Over all matters connected with letter writing, Lewis Carroll was accustomed to take great pains. All letters that he received that were of any interest or importance whatever he kept, putting them away in old biscuit tins, numbers of which he kept for the purpose. [Illustration: "DOLLY VARDEN"] In 1888 he published a little book which he called "Eight or Nine Wise Words about Letter Writing," and as this little book of mine is so full of letters, I think I can do no better than make a few extracts:-- "_Write Legibly._--The average temper of the human race would be perceptibly sweeter if every one obeyed this rule! A great deal of the bad writing in the world comes simply from writing too quickly. Of course you reply, 'I do it to save time.' A very good object, no doubt; but what right have you to do it at your friend's expense? Isn't _his_ time as valuable as yours? Years ago I used to receive letters from a friend--and very interesting letters too--written in one of the most atrocious hands ever invented. It generally took me about a _week_ to read one of his letters! I used to carry it about in my pocket, and take it out at leisure times, to puzzle over the riddles which composed it--holding it in different positions, and at different distances, till at last the meaning of some hopeless scrawl would flash upon me, when I at once wrote down the English under it; and, when several had thus been guessed, the context would help one with the others, till at last the whole series of hieroglyphics was deciphered. If _all_ one's friends wrote like that, life would be entirely spent in reading their letters." In writing the last wise word, the author no doubt had some of his girl correspondents in his mind's eye, for he says-- "_My Ninth Rule._--When you get to the end of a note sheet, and find you have more to say, take another piece of paper--a whole sheet or a scrap, as the case may demand; but, whatever you do, _don't cross_! Remember the old proverb, 'Cross writing makes cross reading.' 'The _old_ proverb,' you say inquiringly; 'how old?' Well, not so _very_ ancient, I must confess. In fact I'm afraid I invented it while writing this paragraph. Still you know 'old' is a comparative term. I think you would be _quite_ justified in addressing a chicken just out of the shell as 'Old Boy!' _when compared_ with another chicken that was only half out!" I have another diary to give to my readers, a diary that Lewis Carroll wrote for my sister Maggie when, a tiny child, she came to Oxford to play the child part, Mignon, in "Booties' Baby." He was delighted with the pretty play, for the interest that the soldiers took in the little lost girl, and how a mere interest ripened into love, till the little Mignon was queen of the barracks, went straight to his heart. I give the diary in full:-- "MAGGIE'S VISIT TO OXFORD JUNE 9 TO 13, 1899