Lewis Carroll in Wonderland and at Home The Story of His Life   By: Belle Moses

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.