. 8vo. In wrapper. 4d.

“FACTS, FIGURES, AND FANCIES,” relating to the 1874 Elections to the Hebdomadal Council, the Offer of the Clarendon Trustees, and the Proposal to convert the Parks into Cricket-Grounds. Oxford: Parker. Pp. 29 + 3, cr. 8vo. In wrapper. 8d.

“NOTES BY AN OXFORD CHIEL.” 1874 Oxford: Parker. Cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges. [This book consists of the following six pamphlets bound together–“The New Method of Evaluation,” “The Dynamics of a Particle,” “Facts, Figures, and Fancies,” “The New Belfry,” “The Vision of the Three T’s,” and “The Blank Cheque.”]

“EXAMPLES IN ARITHMETIC.” 1874 Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“EUCLID, BOOKS I. and II.” Edited by Charles L. 1875 Dodgson.
Oxford: Parker. Diagram, Title, Preface, and pp. 102, cr. 8vo. Cloth.
[The book was circulated privately among Mathematical friends for hints. “Not yet published” was printed above title.]

“THE PROFESSORSHIP OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY.” 1876 (Three leaflets.)
Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“A METHOD OF TAKING VOTES OF MORE THAN TWO 1876 ISSUES.”
Oxford: Printed at the University Press. Pp. 20, cr. 8vo.
[A note on the title-page runs as follows: “As I hope to investigate this subject further, and to publish a more complete pamphlet on the subject, I shall feel greatly obliged if you will enter in this copy any remarks that occur to you, and return it to me any time before–“]

LETTER AND QUESTIONS TO HOSPITALS. Oxford: 1876 Printed at the University Press.

“AN EASTER GREETING.” [Reprinted in London, by 1876 Macmillan & Co., in 1880.]

“FAME’S PENNY TRUMPET.” Not published. 1876 Oxford: Baxter. Pp. 4, 4to.
[Afterwards published in “Rhyme? and Reason?”]

“THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK.” An Agony, in Eight 1876 Fits. By Lewis Carroll. With nine illustrations by Henry Holiday.
London: Macmillan. Pp. xi + 83, 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges. 4s.. 6d.

“THE RESPONSIONS OF HILARY TERM, 1877.” 1877 (A letter to the Vice-Chancellor.)
Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“A CHARADE.” (Written with a cyclostyle.) Pp. 4. 1878

“WORD-LINKS.” (A game, afterwards called 1878 “DOUBLETS,” invented by the Rev. C.L. Dodgson.) Oxford: Printed at the University Press. Pp. 4, 8vo.[There is also a form written with a cyclostyle.]

“DOUBLETS.” A Word-Puzzle. By Lewis Carroll. 1879 London: Macmillan. Pp. 73, 8vo. Cloth. 2s. (2nd edition, 1880.)

“EUCLID AND HIS MODERN RIVALS.” 1879 London: Macmillan. 8vo. Cloth. 6s.
(2nd edition, 1885. Pp. xxxi + 275.)

“DOUBLETS.” A Word-Puzzle. By Lewis Carroll. 1880 Oxford: Printed at the University Press. Pp. 8. 8vo. [This Puzzle appeared in Vanity Fair, April 19, 1879.]

“LETTER FROM MABEL TO EMILY.” To illustrate common 1880 errors in letter-writing. (Written with a cyclostyle.)

“LIZE’S AVONTUREN IN HET WONDERLAND.” (?)1881 Naar het Engelsch. [A Dutch version of “Alice in Wonderland.”]
Nijmegen. 4to.

“ON CATCHING COLD.” (A pamphlet, consisting of 1881 extracts from two books by Dr. Inman.)
Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“JABBERWOCKY.” (Lewis Carroll’s Poem, with A.A. 1881 Vansittart’s Latin rendering.)
Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

NOTICE RE CONCORDANCE TO “IN MEMORIAM.” 1881 Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“LANRICK.” A Game for Two Players. 1881 Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

A CIRCULAR ABOUT THE “SCHOOL OF DRAMATIC ART.” 1882 Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“AN ANALYSIS OF THE RESPONSIONS-LISTS FROM 1882 MICHAELMAS, 1873, to Michaelmas, 1881.” Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

CIRCULAR ASKING FOR SUGGESTIONS FOR A GIRLS’ 1882 EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE.
Oxford: Printed at the University Press. [Two different forms, one pp. 2, the other pp. 4.]

“EUCLID, BOOKS I. and II.” 1882 London: Macmillan. Printed in Oxford.
Pp. xi + 108. 8vo. Cloth. 2s.
[Seven editions were subsequently published.]

“DREAMLAND.” A Song. Words by Lewis Carroll; music 1882 by Rev. C. E. Hutchinson.
Oxford: Printed at the University Press.

“MISCHMASCH.” (A game invented by the Rev. C. L. 1882 Dodgson.) Oxford: Printed at the University Press. Two editions.

“RHYME? AND REASON?” By Lewis Carroll. With 1883 sixty-five illustrations by Arthur B. Frost, and nine by Henry Holiday.
London: Macmillan. Pp. xii + 214, cr. 8vo. Cloth, 7s. (Now in its 6th thousand.)
[This book is a reprint, with a few additions, of “The Hunting of the Snark,” and of the comic portions of “Phantasmagoria and Other Poems.”]

“LAWN TENNIS TOURNAMENTS: THE TRUE METHOD OF 1883 ASSIGNING PRIZES, with a Proof of the Fallacy of the Present Method.”
London: Macmillan. Printed in Oxford. 8vo.

“RULES FOR RECKONING POSTAGE.” 1883 Oxford: Baxter.

“TWELVE MONTHS IN A CURATORSHIP.” 1884 By One who has tried it.
Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter.
Pp. 52, 8vo

SUPPLEMENT TO DITTO. 1884 Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 8, 8vo

POSTSCRIPT TO DITTO. 1884 Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 2, 8vo.

“CHRISTMAS GREETINGS.” 1884 London: Macmillan.

“THE PROFITS OF AUTHORSHIP.” By Lewis Carroll. 1884 London: Macmillan. 8vo. 6d.

“THE PRINCIPLES OF PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION.” 1884 London: Harrison. Pp. 56, 8vo. (Reprinted in 1885.)

SUPPLEMENT TO DITTO. 1885 Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 8, 8vo. Two editions.

POSTSCRIPT TO SUPPLEMENT TO DITTO. 1885 Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 4, 8vo. Two editions.

SUPPLEMENT TO FIRST EDITION OF “EUCLID AND HIS 1885 MODERN RIVALS.” London: Macmillan. 8vo. 1s

“A TANGLED TALE.” By Lewis Carroll. With six 1885 illustrations by Arthur B. Frost. London: Macmillan. Printed in Oxford. Pp. 152, cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges. 4s. 6d. (Now in its 4th thousand.)
[First appeared in Monthly Packet, April, 1882-November, 1884. There are also separate reprints of each “Knot,” and of the Answers to “Knots” I. and II.]

“PROPOSED PROCURATORIAL CYCLE.” 1885 Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 4, 4to.

“THE PROCURATORIAL CYCLE. FURTHER REMARKS.” 1885 Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 3, 4to.

“SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE ELECTION OF PROCTORS.” 1885 Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 4, 4to. (Reprinted, with additions, in 1886)

“ALICE’S ADVENTURES UNDER GROUND.” By Lewis 1886 Carroll. With thirty-seven illustrations by the author.
London: Macmillan. Pp. viii + 95, cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges. 4s. (Now in its 4th thousand.) [This book is a facsimile of the original Manuscript story, afterwards developed into “Alice in Wonderland.”]

“THREE YEARS IN A CURATORSHIP.” 1886 By one whom it has tried.
Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 32, cr. 8vo.

“REMARKS ON THE REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE.” 1886 Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 8, cr. 8vo.

“REMARKS ON MR. SAMPSON’S PROPOSAL.” 1886 Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 4, cr. 8vo.

“OBSERVATIONS ON MR. SAMPSON’S PROPOSAL.” 1889 Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 12, 8vo.

“FIRST PAPER ON LOGIC.” 1886 Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 2, 8vo.

“FOURTH PAPER ON LOGIC.” 1886