The Story of Lewis Carroll: Told for Young People by the Real Alice in WonderlandBowman, Isa
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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
When I got very tired we used to sit down upon the grass, and he used to
show me the most wonderful things made out of his handkerchief. Every one
when a child has, I suppose, seen the trick in which a handkerchief is
rolled up to look like a mouse, and then made to jump about by a movement
of the hand. He did this better than any one I ever saw, and the trick was
a never-failing joy. By a sort of consent between us the handkerchief
trick was kept especially for the walk to Beachy Head, when, about
half-way, I was a little tired and wanted to rest. When we actually got to
the Head there was tea waiting in the coastguard's cottage. He always said
I ate far too much, and he would never allow me more than one rock cake
and a cup of tea. This was an invariable rule, and much as I wished for
it, I was never allowed to have more than one rock cake.
It was in the coastguard's house or on the grass outside that I heard most
of his stories. Sometimes he would make excursions into the realms of pure
romance, where there were scaly dragons and strange beasts that sat up and
talked. In all these stories there was always an adventure in a forest,
and the great scene of each tale always took place in a wood. The
consummation of a story was always heralded by the phrase, "The children
now came to a deep dark wood." When I heard that sentence, which was
always spoken very slowly and with a solemn dropping of the voice, I
always knew that the really exciting part was coming. I used to nestle a
little nearer to him, and he used to hold me a little closer as he told of
the final adventure.
He did not always tell me fairy tales, though I think I liked the fairy
tale much the best. Sometimes he gave me accounts of adventures which had
happened to him. There was one particularly thrilling story of how he was
lost on Beachy Head in a sea fog, and had to find his way home by means of
boulders. This was the more interesting because we were on the actual
scene of the disaster, and to be there stimulated the imagination.
The summer afternoons on the great headland were very sweet and peaceful.
I have never met a man so sensible to the influences of Nature as Lewis
Carroll. When the sunset was very beautiful he was often affected by the
sight. The widespread wrinkled sea below, in the mellow melancholy light
of the afternoon, seemed to fit in with his temperament. I have still a
mental picture that I can recall of him on the cliff. Just as the sun was
setting, and a cool breeze whispered round us, he would take off his hat
and let the wind play with his hair, and he would look out to sea. Once I
saw tears in his eyes, and when we turned to go he gripped my hand much
tighter than usual.
[Illustration: MISS ISA BOWMAN AND MISS BESSIE HATTON AS THE LITTLE
PRINCES IN THE TOWER]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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