Thus closes my notes for the month of December and also for the year just passed and gone and now numbered with the things that were. Whether the Almighty will spare me to chronicle the daily events of the incoming year is more than I know but trusting in Him I shall enter upon the pleasing task, which is useful as a reference and may be profitable to those who have an interest in me.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Wednesday, November 26th, 1862
To day I am still engaged in selling off the goods of Mr. De Blanc at auction. I sold but little in consequence of a general spree among the soldiers stationed here in Liberty, they being all drunk and refusing to obey the order of their officers, put the whole town into commotion and broke up the sale. weather clear and cold, with a hard and severe frost at night.
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1862 Alice's Adventures
ReplyDeleteWednesday, November 26, 1862
On the 26th day of November in 1862, Oxford mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dawson sent a handwritten manuscript called Alice's Adventures Under Ground to 10-year-old Alice Liddell.
The 30-year-old Dawson, better known by his nom de plume Lewis Carroll, made up the story one day on a picnic with young Alice and her two sisters, the children of one of Dawson's colleagues.
Dawson, the son of a country parson, had been brilliant at both mathematics and wordplay since childhood, when he enjoyed making up games. However, he suffered from a severe stammer, except when he spoke with children.
He had many young friends who enjoyed his fantastic stories: The Liddell children thought his tale of a girl who falls down a rabbit hole was one of his best efforts, and Alice insisted he write it down.
During a visit to the Liddells, English novelist Henry Kingsley happened to notice the manuscript. After reading it, he suggested to Mrs. Liddell that it be published.
Dawson published the book at his own expense, under the name Lewis Carroll, in 1865. The story is one of the earliest children's books written simply to amuse children, not to teach them.
The book's sequel, Through the Looking Glass, was published in 1871. Dawson's other works, including a poetry collection called Phantasmagoria and Other Poems, and another children's book, Sylvia and Bruno, did not gain the same enduring popularity as the Alice books.
Dawson died in 1898.