Davy and the Goblin / What Followed Reading 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'

n Davy was about eight years old,

o be out of doors, the wind came upon them suddenly from around corners and blew the snow into their faces and twisted their petticoats about their ankles, and even whirled the old ladies themselves about in a very painful way. And in the country, where Davy had come to pass Christmas with his dear old grandmother, things were not much better;

y the kitchen fire to dry, he began to find his time hang heavily on his hands. He had wandered idly all over the house, and had tried how cold his nose could be made by holding it against the window-panes, and, I am sorry to say, had even been sliding down the balusters and teasing the cat; and at last, as evening was coming

y began softly telling himself what he would choose for his dinner. He had quite finished fancying the first part of his feast, and was just coming, in his mind, to an extra large slice of apple-pie well browned (sta

had long pointed toes to his shoes, or rather to his stockings, or, for that matter, to his trousers,-for they were all of a piece,-and bright scarlet in color, as were also his little coat and his high-pointed hat and a queer little cloak that hung o

ously, was carefully picking the hottest and reddest embers out of the fire, and, after cracking them like nuts with his teeth, eating them with great relish. Davy watched this

now

said Dav

u are the little boy who doesn't believe in fairies, nor in gi

garden, nor found any goblins sitting on the bedposts about the house, had come to believe that all these kinds of people were purely im

reproving way,-"all that is very foolish and very wrong. I'm a goblin

Davy, in great alarm at this proposal;

the Goblin. "A

or that matter, the Colonel never went either, for he had been standing stock-still for years, and it seemed perfectly ridiculous to ask him anything about going anywhere, so Dav

cert

saw that, instead of being full of weights and brass wheels and curious works, as he had always supposed, the clock was really a sort of boat, with a wide seat at each end; but, before he had time to make any further discoveries, the Goblin, who had vanished for a moment, suddenly reappeared, carrying two lar

ons, you know, and we

-naturedly, that the little boy thought better of it, and, after a moment's hesitation, climbed into the clock and took his seat upon the other cake. It was as warm and springy, and sme

to notice that the Colonel was hastily scrambling down from the mantel-shelf with his beloved timepiece

ER,' SAID