Carrol

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Lewis Carrol
(Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
(1832 - 1898)

Lewis Carroll was the Pen name of Charles Dodgson. Born at Daresbury, Cheshire. Was educated at Yorkshire, Rugby, Oxford.
A lecturer in mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford. Carroll was shy and stammering.

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CAT AND MOUSE

JABBERWOCKY

father William

CAT AND MOUSE

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 the trial;
For realy 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 the cunning old Fury,
"I'll try the whole cause,
And condemn you to death".

JABBERWOCKY

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought -
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came wiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through, and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
A frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
He chortled in his joy.

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

1"You are old, father William," the young man said,
2 "And your hair has become very white;
3 And yet you incessantly stand on your head --
4 Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

5 "In my youth," father William replied to his son,
6 "I feared it would injure the brain;
7 But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
8 Why, I do it again and again."

9 "You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
10 And have grown most uncommonly fat;
11 Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door --
12 Pray, what is the reason of that?"

13 "In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
14 "I kept all my limbs very supple
15 By the use of this ointment -- one shilling the box --
16 Allow me to sell you a couple."

17 "You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
18 For anything tougher than suet;
19 Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak --
20 Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

21 "In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
22 And argued each case with my wife;
23 And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
24 Has lasted the rest of my life."

25 "You are old," said the youth; one would hardly suppose
26 That your eye was as steady as ever;
27 Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose --
28 What made you so awfully clever?"

29 "I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
30 Said his father; "don't give yourself airs!
31 Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
32 Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!"

The Old Man's Comforts by Robert Southey

     The Old Man's Comforts
     And How He Gained Them


You are old, Father William, the young man cried,
  The few locks which are left are grey;
You are hale, Father William, a hearty old man,
  Now tell me the reason, I pray.


In the days of my youth, Father William replied,        5
  I remember'd that youth would fly fast,
And abused not my health and my vigour at first,
  That I never might need them at last.


You are old, Father William, the young man cried,
  And pleasures with youth pass away;                  10
And yet you lament not the days that are gone,
  Now tell me the reason, I pray.


In the days of my youth, Father William replied,
  I remember'd that youth could not last;
I thought of the future, whatever I did,               15
  That I never might grieve for the past.


You are old, Father William, the young man cried,
  And life must be hastening away;
You are cheerful, and love to converse upon death,
  Now tell me the reason, I pray.                      20
                                                     

I am cheerful, young man, Father William replied,
  Let the cause thy attention engage;
In the days of my youth I remember'd my God!
  And He hath not forgotten my age.

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