AN EASTER GREETING TO EVERY
CHILD WHO LOVES “ALICE”
(by
Lewis Carroll)
From the book: THE
NURSERY “ALICE”
MY
DEAR CHILD,
Please
to fancy, if you can,
that you are
reading a real
letter, from a real friend
whom you have seen,
and whose voice
you can seem
to yourself to
hear, wishing you,
as I do
now with all
my heart, a
happy Easter.
Do
you know that
delicious dreamy feeling,
when one first
wakes on a
summer morning, with
the twitter of
birds in the
air, and the
fresh breeze coming
in at the
open window—when, lying
lazily with eyes
half shut, one
sees as in
a dream green
boughs waving, or
waters rippling in
a golden light ?
It is a pleasure very
near to sadness,
bringing tears to
one’s eyes like
a beautiful picture
or poem. And
is not that
a Mother’s gentle
hand that undraws your
curtains, and a
Mother’s sweet voice
that summons you
to rise ? To
rise and forget,
in the bright
sunlight, the ugly
dreams that frightened
you so when
all was dark—to
rise and enjoy
another happy day,
first kneeling to
thank that unseen
Friend who sends
you the beautiful
sun ?
Are
these strange words
from a writer
of such tales
as “Alice” ? And
is this a
strange letter to
find in a
book of nonsense ?
It may be
so. Some perhaps
may blame me
for thus mixing
together things grave
and gay ; others
may smile and
think it odd
that any one
should speak of
solemn things at
all, except in
Church and on
a Sunday : but
I think—nay, I
am sure—that some
children will read
this gently and
lovingly, and in the spirit
in which I
have written it.
For
I do not
believe God means
us thus to
divide life into
two halves—to wear
a grave face
on Sunday, and
to think it
out-of-place to even
so much as
mention Him on
a week-day. Do
you think He
cares to see
only kneeling figures
and to hear
only tones of
prayer—and that He does
not also love
to see the
lambs leaping in
the sunlight, and to hear
the merry voices
of the children,
as they roll
among the hay ?
Surely their innocent
laughter is as
sweet in His
ears as the
grandest anthem that
ever rolled up
from the “dim
religious light” of
some solemn cathedral
?
And
if I have
written anything to
add to those
stores of innocent
and healthy amusement
that are laid
up in books
for the children
I love so
well, it is
surely something I
may hope to
look back upon
without shame and
sorrow ( as how
much of life
must then be
recalled ! ) when my
turn comes to
walk through the
valley of shadows.
This
Easter sun will
rise on you,
dear child, “feeling
your life in
every limb,” and
eager to rush
out into the
fresh morning air--and
many an Easter-day
will come and
go, before it
finds you feeble
and grey-headed, creeping
wearily out to
bask once more
in the sunlight--but
it is good,
even now, to
think sometimes of
that great morning
when “the Sun
of righteousness” shall
“arise with healing
in his wings.”
Text
taken from: http://www.aliang.net/literature/the_nursery_alice/tnaappendix1.html
(last viewed in 5th November
2008 at 20.15 pm)
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