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