I will conclude this chapter with a poem which appeared in Punch for January 29th, a fortnight after Lewis Carroll’s death.  It expresses, with all the grace and insight of the true poet, what I have tried, so feebly and ineffectually, to say:—­

LEWIS CARROLL.

    Born 1832. Died January 14, 1898.

        Lover of children!  Fellow-heir with those
          Of whom the imperishable kingdom is! 
        Beyond all dreaming now your spirit knows
          The unimagined mysteries.

        Darkly as in a glass our faces look
          To read ourselves, if so we may, aright;
        You, like the maiden in your faerie book—­
          You step behind and see the light!

        The heart you wore beneath your pedant’s cloak
          Only to children’s hearts you gave away;
        Yet unaware in half the world you woke
          The slumbering charm of childhood’s day.

        We older children, too, our loss lament,
          We of the “Table Round,” remembering well
        How he, our comrade, with his pencil lent
          Your fancy’s speech a firmer spell.

        Master of rare woodcraft, by sympathy’s
          Sure touch he caught your visionary gleams,
        And made your fame, the dreamer’s, one with his. 
          The wise interpreter of dreams.

        Farewell!  But near our hearts we have you yet,
          Holding our heritage with loving hand,
        Who may not follow where your feet are set
          Upon the ways of Wonderland.[025]

[Illustration:  Lorina and Alice Liddell. From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.]

* * * * *

CHAPTER X

CHILD FRIENDS

Mr. Dodgson’s fondness for children—­Miss Isabel Standen—­Puzzles—­“Me and Myself”—­A double acrostic—­“Father William”—­Of drinking healths—­Kisses by post—­Tired in the face—­The unripe plum—­Eccentricities—­“Sylvie and Bruno”—­“Mr. Dodgson is going on well.”

This chapter, and the next will deal with Mr. Dodgson’s friendships with children.  It would have been impossible to arrange them in chronological sequence in the earlier part of this book, and the fact that they exhibit a very important and distinct side of his nature seems to justify me in assigning them a special and individual position.

For the contents of these two chapters, both my readers and myself owe a debt of gratitude to those child-friends of his, without whose ever-ready help this book could never have been written.

From very early college days began to emerge that beautiful side of Lewis Carroll’s character which afterwards was to be, next to his fame as an author, the one for which he was best known—­his attitude towards children, and the strong attraction they had for him.  I shall attempt to point out the various influences which led him in this direction; but if I were asked for one comprehensive word wide enough to explain this tendency of his nature, I would answer unhesitatingly—­Love.  My readers will remember a beautiful verse in “Sylvie and Bruno”; trite though it is, I cannot forbear to quote it—­