first,' she said, `and see whether it's marked "poison" or not';

for she had read several nice little histories about children who

had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant

things, all because they WOULD not remember the simple rules

their friends had taught them:  such as, that a red-hot poker

will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your

finger VERY deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had

never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked

`poison,' it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or

later.

  However, this bottle was NOT marked `poison,' so Alice ventured

to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort

of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast

turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished

it off.

     *       *       *       *       *       *       *

         *       *       *       *       *       *

     *       *       *       *       *       *       *

  `What a curious feeling!' said Alice; `I must be shutting up

like a telescope.'

  And so it was indeed:  she was now only ten inches high, and

her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right

size for going through the little door into that lovely garden.

First, however, she waited for a few minutes to see if she was

going to shrink any further:  she felt a little nervous about

this; `for it might end, you know,' said Alice to herself, `in my

going out altogether, like a candle.  I wonder what I should be

like then?'  And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is

like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember

ever having seen such a thing.

  After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided

on going into the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice!

when she got to the door, she found she had forgotten the

little golden key, and when she went back to the table for it,

she found she could not possibly reach it:  she could see it

quite plainly through the glass, and she tried her best to climb

up one of the legs of the table, but it was too slippery;

and when she had tired herself out with trying,

the poor little thing sat down and cried.

  `Come, there's no use in crying like that!' said Alice to

herself, rather sharply; `I advise you to leave off this minute!'

She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very

seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so

severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered

trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game

of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious

child was very fond of pretending to be two people.  `But it's no

use now,' thought poor Alice, `to pretend to be two people!  Why,

there's hardly enough of me left to make ONE respectable

person!'

  Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under

the table:  she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on

which the words `EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants.

`Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, `and if it makes me grow larger,

I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep

under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I

don't care which happens!'

  She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, `Which

way?  Which way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to

feel which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to

find that she remained the same size:  to be sure, this generally

happens when one eats cake, but Alice had got so much into the

way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen,

that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the

common way.

  So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.

     *       *       *       *       *       *       *

         *       *       *       *       *       *

     *       *       *       *       *       *       *

                           CHAPTER II

                        The Pool of Tears

  `Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much

surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good

English); `now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that

ever was!  Good-bye, feet!' (for when she looked down at her

feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so

far off).  `Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on

your shoes and stockings for you now, dears?  I'm sure _I_ shan't

be able!  I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself

about you:  you must manage the best way you can; --but I must be

kind to them,' thought Alice, `or perhaps they won't walk the

way I want to go!  Let me see:  I'll give them a new pair of

boots every Christmas.'

  And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it.

`They must go by the carrier,' she thought; `and how funny it'll

seem, sending presents to one's own feet!  And how odd the

directions will look!

            ALICE'S RIGHT FOOT, ESQ.

                HEARTHRUG,

                    NEAR THE FENDER,

                        (WITH ALICE'S LOVE).

Oh dear, what nonsense I'm talking!'

  Just then her head struck against the roof 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.

  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.

  `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

distance, 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.

  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.