oof of the hall: in fact she was now more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door.

="2.5"> Poor Alice! It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side, to look through into the garden with one eye; but to get through was more hopeless than ever: she sat down and began to cry again.

ock-num" data-id="2.6"> “You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” said Alice, “a great girl like you,” (she might well say this), “to go on crying in this way! Stop this moment, I tell you!” But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about four inches deep and reaching half down

the hall.

After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the di

stance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came, “Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! Oh! won’t she be savage if I’ve kept her waiting!” Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to

ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, “If you please, sir — ” The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, and skurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go.

data-before="2626" data-ww=""> Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: “Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I

wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle!” And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of them.

"> “I’m sure I’m not Ada,” she said, “for her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn’t go in ringlets at all; and I’m sure I can’t be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, oh! she knows such a very little! Besides, she’s she, and I’m I, and — oh dear, how puzzling it all is! I’ll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me see: four

times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is — oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate! However, the Multiplication Table doesn’t signify: let’s try Geography. London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome, and Rome — no, that’s all wrong, I’m certain! I must have been changed for Mabel! I’ll try and say ‘How doth th

e little — ’” and she crossed her hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it, but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to do: —

data-id="2.10"> “How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
“How cheerfully he seems to g

rin,
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!”

ore="2970" data-ww=""> “I’m sure those are not the right words,” said poor Alice, and her eyes filled with tears again as she went on, “I must be Mabel after all, and I shall have to go and live in that poky little house, and have next to no toys to play with, and oh! ever so many lessons to learn! No, I’ve made up my mind about it; if I’m Mabel, I’ll stay down her

e! It’ll be no use their putting their heads down and saying ‘Come up again, dear!’ I shall only look up and say ‘Who am I then? Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I’ll come up: if not, I’ll stay down here till I’m somebody else’ — but, oh dear!” cried Alice, with a sudden burst of tears, “I do wish they would put their heads down! I am so very tired of being all alone here!”

list_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl42" data-audio="1" data-words-count="109" data-before="3124" data-ww=""> As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was surprised to see that she had put on one of the Rabbit’s little white kid gloves while she was talking. “How can I have done that?” she thought. “I must be growing small again.” She got up and went to the table to measure

herself by it, and found that, as nearly as she could guess, she was now about two feet high, and was going on shrinking rapidly: she soon found out that the cause of this was the fan she was holding, and she dropped it hastily, just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether.

b"> “That was a narrow escape!” said Alice, a good deal frightened at the sudden change, but very glad to find herself still in existence; “and now for the garden!” and she ran with all speed back to the little door: but, alas! the little door was shut again, and the little golden key was lying on the glass table as before, “and things are worse than ever,” thought the poor child, “for I never was so small as this before, never! And I declare it’s too bad, that it

is!”

As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, splash! she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea, “and in that

case I can go back by railway,” she said to herself. (Alice had been to the seaside once in her life, and had come to the general conclusion, that wherever you go to on the English coast you find a number of bathing machines in the sea, some children digging in the sand with wooden spades, then a row of lodging houses, and behind them a railway station.) However, she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high.

_robinsonlist_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl45" data-audio="1" data-words-count="49" data-before="3451" data-ww=""> “I wish I hadn’t cried so much!” said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. “I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That will be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer to-day.”

ctype="par" data-ilmid="alice_s_adventures_in_wonderland_robinsonlist_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl46" data-audio="1" data-words-count="61" data-before="3500" data-ww=""> Just then she heard something splashing about in the pool a little way off, and she s

wam nearer to make out what it was: at first she thought it must be a walrus or hippopotamus, but then she remembered how small she was now, and she soon made out that it was only a mouse that had slipped in like herself.

-id="2.17"> “Would it be of any use, now,” thought Alice, “to speak to this mouse? Everything is so out-of-the-way down here, that I should think very likely it can talk: at any rate, there’s no harm in trying.” So she began: “O Mouse, do you know the way out of this pool? I am very tired of swimming about here, O Mouse!” (Alice thought this must be t

he right way of speaking to a mouse: she had never done such a thing before, but she remembered having seen in her brother’s Latin Grammar, “A mouse — of a mouse — to a mouse — a mouse — O mouse!”) The Mouse looked at her rather inquisitively, and seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes, but it said nothing.

_s_adventures_in_wonderland_robinsonlist_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl48" data-audio="1" data-words-count="97" data-before="3688" data-ww=""> “Perhaps it doesn’t understand English,” thought Alice; “I daresay it’s a French mouse, come over

with William the Conqueror.” (For, with all her knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion how long ago anything had happened.) So she began again: “Où est ma chatte?” which was the first sentence in her French lesson-book. The Mouse gave a sudden leap out of the water, and seemed to quiver all over with fright. “Oh, I beg your pardon!” cried Alice hastily, afraid that she had hurt the poor animal’s feelings. “I quite forgot you didn’t like cats.”<

/span>

“Not like cats!” cried the Mouse, in a shrill,

passionate voice. “Would you like cats if you were me?”

“Well, perhaps not,” said Alice in a soothing tone:  

don’t be angry about it. And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah: I think you’d take a fancy to cats if you could only see her. She is such a dear quiet thing,” Alice went on, half to herself, as she swam lazily about in the pool, “and she sits purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face — and she is such a nice soft thing to nurse — and she’s such a capita

l one for catching mice — oh, I beg your pardon!” cried Alice again, for this time the Mouse was bristling all over, and she felt certain it must be really offended. “We won’t talk about her any more if you’d rather not.”

block-pb"> “We indeed!” cried the Mouse, who was trembling down to the end of his tail. “As if I would talk on such a subject! Our family always hated cats: nasty, low, vulgar things! Don’t let me hear the name again!”

56" data-before="3976" data-ww=""> “I won’t indeed!” said Alice, in a great hurry to change the subject of conversation. “Are you — are you fond — of — of dogs?” The Mouse did not answer, so Alice went on eagerly: “There is such a nice little dog near our house I should like to show you! A little bright-eyed terrier, you know, with oh, such long curly br

own hair! And it’ll fetch things when you throw them, and it’ll sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts of things — I can’t remember half of them — and it belongs to a farmer, you know, and he says it’s so useful, it’s worth a hundred pounds! He says it kills all the rats and — oh dear!” cried Alice in a sorrowful tone, “I’m afraid I’ve offended it again!” For the Mouse was swimming away from her as hard as it could go, and making quite a commot

ion in the pool as it went.

So she called softly after it, “Mouse dear! Do come back again, and we won’t talk about cats or dogs either, if you don’t like them!” When the Mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her: its face was quite pale (with passion, Alice thought), and it said in a low trembling voice, “Let us get to the shore

, and then I’ll tell you my history, and you’ll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs.”

tm-wrap">It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with the birds and animals that had fallen into it: there were a Duck and a Dodo, a Lory and an Eaglet, and several other curious creatures. Alice led the way, and the whole party swam to the shore.

65" data-ww="">

Chapter III
A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale

dventures_in_wonderland_robinsonlist_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl4g" data-audio="1" data-words-count="32" data-before="4272" data-ww=""> They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank — the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable.

s_adventures_in_wonderland_robinsonlist_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl4h" data-audio="1" data-words-count="101" data-before="4304" data-ww=""> The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they had a consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemed quite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly with them, as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she had quite a long argument with the Lory, who at last turned sulky, and would only say, “I am older than you, and must know better;” and this Alice would not allow without knowing ho

w old it was, and, as the Lory positively refused to tell its age, there was no more to be said.

At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them, called out, “Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I’ll soon make you dry enough!” They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse in the middl

e. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon.

“Ahem!” said the Mouse with an important air, “are you all ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! ‘William the Conqueror, w

hose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria — ’”

“Ugh!” said the Lory, with a shiver.

“I beg your pardon!” said the Mouse, frowning, but very politely: “Did you speak?”

ck-num" data-id="3.7"> “Not I!” said the Lory hastily.

ck-pb"> “I thought you did,” said the Mouse. “ — I proceed. ‘Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable — ’”

s="block-num" data-id="3.9"> “Found what?” said the Duck.

<

span class="block-pb"> “Found it,” the Mouse replied rather crossly: “of course you know what ‘it’ means.”

tm-wrap">“I know what ‘it’ means well enough, when I find a thing,” said the Duck: “it’s generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?”

ss="block-pb is-animated"> The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on, “‘ — found it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the crown. William’s conduct at first was moderate. But the insolence of his Normans — ’ How are you getting on now, my dear?” it continued, turning to Alice as it spoke.

data-words-count="18" data-before="4706" data-ww=""> “As wet as ever,” said Alice in a melancholy tone: “it doesn’t seem to dry me at all.”

ata-words-count="25" data-before="4724" data-ww=""> “In that case,” said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, “I move that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more energetic remedies — ”

3.15"> “Speak English!” said the Eaglet. “I don’t know the meaning of half those long words, and, what’s more, I don’t believe you do either!” And the Eaglet bent down its head to hide a smile: some of the other birds tittered audibly.

list_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl4v" data-audio="1" data-words-count="26" data-before="4791" data-ww=""> “What I was going to say,” said the Dodo in an offended tone, “was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.”

entures_in_wonderland_robinsonlist_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl4w" data-audio="1" data-words-count="36" data-before="4817" data-ww=""> “What is a Caucus-race?” said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that somebody ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anyth

ing.

“Why,” said the Dodo, “the best way to explain it is to do it.” (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)

5ba88ea71ecfb-bl4y" data-audio="1" data-words-count="103" data-before="4889" data-ww=""> First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, (“the exact shape doesn’t matter,” it said,) and then all the party were placed along the course, here and there. There was no “One, two, three, and away,” but they began running when they liked, and left off when they l

iked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out “The race is over!” and they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, “But who has won?”

pan class="block-num" data-id="3.20"> This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, “Everybody has won, and all must have prizes.”

io="1" data-words-count="13" data-before="5052" data-ww=""> “But who is to give the prizes?” quite a chorus of voices asked.

ck-pb"> “Why, she, of course,” said the Dodo, pointing to Alice with one finger; and the whole party at once crowded round her, calling out in a confused way, “Prizes! Prizes!”

Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, (luckily the salt water had not got into it), and handed them round as prizes. There was exactly one a-piece, all round.

_adventures_in_wonderland_robinsonlist_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl53" data-audio="1" data-words-count="12" data-before="5141" data-ww=""> “But she must have a prize herself, you know,” said the Mouse.

“Of course,” the Dodo replied very gravely. “What else have you got in your pocket?” he went on, turning to Alice.

“Only a thimble,” said Alice sadly

.

pan class="block-num" data-id="3.27"> “Hand it over here,” said the Dodo.

Then they all crowded round her once more, while

the Dodo solemnly presented the thimble, saying “We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble;” and, when it had finished this short speech, they all cheered.

Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked so grave that she did not dare to laugh; and, as she could not think of anything to say, she simply bowed, and took the thimble, looking as solemn as she could.

lock-num" data-id="3.30"> The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise and confusion, as the large birds complained that they could not taste theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be patted on the back. However, it was over at last, and they sat down again in a ring, and begged the Mouse to tell them something more.

ated"> “You promised to tell me your history, you know,” said Alice, “and why it is you hate — C and D,” she added in a whisper, half afraid that it would be offended again.

data-ww=""> “Mine is a long and a sad tale!” said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing.

“It

is a long tail, certainly,” said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse’s tail; “but why do you call it sad?” And she kept on puzzling about it while the Mouse was speaking, so that her idea of the tale was something like this: —

8308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl5d" data-audio="1" data-words-count="80" data-before="5421" data-ww=""> “Fury said to a mouse, That he met in the house, ‘Let us both go to law: I will prosecute you. — Come, I’ll take no denial; We must have a trial: For really this morning I’ve nothing to do.’ Said the mouse to the cur, ‘Such a trial, dear sir, With no jury or judge, would be wasting our breath.’ ‘I’ll be judge, I’ll be jury,’ Said cunning old Fury: ‘I’ll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.’”

a88ea71ecfb-bl5e" data-audio="1" data-words-count="15" data-before="5501" data-ww=""> “You are not attending!” said the Mouse to Alice severely. “What are you thinking of?”

binsonlist_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl5f" data-audio="1" data-words-count="17" data-before="5516" data-ww=""> “I beg your pardon,” said Alice very humbly: “you had got to the fifth bend, I think?”

“I had not!” cried the Mouse, sharply and very angrily.

5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl5h" data-audio="1" data-words-count="23" data-before="5543" data-ww=""> “A knot!” said Alice, always ready to make herself useful, and looking anxiously about her. “Oh, do let me help to undo it!”

d="alice_s_adventures_in_wonderland_robinsonlist_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl5i" data-audio="1" data-words-count="22" data-before="5566" data-ww=""> “I shall do nothing of the sort,” said the Mouse, getting up and walking away. “You insult me by talking such nonsense!”

05ba88ea71ecfb-bl5j" data-audio="1" data-words-count="14" data-before="5588" data-ww=""> “I didn’t mean it!” pleaded poor Alice. “But you’re so easily offended, you know!”

-bl5k" data-audio="1" data-words-count="6" data-before="5602" data-ww=""> The Mouse only growled in reply.

-count="34" data-before="5608" data-ww=""> “Please come back and finish your story!” Alice called after it; and the others all joined in chorus, “Yes, please do!” but the Mouse only shook its head impatiently, and walked a little quicker.

tures_in_wonderland_robinsonlist_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl5m" data-audio="1" data-words-count="65" data-before="5642" data-ww=""> “What a pity it wouldn’t stay!” sighed the Lory, as soon as it was quite out of sight; and an old Crab took the opportunity of saying to her daughter “Ah, my dear! Let this be a lesson to you never to lose your temper!” “Hold your tongue,

Ma!” said the young Crab, a little snappishly. “You’re enough to try the patience of an oyster!”

“I wish I had our Dinah here, I know I do!” said Alice a

loud, addressing nobody in particular. “She’d soon fetch it back!”

pan>“And who is Dinah, if I might venture to ask the question?” said the Lory.

ed"> Alice replied eagerly, for she was always ready to talk about her pet: “Dinah’s our cat. And she’s such a capital one for catching mice you can’t think! And oh, I wish you could see her after the birds! Why, she’ll eat a little bird as soon as look at it!”

ta-before="5796" data-ww=""> This speech caused a remarkable sensation among the party. Some of the birds hurried off at once: one old Magpie began wrapping itself up very carefully, remarking, “I really must be getting home; the night-air doesn’t suit my throat!” and a Canary called out in a trembling voice to its children, “Come away, my dears! It’s high time you were all in bed!” On various pretexts they all moved off, and Alice was soon left alone.

id="para_106" semantictype="par" data-ilmid="alice_s_adventures_in_wonderland_robinsonlist_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl5r" data-audio="1" data-words-count="98" data-before="5872" data-ww=""> “I wish I hadn’t mentioned Dinah!” she said to herself in a melancholy tone. “Nobody seems to like her, down here, and I

’m sure she’s the best cat in the world! Oh, my dear Dinah! I wonder if I shall ever see you any more!” And here poor Alice began to cry again, for she felt very lonely and low-spirited. In a little while, however, she again heard a little pattering of footsteps in the distance, and she looked up eagerly, half hoping that the Mouse had changed his mind, and was coming back to finish his story.

---

ictype="header-chapter-header" data-ilmid="alice_s_adventures_in_wonderland_robinsonlist_ffa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl5s" data-audio="1" data-chapter="para_108" data-words-count="8" data-before="5970" data-ww=""> Chapter IV
The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill<

/span>

It was the White Rabbit, trotting slowly back again, and looking anxi

ously about as it went, as if it had lost something; and she heard it muttering to itself “The Duchess! The Duchess! Oh my dear paws! Oh my fur and whiskers! She’ll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are ferrets! Where can I have dropped them, I wonder?” Alice guessed in a moment that it was looking for the fan and the pair of white kid gloves, and she very good-naturedly began hunting about for them, but they were nowhere to be seen — everything seemed to have changed since her swim in the pool, and the great hall, with the glass tabl

e and the little door, had vanished completely.

Very soon the Rabbit noticed Alice, as she went hunting about, an

d called out to her in an angry tone, “Why, Mary Ann, what are you doing out here? Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan! Quick, now!” And Alice was so much frightened that she ran off at once in the direction it pointed to, without trying to explain the mistake it had made.

812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl5v" data-audio="1" data-words-count="103" data-before="6171" data-ww=""> “He took me for his housemaid,” she said to herself as she ran. “How surprised he’ll be when he finds out who I am! But I’d better take him his fan and gloves — that is, if I can find them.” As she said this, she came

upon a neat little house, on the door of which was a bright brass plate with the name “W. RABBIT,” engraved upon it. She went in without knocking, and hurried upstairs, in great fear lest she should meet the real Mary Ann, and be turned out of the house before she had found the fan and gloves.

a71ecfb-bl5w" data-audio="1" data-words-count="85" data-before="6274" data-ww=""> “How queer it seems,” Alice said to herself, “to be going messages for a rabbit! I suppose Dinah’ll be sending me on messages next!” And she began fancying the sort of thing that would happen: “‘Miss Alice! Come here directly, and get ready for your walk!’ ‘Coming in a minute, nurse! But I’ve got to see that the mouse doesn’t get out.’ Only I don’t think,” Alice went on, “that they’d let Dinah stop in the house if it began ordering people about like that!”

ta-ww=""> By this time she had found her way into a tidy little room with a table in the window, and on it (as she had hoped) a fan and two or three pairs of tiny white kid gloves: she took up the fan and a pair of the gloves, and was just going to leave the room, when her eye fell upon a little bottle that stood near the looking-glass. There was no label this time with the words “DRINK ME,” but nevertheless she uncorked it and put it to her li

ps. “I know something interesting is sure to happen,” she said to herself, “whenever I eat or drink anything; so I’ll just see what this bottle does. I do hope it’ll make me grow large again, for really I’m quite tired of being such a tiny little thing!”

ss="block-num" data-id="4.6"> It did so indeed, and much sooner than she had expected: before she had drunk half the bottle, she found her head pressing against the ceiling, and had to stoop to save her neck from being broken. She hastily put down the bottle, saying to herself “That’s quite enough — I hope I shan’t grow any more — As it is, I can’t get out at the door — I do wish I hadn’t drunk quite so much!”

fa_b8884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl5z" data-audio="1" data-words-count="97" data-before="6573" data-ww=""> Alas! it was too late to wish that! She went on growing, and growing, and very soon had to kneel down on the floor: in another minute there was not even room for this, and s

he tried the effect of lying down with one elbow against the door, and the other arm curled round her head. Still she went on growing, and, as a last resource, she put one arm out of the window, and one foot up the chimney, and said to herself “Now I can do no more, whatever happens. What will become of me?”

> Luckily for Alice, the little magic bottle had now had its full effect, and she grew no larger: still it was very uncomfortable, and, as there seemed to be no sort of chance of her ever getting out of the room again, no wonder she felt unhappy.

pb"> “It was much pleasanter at home,” thought poor Alice, “when one wasn’t always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn’t gone down that rabbit-hole — and yet — and yet — it’s rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what can have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied th

at kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one! There ought to be a book written about me, that there ought! And when I grow up, I’ll write one — but I’m grown up now,” she added in a sorrowful tone; “at least there’s no room to grow up any more here.”

884812c5c768308905ba88ea71ecfb-bl62" data-audio="1" data-words-count="39" data-before="6839" data-ww=""> “But then,” thought Alice, “shall I never get any older than I am now? That’ll be a comf

ort, one way — never to be an old woman — but then — always to have lessons to learn! Oh, I shouldn’t like that!”

“Oh, you foolish Alice!” she answered herself.  

How can you learn lessons in here? Why, there’s hardly room for you, and no room at all for any lesson-books!”