of ladies, among whom I made out the faces of Dolly and Ninty; and in the foreground, seated in a boat, were two people, a gentleman and a lady I think (could they have been the bridegroom and the bride?) engaged in the natural and usual occupation for a riverside picnic—­pulling a Christmas cracker!  I have no idea what put such an idea into my head. I never saw crackers used in such a scene!

    I hope your mother goes on well.  With kindest regards to her
    and your father, and love to your sisters—­and to yourself
    too, if HE doesn’t object!—­I am,

    Yours affectionately,

    C.L.  Dodgson.

    P.S.—­I never give wedding-presents; so please regard the
    enclosed as an unwedding present.

    Ch.  Ch., Oxford, December 8, 1897.

My dear Kathleen,—­Many thanks for the photo of yourself and your fiance, which duly reached me January 23, 1892.  Also for a wedding-card, which reached me August 28, 1892.  Neither of these favours, I fear, was ever acknowledged.  Our only communication since, has been, that on December 13, 1892, I sent you a biscuit-box adorned with “Looking-Glass” pictures.  This you never acknowledged; so I was properly served for my negligence.  I hope your little daughter, of whose arrival Mrs. Eschwege told me in December, 1893, has been behaving well?  How quickly the years slip by!  It seems only yesterday that I met, on the railway, a little girl who was taking a sketch of Oxford!

    Your affectionate old friend,

    C.L.  Dodgson.

The following verses were inscribed in a copy of “Alice’s Adventures,” presented to the three Miss Drurys in August, 1869:—­

To three puzzled little girls, from the Author.

        Three little maidens weary of the rail,
        Three pairs of little ears listening to a tale,
        Three little hands held out in readiness,
        For three little puzzles very hard to guess. 
        Three pairs of little eyes, open wonder-wide,
        At three little scissors lying side by side. 
        Three little mouths that thanked an unknown Friend,
        For one little book, he undertook to send. 
        Though whether they’ll remember a friend, or book, or day—­
        In three little weeks is very hard to say.

He took the same three children to German Reed’s entertainment, where the triple bill consisted of “Happy Arcadia,” “All Abroad,” and “Very Catching.”  A few days afterwards he sent them “Phantasmagoria,” with a little poem on the fly-leaf to remind them of their treat:—­

        Three little maids, one winter day,
          While others went to feed,
        To sing, to laugh, to dance, to play,
          More wisely went to—­Reed.

        Others, when lesson-time’s begun,
          Go, half inclined to cry,
        Some in a walk, some in a run;
          But these went in a—­Fly.