Complete Works of Lewis Carroll (8 page)

POSTSCRIPT.

The profits, if any, of this book will be given to Children's Hospitals and Convalescent Homes for Sick Children; and the accounts, down to June 30 in each year, will be published in the St.
James's Gazette, on the second Tuesday of the following December.

P.P.S.—The thought, so prettily expressed by the little boy, is also to be found in Longfellow's "Hiawatha," where he appeals to those who believe

"
That the feeble hands and helpless,
Groping blindly in the darkness
,
Touch
God's
right hand in that darkness
,
And are lifted up and strengthened
."

"Who will Riddle me the How and the Why?"

So questions one of England's sweetest singers.
The "How?"
has already been told, after a fashion, in the verses prefixed to "Alice in Wonderland"; and some other memories of that happy summer day are set down, for those who care to see them, in this little book—the germ that was to grow into the published volume.
But the "Why?"
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 that 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 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 come somewhere near to this.

There was no idea of publication in my mind when I wrote this little book
: that
was wholly an afterthought, pressed on me by the "perhaps too partial friends" who always have to bear the blame when a writer rushes into print: and I can truly say that no praise of theirs has ever given me one hundredth part of the pleasure it has been to think of the sick children in hospitals (where it has been a delight to me to send copies) forgetting, for a few bright hours, their pain and weariness—perhaps thinking lovingly of the unknown writer of the tale—perhaps even putting up a childish prayer (and oh, how much it needs!) for one who can but dimly hope to stand, some day, not quite out of sight of those pure young faces, before the great white throne.
"I am very sure," writes a lady-visitor at a Home for Sick Children, "that there will be many loving earnest prayers for you on Easter morning from the children.
"

I would like to quote further from her letters, as embodying a suggestion that may perhaps thus come to the notice of some one able and willing to carry it out.

"
I want you to send me one of your Easter Greetings for a very dear child who is dying at our Home.
She is just fading away, and 'Alice' has brightened some of the weary hours in her illness, and I know that letter would be such a delight to her—especially if you would put 'Minnie' at the top, and she could know you had sent it for her.
She
knows
you,
and would so value it....
She suffers so much that I long for what I know would so please her."
...
"Thank you very much for sending me the letter, and for writing Minnie's name....
I am quite sure that all these children will say a loving prayer for the 'Alice-man' on Easter Day: and I am sure the letter will help the little ones to the real Easter joy.
How I do wish that you, who have won the hearts and confidence of so many children, would do for them what is so very near my heart, and yet what no one will do, viz.
write a book for children about
God
and themselves, which is
not
goody, and which begins at the right end, about religion, to make them see what it really is.
I get quite miserable very often over the children I come across: hardly any of them have an idea of
really
knowing that
God
loves them, or of loving and confiding in Him.
They will love and trust
me,
and be sure that I want them to be happy, and will not let them suffer more than is necessary: but as for going to Him in the same way, they would never think of it.
They are dreadfully afraid of Him, if they think of Him at all, which they generally only do when they have been naughty, and they look on all connected with Him as very grave and dull: and, when they are full of fun and thoroughly happy, I am sure they unconsciously hope He is not looking.
I am sure I don't wonder they think of Him in this way, for people
never
talk of Him in connection with what makes their little lives the brightest.
If they are naughty, people put on solemn faces, and say He is very angry or shocked, or something which frightens them: and, for the rest, He is talked about only in a way that makes them think of church and having to be quiet.
As for being taught that all Joy and all Gladness and Brightness is His Joy—that He is wearying for them to be happy, and is not hard and stern, but always doing things to make their days brighter, and caring for them so tenderly, and wanting them to run to Him with
all
their little joys and sorrows, they are not taught that.
I do so long to make them trust Him as they trust us, to feel that He will 'take their part' as they do with us in their little woes, and to go to Him in their plays and enjoyments and not only when they say their prayers.
I was quite grateful to one little dot, a short time ago, who said to his mother 'when I am in bed, I put out my hand to see if I can feel
Jesus
and my angel.
I thought perhaps
in the dark
they'd touch me, but they never have yet.'
I do so want them to
want
to go to Him, and to feel how, if He is there, it
must
be happy.
"

Let me add—for I feel I have drifted into far too serious a vein for a preface to a fairy-tale—the deliciously naïve remark of a very dear child-friend, whom I asked, after an acquaintance of two or three days, if she had read 'Alice' and the 'Looking-Glass.'
"Oh yes," she replied readily, "I've read both of them!
And I think" (this more slowly and thoughtfully) "I think 'Through the Looking-Glass' is
more
stupid than 'Alice's Adventures.'
Don't
you
think so?"
But this was a question I felt it would be hardly discreet for me to enter upon.

LEWIS CARROLL.

Dec.
1886.

AN EASTER GREETING TO EVERY CHILD WHO LOVES "Alice."

Dear Child,

Please to fancy, if you can, that you are reading a real letter, from a real friend whom you have seen, and whose voice you can seem to yourself to hear wishing you, as I do now with all my heart, a happy Easter.

Do you know that delicious dreamy feeling when one first wakes on a summer morning, with the twitter of birds in the air, and the fresh breeze coming in at the open window—when, lying lazily with eyes half shut, one sees as in a dream green boughs waving, or waters rippling in a golden light?
It is a pleasure very near to sadness, bringing tears to one's eyes like a beautiful picture or poem.
And is not that a Mother's gentle hand that undraws your curtains, and a Mother's sweet voice that summons you to rise?
To rise and forget, in the bright sunlight, the ugly dreams that frightened you so when all was dark—to rise and enjoy another happy day, first kneeling to thank that unseen Friend, who sends you the beautiful sun
?

Are these strange words from a writer of such tales as "Alice"?
And is this a strange letter to find in a book of nonsense?
It may be so.
Some perhaps may blame me for thus mixing together things grave and gay; others may smile and think it odd that any one should speak of solemn things at all, except in church and on a Sunday: but I think—nay, I am sure—that some children will read this gently and lovingly, and in the spirit in which I have written it.

For I do not believe God means us thus to divide life into two halves—to wear a grave face on Sunday, and to think it out-of-place to even so much as mention Him on a week-day.
Do you think He cares to see only kneeling figures, and to hear only tones of prayer—and that He does not also love to see the lambs leaping in the sunlight, and to hear the merry voices of the children, as they roll among the hay?
Surely their 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 and sorrow (as how much of life must then be recalled!) when
my
turn comes to walk through the valley of shadows.

This Easter sun will rise on you, dear child, feeling your "life in every limb," and eager to rush out into the fresh morning air
—
and many an Easter-day will come and go, before it finds you feeble and gray-headed, creeping wearily out to bask once more in the sunlight—but it is good, even now, to think sometimes of that great morning when the "Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings.
"

Surely your gladness need not be the less for the thought that you will one day see a brighter dawn than this—when lovelier sights will meet your eyes than any waving trees or rippling waters—when angel-hands shall undraw your curtains, and sweeter tones than ever loving Mother breathed shall wake you to a new and glorious day—and when all the sadness, and the sin, that darkened life on this little earth, shall be forgotten like the dreams of a night that is past!

Your affectionate friend
,

LEWIS CARROLL
.

Easter, 1876.

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS.

From A Fairy To A Child.

Lady dear, if Fairies may For a moment lay aside Cunning tricks and elfish play, 'Tis at happy Christmas-tide.

We have heard the children say— Gentle children, whom we love— Long ago, on Christmas Day, Came a message from above.

Still, as Christmas-tide comes round, They remember it again— Echo still the joyful sound "Peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Yet the hearts must childlike be Where such heavenly guests abide: Unto children, in their glee, All the year is Christmas-tide!

Thus, forgetting tricks and play For a moment, Lady dear, We would wish you, if we may, Merry Christmas, glad New Year!

LEWIS CARROLL.

Christmas, 1867.

ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

Illustrated by Sir John Tenniel

First published in 1865, this famous novel tells the story of a girl called Alice, who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by anthropomorphic creatures.
The novel’s genre has been termed as
literary nonsense
, which has had an enormous influence in literature, in particular on the fantasy genre. 

On 26 November Carroll gave Alice Liddell the handwritten manuscript of
Alice’s Adventures Under Ground
, with illustrations by himself, dedicating it as "A Christmas Gift to a Dear Child in Memory of a Summer’s Day".  But before Alice received her copy, Carroll was already preparing it for publication and expanding the 15,500-word original to 27,500 words, most notably adding the episodes featuring the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Tea-Party.  This later version was to be called
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
.  It was published late in 1865 under the
Lewis Carroll
pen-name, which had first been used nine years earlier.  The illustrations this time were by Sir John Tenniel, as Carroll felt that a published book deserved the skills of a professional artist.  Sir John Tenniel’s original illustrations are provided in this version of the text.