herself. "After such a fall as this, I
shall think nothing of tumbling down-stairs! How brave they'll all
think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I
fell off the top of the house!" (Which was very likely true.)

Down, down, down. Would the fall _never_ come to an end? "I wonder
how many miles I've fallen by this time?" she said, aloud. "I must
be getting somewhere near the center of the earth. Let me see: that
would be four thousand miles down, I think--" (for, you see, Alice
had learned several things of this sort in her lessons in the
school-room, and though this was not a _very_ good opportunity for
showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her,
still it was good practice to say it over) "--yes, that's about the
right distance--but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've
got to?" (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either,
but thought they were nice, grand words to say.)

Presently she began again. "I wonder if I shall fall right
_through_ the earth? How funny it'll seem to come out among the
people that walk with their heads downward! The Antipathies, I
think--" (she was rather glad there _was_ no one listening this
time, as it didn't sound at all the right word) "--but I shall have
to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. 'Please,
ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?'" (and she tried to
courtesy as she spoke--fancy _courtesying_ as you're falling
through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) "And what an
ignorant little girl she'll think me! No, it'll never do to ask;
perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere."

Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began
talking again. "Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should
think!" (Dinah was the cat.) "I hope they'll remember her saucer of
milk at tea-time. Dinah, my dear, I wish you were down here with
me! There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a
bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats,
I wonder?" And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on
saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, "Do cats eat bats? Do
cats eat bats?" and sometimes, "Do bats eat cats?" for, you see, as
she couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matt