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.
I give to other little maids A smile, a kiss, a look, Presents whose memory quickly fades, I give to these--a Book.
_Happy Arcadia _may blind, While _all abroad,_ their eyes; At home, this book (I trust) they'll find A _very catching_ prize.
The next three letters were addressed to two of Mr. Arthur Hughes' children. They are good examples of the wild and delightful nonsense with which Lewis Carroll used to amuse his little friends:--
My dear Agnes,--You lazy thing! What? I'm to divide the kisses myself, am I? Indeed I won't take the trouble to do anything of the sort! But I'll tell _you_ how to do it. First, you must take _four_ of the kisses, and--and that reminds me of a very curious thing that happened to me at half-past four yesterday. Three visitors came knocking at my door, begging me to let them in. And when I opened the door, who do you think they were? You'll never guess. Why, they were three cats! Wasn't it curious? However, they all looked so cross and disagreeable that I took up the first thing I could lay my hand on (which happened to be the rolling-pin) and knocked them all down as flat as pan-cakes! "If _you_ come knocking at _my_ door," I said, "_I_ shall come knocking at _your_ heads." "That was fair, wasn't it?"