himself; he made pets of the most odd and unlikely animals, and
numbered certain snails and toads among his intimate friends. He tried
also to encourage civilised warfare among earthworms, by supplying
them with small pieces of pipe, with which they might fight if so
disposed. His notions of charity at this early age were somewhat
rudimentary; he used to peel rushes with the idea that the pith would
afterwards "be given to the poor," though what possible use they could
put it to he never attempted to explain. Indeed he seems at this time
to have actually lived in that charming "Wonderland" which he
afterwards described so vividly; but for all that he was a thorough
boy, and loved to climb the trees and to scramble about in the old
marl-pits.

One of the few breaks in this very uneventful life was a holiday spent
with the other members of his family in Beaumaris. The journey took
three days each way, for railroads were then almost unknown; and
whatever advantages coaching may have had over travelling in trains,
speed was certainly not one of them.

Mr. Dodgson from the first used to take an active part in his son's
education, and the following anecdote will show that he had at least a
pupil who was anxious to learn. One day, when Charles was a very small
boy, he came up to his father and showed him a book of logarithms,
with the request, "Please explain." Mr. Dodgson told him that he was
much too young to understand anything about such a difficult subject.
The child listened to what his father said, and appeared to think it
irrelevant, for he still insisted, "_But_, please, explain!"

[Illustration: Mrs. Dodgson]