will accept my most humble apologies for the liberty I
have taken.

At the beginning of 1894 a Baptist minister, preaching on the text,
"No man liveth to himself," made use of "Sylvie and Bruno" to enforce
his argument. After saying that he had been reading that book, he
proceeded as follows:

A child was asked to define charity. He said it was "givin'
away what yer didn't want yerself." This was some people's
idea of self-sacrifice; but it was not Christ's. Then as to
serving others in view of reward: Mr. Lewis Carroll put this
view of the subject very forcibly in his "Sylvie and
Bruno"--an excellent book for youth; indeed, for men and
women too. He first criticised Archdeacon Paley's definition
of virtue (which was said to be "the doing good to mankind,
in obedience to the will of God, and for the sake of
everlasting happiness,") and then turned to such hymns as
the following:--

Whatever, Lord, we lend to Thee,
_Repaid a thousandfold shall be_,
Then gladly will we give to Thee,
Giver of all!

Mr. Carroll's comment was brief and to the point. He said:
"Talk of Original _Sin_! Can you have a stronger proof
of the Original Goodness there must be in this nation than
the fact that Religion has been preached to us, as a
commercial speculation, for a century, and that we still
believe in a God?" ["Sylvie and Bruno," Part i., pp. 276,
277.] Of course it was quite true, as Mr. Carroll pointed
out, that our good deeds would be rewarded; but we ought to
do them because they were _good_, and not because the
reward was great.

In the Preface to "Sylvie and Bruno," Lewis Carroll alluded to certain
editions of Shakespeare which seemed to him unsuitable for children;
it never seemed to strike him that his words might be read by
children, and that thus his object very probably would be defeated,
until this fact was pointed out to him in a letter from an unknown
correspondent, Mr. J.C. Cropper, of Hampstead. Mr. Dodgson replied as
follows:--

Dear Sir,--Accept my best thanks for your thoughtful and
valuable suggestion about the Preface to "Sylvie and Bruno."
The danger you point out had not occurred to me (I suppose I
had not thought of _children_ reading the Preface): but
it is a very real one, and I am very glad to have had my
attention called to it.

Believe me, truly yours