The Junior Classics, Volume 6: Old-Fashioned Tales
General
The Junior Classics, Volume 6: Old-Fashioned Tales
Children's literature
_Few books have given more real pleasure to young people than "Alice
in Wonderland" by Charles L. Dodgson, a professor of mathematics in
Oxford University, who signed his stories Lewis Carroll. He was always
a great favorite with the children, from the time he began acting
little plays in a little theatre for his nine brothers and sisters,
and up to the time of his death in 1898 there were hundreds of happy
boys and girls, but mostly girls, who delighted to call him friend.
"Through the Looking-Glass" is a continuation of "Alice in Wonderland."_
DOWN THE RABBIT-HOLE
By Lewis Carroll
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the
bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into
the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or
conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice,
"without pictures or conversations?"
So she was considering, in her own mind (as well as she could, for the
hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of
making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and
picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran
close by her.
There was nothing so _very_ remarkable in that; nor did Alice think
it so _very_ much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, "Oh
dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she thought it over
afterward, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this,
but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but, when the Rabbit
actually _took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket_, and looked at it,
and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across
her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a
waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and, burning with
curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to
see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how
in the world she was to get out again.
The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then
dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think
about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what
seemed to be a very deep well.
Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had
plenty of time as she went down to look about her, and to wonder what
was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out
what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything: then she
looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled
with cupboards and book-shelves: here and there she saw maps and
pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves
as she passed: it was labeled "ORANGE MARMALADE," but to her great
disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar, for
fear of killing somebody underneath, so managed to put it into one of
the cupboards as she fell past it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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