The Story of Lewis Carroll: Told for Young People by the Real Alice in WonderlandBowman, Isa
History
The Story of Lewis Carroll: Told for Young People by the Real Alice in Wonderland
Bowman, Isa
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Biography -- Juvenile literature; Carroll, Lewis, 1832-1898 -- Juvenile literature
The first thing they did, after calling at a shop, was to go to the
Panorama of the "Falls of Niagara". Isa thought it very wonderful. You
seemed to be on the top of a tower, with miles and miles of country all
round you. The things in front were real, and somehow they joined into the
picture behind, so that you couldn't tell where the real things ended and
the picture began. Near the foot of the Falls, there was a steam-packet
crossing the river, which showed what a tremendous height the Falls must
be, it looked so tiny. In the road in front were two men and a dog,
standing looking the other way. They may have been wooden figures, or part
of the picture, there was no knowing which. The man, who stood next to
Isa, said to another man "That dog looked round just now. Now see, I'll
whistle to him, and make him look round again!" And he began whistling:
and Isa almost expected, it looked so exactly like a real dog, that it
would turn its head to see who was calling it!
After that Isa and her friend (the Aged Aged Man) went to the house of a
Mr Dymes. Mrs Dymes gave them some dinner, and two of her children, called
Helen and Maud, went with them to Terry's Theatre, to see the play of
"Little Lord Fauntleroy". Little Vera Beringer was the little Lord
Fauntleroy. Isa would have liked to play the part, but the Manager at the
Theatre did not allow her, as she did not know the words, which would have
made it go off badly. Isa liked the whole play very much: the passionate
old Earl, and the gentle Mother of the little boy, and the droll "Mr.
Hobbs", and all of them.
Then they all went off by the Metropolitan Railway, and the two Miss
Dymeses got out at their station, and Isa and the A.A.M. went on to
Oxford. A kind old lady, called Mrs Symonds, had invited Isa to come and
sleep at her house: and she was soon fast asleep, and dreaming that she
and little Lord Fauntleroy were going in a steamer down the Falls of
Niagara, and whistling to a dog, who was in such a hurry to go up the
Falls that he wouldn't attend to them.
=Chap. III.=
The next morning Isa set off, almost before she was awake, with the
A.A.M., to pay a visit to a little College, called "Christ Church". You go
in under a magnificent tower, called "Tom Tower", nearly four feet high
(so that Isa had hardly to stoop at all, to go under it) into the Great
Quadrangle (which very vulgar people call "Tom Quad".) You should always
be polite, even when speaking to a Quadrangle: it might seem not to take
any notice, but it doesn't like being called names. On their way to Christ
Church they saw a tall monument, like the spire of a church, called the
"Martyrs' Memorial", put up in memory of three Bishops, Cranmer, Ridley
and Latimer, who were burned in the reign of Queen Mary, because they
would not be Roman Catholics. Christ Church was built in 1546.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account