hich are now in the
hands of the Controller of the Oxford University Press.

I will conclude this chapter with a poem which
appeared in _Punch_ for January 29th, a fortnight
after Lewis Carroll's death. It expresses, with
all the grace and insight of the true poet, what
I have tried, so feebly and ineffectually, to
say:--

LEWIS CARROLL.

_Born_ 1832. _Died January_ 14, 1898.

Lover of children! Fellow-heir with those
Of whom the imperishable kingdom is!
Beyond all dreaming now your spirit knows
The unimagined mysteries.

Darkly as in a glass our faces look
To read ourselves, if so we may, aright;
You, like the maiden in your faerie book--
You step behind and see the light!

The heart you wore beneath your pedant's cloak
Only to children's hearts you gave away;
Yet unaware in half the world you woke
The slumbering charm of childhood's day.

We older children, too, our loss lament,
We of the "Table Round," remembering well
How he, our comrade, with his pencil lent
Your fancy's speech a firmer spell.

Master of rare woodcraft, by sympathy's
Sure touch he caught your visionary gleams,
And made your fame, the dreamer's, one with his.
The wise interpreter of dreams.

Farewell! But near our hearts we have you yet,
Holding our heritage with loving hand,
Who may not follow where your feet are set
Upon the ways of Wonderland.[025]

[Illustration: Lorina and Alice Liddell. _From a photograph
by Lewis Carroll._]

* * * * *

CHAPTER X

CHILD FRIENDS

Mr. Dodgson's fondness for children--Miss Isabel
Standen--Puzzles--"Me and Myself"--A double
acrostic--"Father William"--Of drinking healths--Kisses by
post--Tired in the face--The unripe
plum--Eccentricities--"Sylvie and Bruno"--"Mr. Dodgson is
going on _well_."

This chapter, and the next will deal with Mr. Dodgson's friendships
with children. It would have been impossible to arrange them in
chronological sequence in the earlier part of this book, and the fact
that they exhibit a very important and distinct side of his nature
seems to justify me in assigning them a special and individual
position.

For the contents of these two chapters, both my readers and my