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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35535-h.zip b/35535-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b641cd6 --- /dev/null +++ b/35535-h.zip diff --git a/35535-h/35535-h.htm b/35535-h/35535-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2c5aa8 --- /dev/null +++ b/35535-h/35535-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,816 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Feeding the Mind, by Lewis Carroll. + </title> + + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + + body {margin-left: 12%; margin-right: 12%;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; font-style: normal;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .huge {font-size: 150%} + .big {font-size: 125%} + + .poem {margin-left:15%;} + .note {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; border-style: solid; border-width: 2px; padding: 1em; margin: auto; width: 15em;} + + .right {text-align: right;} + .center {text-align: center;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + p.dropcap:first-letter{float: left; padding-right: 3px; font-size: 250%; line-height: 83%; width:auto;} + .caps {text-transform:uppercase;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Feeding the Mind, by Lewis Carroll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Feeding the Mind + +Author: Lewis Carroll + +Release Date: March 9, 2011 [EBook #35535] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FEEDING THE MIND *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<h1>FEEDING THE MIND</h1> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<div class="note"> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Uniform with the present Volume.</span><br /> +<i>1s. net each; leather, 2s. net each.</i></p> +<p class="center"><br />PRAYERS WRITTEN AT VAILIMA.<br /> +<span class="smcap">By</span> R. L. STEVENSON.</p> +<p class="center"><br />A CHRISTMAS SERMON.<br /> +<span class="smcap">By</span> R. L. STEVENSON.</p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">London</span>: CHATTO & WINDUS.</p></div> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">FEEDING THE MIND</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">BY<br /> +<span class="big">LEWIS CARROLL</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">WITH A PREFATORY NOTE BY<br /> +WILLIAM H. DRAPER</p> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/deco_title.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">LONDON<br />CHATTO & WINDUS<br />1907</p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center">[<i>All rights reserved</i>]</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="big">NOTE</span></p> + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> <i>history of this little sparkle from the pen of Lewis Carroll may soon +be told. It was in October of the year 1884 that he came on a visit to a +certain vicarage in Derbyshire, where he had promised, on the score of +friendship, to do what was for him a most unusual favour—to give a +lecture before a public audience.</i></p> + +<p><i>The writer well remembers his nervous, highly-strung manner as he stood +before the little room full of simple people, few of whom had any idea of +the world-wide reputation of that shy, slight figure before them.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span><i>When the lecture was over, he handed the manuscript to me, saying: ‘Do +what you like with it.’</i></p> + +<p><i>The one for whose sake he did this kindness was not long after called</i></p> + +<p class="poem">‘Into the Silent Land.’</p> + +<p><i>So the beautifully-written MS., in his customary violet ink, has been +treasured for more than twenty years, only now and then being read over at +Christmastime to a friend or two by the study fire, always to meet with +the same welcome and glad acknowledgment that here was a genuine, though +little flame that could not have belonged to any other source but that +which all the world knew in</i> Alice in Wonderland <i>and</i> Through the +Looking-Glass.</p> + +<p><i>There may be, perhaps, many others who, gathering round a winter fire,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> +will be glad to read words, however few, from that bright source, and +whose memories will respond to the fresh touch of that cherished name.</i></p> + +<p><i>It remains to add but one or two more associations that cling to it and +make the remembrance more vivid still. While Lewis Carroll was staying in +the house, there came to call a certain genial and by no means shy Dean, +who, without realizing what he was doing, proceeded, in the presence of +other callers, to make some remark identifying Mr. Dodgson as the author +of his books.</i></p> + +<p><i>There followed an immense explosion immediately on the visitor’s +departure, with a pathetic and serious request that, if there were any +risk of a repetition of the call, due warning might be given, and the +retreat secured.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span><i>Probably not many readers of the immortal Alice have ever seen the +curious little whimsical paper called</i></p> + +<p class="center">EIGHT OR NINE WISE WORDS<br /><small>ABOUT</small><br />LETTER-WRITING</p> + +<p><i>which their author had printed and used to send to his acquaintance, +accompanied by a small case for postage-stamps.</i></p> + +<p><i>It consists of forty pages, and is published by Emberlin and Son, Oxford; +and these are the contents:</i></p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">On Stamp-Cases</span>,</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">How to begin a Letter</span>,</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">How to go on with a Letter</span>,</td><td align="right">11</td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">How to end a Letter</span>,</td><td align="right">20</td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">On Registering Correspondence</span>,</td><td align="right">22</td></tr></table> + +<p><i>In this little script, also, there are the same sparkles of wit which +betoken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> that nimble pen, as, for example, under</i> ‘How to begin a Letter’:</p> + +<p>‘“And never, never, dear madam” (N.B.—This remark is addressed to ladies +<i>only</i>. No <i>man</i> would ever do such a thing), “put ‘Wednesday’ simply as +the date! “<i>That way madness lies!</i>”’</p> + +<p><i>From section 3</i>: ‘How to go on with a Letter.’—‘A great deal of the bad +writing in the world comes simply from writing too <i>quickly</i>. Of course +you reply, “I do it to save <i>time</i>.” A very good object, no doubt, but +what right have you to do it at your friend’s expense? Isn’t <i>his</i> time as +valuable as yours? Years ago I used to receive letters from a friend—and +very interesting letters too—written in one of the most atrocious hands +ever invented. It generally took me about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> a <i>week</i> to read one of his +letters! I used to carry it about in my pocket and take it out at leisure +times, to puzzle over the riddles which composed it—holding it in +different positions and at different distances, till at last the meaning +of some hopeless scrawl would flash upon me, when I at once wrote down the +English under it. And when several had been thus guessed the context would +help one with the others, till at last the whole series of hieroglyphics +was deciphered. If <i>all</i> one’s friends wrote like that, life would be +entirely spent in reading their letters!’</p> + +<p><i>Rule for correspondence that has, unfortunately, become</i> controversial.</p> + +<p>‘<i>Don’t repeat yourself.</i>—When once you have had your say fully and +clearly on a certain point, and have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span> failed to convince your friend, +<i>drop that subject</i>. To repeat your arguments all over again, will simply +lead to his doing the same, and so you will go on like a circulating +decimal. <i>Did you ever know a circulating decimal come to an end?</i>’</p> + +<p><br /><i>Rule 5.</i>—‘If your friend makes a severe remark, either leave it +unnoticed, or make your reply distinctly less severe; and if he makes a +friendly remark, tending towards making up the little difference that has +arisen between you, let your reply be distinctly <i>more</i> friendly.</p> + +<p><br />‘If, in picking a quarrel, each party declined to go more than +<i>three-eighths</i> of the way, and if in making friends, each was ready to go +<i>five-eighths</i> of the way—why, there would be more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> reconciliations than +quarrels! Which is like the Irishman’s remonstrance to his gad-about +daughter: “Shure, you’re <i>always</i> goin’ out! You go out three times for +<i>wanst</i> that you come in!”’</p> + +<p><br /><i>Rule 6.</i>—‘Don’t try to get the last word.... (N.B.—If you are a +gentleman and your friend a lady, this rule is superfluous: <i>You won’t get +the last word!</i>)’</p> + +<p><br /><i>Let the last word to-day be part of another rule, which gives a glimpse +into that gentle heart:</i></p> + +<p>‘When you have written a letter that you feel may possibly irritate your +friend, however necessary you may have felt it to so express yourself, +<i>put it aside till the next day</i>. Then read it over again, and fancy it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> +addressed to yourself. This will often lead to your writing it all over +again, taking out a lot of the vinegar and pepper and putting in honey +instead, and thus making a <i>much</i> more palatable dish of it!’</p> + +<p class="poem">‘Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus<br /> +Tam cari capitis?’</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">W. H. D.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><i>November 1907.</i></span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="big">FEEDING THE MIND</span></p> + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">Breakfast,</span> dinner, tea; in extreme cases, breakfast, luncheon, dinner, +tea, supper, and a glass of something hot at bedtime. What care we take +about feeding the lucky body! Which of us does as much for his mind? And +what causes the difference? Is the body so much the more important of the +two?</p> + +<p>By no means: but life depends on the body being fed, whereas we can +continue to exist as animals (scarcely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> as men) though the mind be +utterly starved and neglected. Therefore Nature provides that, in case of +serious neglect of the body, such terrible consequences of discomfort and +pain shall ensue, as will soon bring us back to a sense of our duty: and +some of the functions necessary to life she does for us altogether, +leaving us no choice in the matter. It would fare but ill with many of us +if we were left to superintend our own digestion and circulation. ‘Bless +me!’ one would cry, ‘I forgot to wind up my heart this morning! To think +that it has been standing still for the last three hours!’ ‘I can’t walk +with you this afternoon,’ a friend would say, ‘as I have no less<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> than +eleven dinners to digest. I had to let them stand over from last week, +being so busy, and my doctor says he will not answer for the consequences +if I wait any longer!’</p> + +<p>Well, it is, I say, for us that the consequences of neglecting the body +can be clearly seen and felt; and it might be well for some if the mind +were equally visible and tangible—if we could take it, say, to the +doctor, and have its pulse felt.</p> + +<p>‘Why, what have you been doing with this mind lately? How have you fed it? +It looks pale, and the pulse is very slow.’</p> + +<p>‘Well, doctor, it has not had much regular food lately. I gave it a lot of +sugar-plums yesterday.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>‘Sugar-plums! What kind?’</p> + +<p>‘Well, they were a parcel of conundrums, sir.’</p> + +<p>‘Ah, I thought so. Now just mind this: if you go on playing tricks like +that, you’ll spoil all its teeth, and get laid up with mental indigestion. +You must have nothing but the plainest reading for the next few days. Take +care now! No novels on any account!’</p> + +<p><br />Considering the amount of painful experience many of us have had in +feeding and dosing the body, it would, I think, be quite worth our while +to try and translate some of the rules into corresponding ones for the +mind.</p> + +<p>First, then, we should set ourselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> to provide for our mind its <i>proper +kind</i> of food. We very soon learn what will, and what will not, agree with +the body, and find little difficulty in refusing a piece of the tempting +pudding or pie which is associated in our memory with that terrible attack +of indigestion, and whose very name irresistibly recalls rhubarb and +magnesia; but it takes a great many lessons to convince us how +indigestible some of our favourite lines of reading are, and again and +again we make a meal of the unwholesome novel, sure to be followed by its +usual train of low spirits, unwillingness to work, weariness of +existence—in fact, by mental nightmare.</p> + +<p>Then we should be careful to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>provide this wholesome food in <i>proper +amount</i>. Mental gluttony, or over-reading, is a dangerous propensity, +tending to weakness of digestive power, and in some cases to loss of +appetite: we know that bread is a good and wholesome food, but who would +like to try the experiment of eating two or three loaves at a sitting?</p> + +<p>I have heard a physician telling his patient—whose complaint was merely +gluttony and want of exercise—that ‘the earliest symptom of +hyper-nutrition is a deposition of adipose tissue,’ and no doubt the fine +long words greatly consoled the poor man under his increasing load of +fat.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>I wonder if there is such a thing in nature as a FAT MIND? I really think I +have met with one or two: minds which could not keep up with the slowest +trot in conversation; could not jump over a logical fence, to save their +lives; always got stuck fast in a narrow argument; and, in short, were fit +for nothing but to waddle helplessly through the world.</p> + +<p><br />Then, again, though the food be wholesome and in proper amount, we know +that we must not consume <i>too many kinds at once</i>. Take the thirsty a +quart of beer, or a quart of cider, or even a quart of cold tea, and he +will probably thank you (though not so heartily in the last case!). But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +what think you his feelings would be if you offered him a tray containing +a little mug of beer, a little mug of cider, another of cold tea, one of +hot tea, one of coffee, one of cocoa, and corresponding vessels of milk, +water, brandy-and-water, and butter-milk? The sum total might be a quart, +but would it be the same thing to the haymaker?</p> + +<p><br />Having settled the proper kind, amount, and variety of our mental food, it +remains that we should be careful to allow <i>proper intervals</i> between meal +and meal, and not swallow the food hastily without mastication, so that it +may be thoroughly digested; both which rules, for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> body, are also +applicable at once to the mind.</p> + +<p>First, as to the intervals: these are as really necessary as they are for +the body, with this difference only, that while the body requires three or +four hours’ rest before it is ready for another meal, the mind will in +many cases do with three or four minutes. I believe that the interval +required is much shorter than is generally supposed, and from personal +experience, I would recommend anyone, who has to devote several hours +together to one subject of thought, to try the effect of such a break, say +once an hour, leaving off for five minutes only each time, but taking care +to throw the mind absolutely ‘out of gear’ for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> those five minutes, and +to turn it entirely to other subjects. It is astonishing what an amount of +impetus and elasticity the mind recovers during those short periods of +rest.</p> + +<p>And then, as to the mastication of the food, the mental process answering +to this is simply <i>thinking over</i> what we read. This is a very much +greater exertion of mind than the mere passive taking in the contents of +our Author. So much greater an exertion is it, that, as Coleridge says, +the mind often ‘angrily refuses’ to put itself to such trouble—so much +greater, that we are far too apt to neglect it altogether, and go on +pouring in fresh food on the top of the undigested masses already lying +there,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> till the unfortunate mind is fairly swamped under the flood. But +the greater the exertion the more valuable, we may be sure, is the effect. +One hour of steady thinking over a subject (a solitary walk is as good an +opportunity for the process as any other) is worth two or three of reading +only. And just consider another effect of this thorough digestion of the +books we read; I mean the arranging and ‘ticketing,’ so to speak, of the +subjects in our minds, so that we can readily refer to them when we want +them. Sam Slick tells us that he has learnt several languages in his life, +but somehow ‘couldn’t keep the parcels sorted’ in his mind. And many a +mind that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> hurries through book after book, without waiting to digest or +arrange anything, gets into that sort of condition, and the unfortunate +owner finds himself far from fit really to support the character all his +friends give him.</p> + +<p>‘A thoroughly well-read man. Just you try him in any subject, now. You +can’t puzzle him.’</p> + +<p>You turn to the thoroughly well-read man. You ask him a question, say, in +English history (he is understood to have just finished reading Macaulay). +He smiles good-naturedly, tries to look as if he knew all about it, and +proceeds to dive into his mind for the answer. Up comes a handful of very +promising<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> facts, but on examination they turn out to belong to the wrong +century, and are pitched in again. A second haul brings up a fact much +more like the real thing, but, unfortunately, along with it comes a tangle +of other things—a fact in political economy, a rule in arithmetic, the +ages of his brother’s children, and a stanza of Gray’s ‘Elegy,’ and among +all these, the fact he wants has got hopelessly twisted up and entangled. +Meanwhile, every one is waiting for his reply, and, as the silence is +getting more and more awkward, our well-read friend has to stammer out +some half-answer at last, not nearly so clear or so satisfactory as an +ordinary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> schoolboy would have given. And all this for want of making up +his knowledge into proper bundles and ticketing them.</p> + +<p>Do you know the unfortunate victim of ill-judged mental feeding when you +see him? Can you doubt him? Look at him drearily wandering round a +reading-room, tasting dish after dish—we beg his pardon, book after +book—keeping to none. First a mouthful of novel; but no, faugh! he has +had nothing but that to eat for the last week, and is quite tired of the +taste. Then a slice of science; but you know at once what the result of +that will be—ah, of course, much too tough for <i>his</i> teeth. And so on +through the whole weary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> round, which he tried (and failed in) yesterday, +and will probably try and fail in to-morrow.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in his very amusing book, ‘The Professor at the +Breakfast Table,’ gives the following rule for knowing whether a human +being is young or old: ‘The crucial experiment is this—offer a bulky bun +to the suspected individual just ten minutes before dinner. If this is +easily accepted and devoured, the fact of youth is established.’ He tells +us that a human being, ‘if young, will eat anything at any hour of the day +or night.’</p> + +<p>To ascertain the healthiness of the <i>mental</i> appetite of a human animal,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +place in its hands a short, well-written, but not exciting treatise on +some popular subject—a mental <i>bun</i>, in fact. If it is read with eager +interest and perfect attention, <i>and if the reader can answer questions on +the subject afterwards</i>, the mind is in first-rate working order. If it be +politely laid down again, or perhaps lounged over for a few minutes, and +then, ‘I can’t read this stupid book! Would you hand me the second volume +of “The Mysterious Murder”?’ you may be equally sure that there is +something wrong in the mental digestion.</p> + +<p>If this paper has given you any useful hints on the important subject of +reading, and made you see that it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> is one’s duty no less than one’s +interest to ‘read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest’ the good books that +fall in your way, its purpose will be fulfilled.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Feeding the Mind, by Lewis Carroll + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FEEDING THE MIND *** + +***** This file should be named 35535-h.htm or 35535-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/3/35535/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Feeding the Mind + +Author: Lewis Carroll + +Release Date: March 9, 2011 [EBook #35535] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FEEDING THE MIND *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + + + + +FEEDING THE MIND + + + + +UNIFORM WITH THE PRESENT VOLUME. + +_1s. net each; leather, 2s. net each._ + + PRAYERS WRITTEN AT VAILIMA. + BY R. L. STEVENSON. + + A CHRISTMAS SERMON. + BY R. L. STEVENSON. + +LONDON: CHATTO & WINDUS. + + + + + FEEDING THE MIND + + + BY LEWIS CARROLL + + + WITH A PREFATORY NOTE BY + WILLIAM H. DRAPER + + + LONDON + CHATTO & WINDUS + 1907 + + + +[_All rights reserved_] + + + + +NOTE + + +_The history of this little sparkle from the pen of Lewis Carroll may soon +be told. It was in October of the year 1884 that he came on a visit to a +certain vicarage in Derbyshire, where he had promised, on the score of +friendship, to do what was for him a most unusual favour--to give a +lecture before a public audience._ + +_The writer well remembers his nervous, highly-strung manner as he stood +before the little room full of simple people, few of whom had any idea of +the world-wide reputation of that shy, slight figure before them._ + +_When the lecture was over, he handed the manuscript to me, saying: 'Do +what you like with it.'_ + +_The one for whose sake he did this kindness was not long after called_ + + 'Into the Silent Land.' + +_So the beautifully-written MS., in his customary violet ink, has been +treasured for more than twenty years, only now and then being read over at +Christmastime to a friend or two by the study fire, always to meet with +the same welcome and glad acknowledgment that here was a genuine, though +little flame that could not have belonged to any other source but that +which all the world knew in_ Alice in Wonderland _and_ Through the +Looking-Glass. + +_There may be, perhaps, many others who, gathering round a winter fire, +will be glad to read words, however few, from that bright source, and +whose memories will respond to the fresh touch of that cherished name._ + +_It remains to add but one or two more associations that cling to it and +make the remembrance more vivid still. While Lewis Carroll was staying in +the house, there came to call a certain genial and by no means shy Dean, +who, without realizing what he was doing, proceeded, in the presence of +other callers, to make some remark identifying Mr. Dodgson as the author +of his books._ + +_There followed an immense explosion immediately on the visitor's +departure, with a pathetic and serious request that, if there were any +risk of a repetition of the call, due warning might be given, and the +retreat secured._ + +_Probably not many readers of the immortal Alice have ever seen the +curious little whimsical paper called_ + + EIGHT OR NINE WISE WORDS ABOUT LETTER-WRITING + +_which their author had printed and used to send to his acquaintance, +accompanied by a small case for postage-stamps._ + +_It consists of forty pages, and is published by Emberlin and Son, Oxford; +and these are the contents:_ + + PAGE + ON STAMP-CASES, 5 + HOW TO BEGIN A LETTER, 8 + HOW TO GO ON WITH A LETTER, 11 + HOW TO END A LETTER, 20 + ON REGISTERING CORRESPONDENCE, 22 + +_In this little script, also, there are the same sparkles of wit which +betoken that nimble pen, as, for example, under_ 'How to begin a Letter': + +'"And never, never, dear madam" (N.B.--This remark is addressed to ladies +_only_. No _man_ would ever do such a thing), "put 'Wednesday' simply as +the date! "_That way madness lies!_"' + +_From section 3_: 'How to go on with a Letter.'--'A great deal of the bad +writing in the world comes simply from writing too _quickly_. Of course +you reply, "I do it to save _time_." A very good object, no doubt, but +what right have you to do it at your friend's expense? Isn't _his_ time as +valuable as yours? Years ago I used to receive letters from a friend--and +very interesting letters too--written in one of the most atrocious hands +ever invented. It generally took me about a _week_ to read one of his +letters! I used to carry it about in my pocket and take it out at leisure +times, to puzzle over the riddles which composed it--holding it in +different positions and at different distances, till at last the meaning +of some hopeless scrawl would flash upon me, when I at once wrote down the +English under it. And when several had been thus guessed the context would +help one with the others, till at last the whole series of hieroglyphics +was deciphered. If _all_ one's friends wrote like that, life would be +entirely spent in reading their letters!' + +_Rule for correspondence that has, unfortunately, become_ controversial. + +'_Don't repeat yourself._--When once you have had your say fully and +clearly on a certain point, and have failed to convince your friend, +_drop that subject_. To repeat your arguments all over again, will simply +lead to his doing the same, and so you will go on like a circulating +decimal. _Did you ever know a circulating decimal come to an end?_' + + * * * * * + +_Rule 5._--'If your friend makes a severe remark, either leave it +unnoticed, or make your reply distinctly less severe; and if he makes a +friendly remark, tending towards making up the little difference that has +arisen between you, let your reply be distinctly _more_ friendly. + + * * * * * + +'If, in picking a quarrel, each party declined to go more than +_three-eighths_ of the way, and if in making friends, each was ready to go +_five-eighths_ of the way--why, there would be more reconciliations than +quarrels! Which is like the Irishman's remonstrance to his gad-about +daughter: "Shure, you're _always_ goin' out! You go out three times for +_wanst_ that you come in!"' + + * * * * * + +_Rule 6._--'Don't try to get the last word.... (N.B.--If you are a +gentleman and your friend a lady, this rule is superfluous: _You won't get +the last word!_)' + + * * * * * + +_Let the last word to-day be part of another rule, which gives a glimpse +into that gentle heart:_ + +'When you have written a letter that you feel may possibly irritate your +friend, however necessary you may have felt it to so express yourself, +_put it aside till the next day_. Then read it over again, and fancy it +addressed to yourself. This will often lead to your writing it all over +again, taking out a lot of the vinegar and pepper and putting in honey +instead, and thus making a _much_ more palatable dish of it!' + + 'Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus + Tam cari capitis?' + +W. H. D. + +_November 1907._ + + + + +FEEDING THE MIND + + +Breakfast, dinner, tea; in extreme cases, breakfast, luncheon, dinner, +tea, supper, and a glass of something hot at bedtime. What care we take +about feeding the lucky body! Which of us does as much for his mind? And +what causes the difference? Is the body so much the more important of the +two? + +By no means: but life depends on the body being fed, whereas we can +continue to exist as animals (scarcely as men) though the mind be +utterly starved and neglected. Therefore Nature provides that, in case of +serious neglect of the body, such terrible consequences of discomfort and +pain shall ensue, as will soon bring us back to a sense of our duty: and +some of the functions necessary to life she does for us altogether, +leaving us no choice in the matter. It would fare but ill with many of us +if we were left to superintend our own digestion and circulation. 'Bless +me!' one would cry, 'I forgot to wind up my heart this morning! To think +that it has been standing still for the last three hours!' 'I can't walk +with you this afternoon,' a friend would say, 'as I have no less than +eleven dinners to digest. I had to let them stand over from last week, +being so busy, and my doctor says he will not answer for the consequences +if I wait any longer!' + +Well, it is, I say, for us that the consequences of neglecting the body +can be clearly seen and felt; and it might be well for some if the mind +were equally visible and tangible--if we could take it, say, to the +doctor, and have its pulse felt. + +'Why, what have you been doing with this mind lately? How have you fed it? +It looks pale, and the pulse is very slow.' + +'Well, doctor, it has not had much regular food lately. I gave it a lot of +sugar-plums yesterday.' + +'Sugar-plums! What kind?' + +'Well, they were a parcel of conundrums, sir.' + +'Ah, I thought so. Now just mind this: if you go on playing tricks like +that, you'll spoil all its teeth, and get laid up with mental indigestion. +You must have nothing but the plainest reading for the next few days. Take +care now! No novels on any account!' + + * * * * * + +Considering the amount of painful experience many of us have had in +feeding and dosing the body, it would, I think, be quite worth our while +to try and translate some of the rules into corresponding ones for the +mind. + +First, then, we should set ourselves to provide for our mind its _proper +kind_ of food. We very soon learn what will, and what will not, agree with +the body, and find little difficulty in refusing a piece of the tempting +pudding or pie which is associated in our memory with that terrible attack +of indigestion, and whose very name irresistibly recalls rhubarb and +magnesia; but it takes a great many lessons to convince us how +indigestible some of our favourite lines of reading are, and again and +again we make a meal of the unwholesome novel, sure to be followed by its +usual train of low spirits, unwillingness to work, weariness of +existence--in fact, by mental nightmare. + +Then we should be careful to provide this wholesome food in _proper +amount_. Mental gluttony, or over-reading, is a dangerous propensity, +tending to weakness of digestive power, and in some cases to loss of +appetite: we know that bread is a good and wholesome food, but who would +like to try the experiment of eating two or three loaves at a sitting? + +I have heard a physician telling his patient--whose complaint was merely +gluttony and want of exercise--that 'the earliest symptom of +hyper-nutrition is a deposition of adipose tissue,' and no doubt the fine +long words greatly consoled the poor man under his increasing load of +fat. + +I wonder if there is such a thing in nature as a FAT MIND? I really think +I have met with one or two: minds which could not keep up with the slowest +trot in conversation; could not jump over a logical fence, to save their +lives; always got stuck fast in a narrow argument; and, in short, were fit +for nothing but to waddle helplessly through the world. + + * * * * * + +Then, again, though the food be wholesome and in proper amount, we know +that we must not consume _too many kinds at once_. Take the thirsty a +quart of beer, or a quart of cider, or even a quart of cold tea, and he +will probably thank you (though not so heartily in the last case!). But +what think you his feelings would be if you offered him a tray containing +a little mug of beer, a little mug of cider, another of cold tea, one of +hot tea, one of coffee, one of cocoa, and corresponding vessels of milk, +water, brandy-and-water, and butter-milk? The sum total might be a quart, +but would it be the same thing to the haymaker? + + * * * * * + +Having settled the proper kind, amount, and variety of our mental food, it +remains that we should be careful to allow _proper intervals_ between meal +and meal, and not swallow the food hastily without mastication, so that it +may be thoroughly digested; both which rules, for the body, are also +applicable at once to the mind. + +First, as to the intervals: these are as really necessary as they are for +the body, with this difference only, that while the body requires three or +four hours' rest before it is ready for another meal, the mind will in +many cases do with three or four minutes. I believe that the interval +required is much shorter than is generally supposed, and from personal +experience, I would recommend anyone, who has to devote several hours +together to one subject of thought, to try the effect of such a break, say +once an hour, leaving off for five minutes only each time, but taking care +to throw the mind absolutely 'out of gear' for those five minutes, and +to turn it entirely to other subjects. It is astonishing what an amount of +impetus and elasticity the mind recovers during those short periods of +rest. + +And then, as to the mastication of the food, the mental process answering +to this is simply _thinking over_ what we read. This is a very much +greater exertion of mind than the mere passive taking in the contents of +our Author. So much greater an exertion is it, that, as Coleridge says, +the mind often 'angrily refuses' to put itself to such trouble--so much +greater, that we are far too apt to neglect it altogether, and go on +pouring in fresh food on the top of the undigested masses already lying +there, till the unfortunate mind is fairly swamped under the flood. But +the greater the exertion the more valuable, we may be sure, is the effect. +One hour of steady thinking over a subject (a solitary walk is as good an +opportunity for the process as any other) is worth two or three of reading +only. And just consider another effect of this thorough digestion of the +books we read; I mean the arranging and 'ticketing,' so to speak, of the +subjects in our minds, so that we can readily refer to them when we want +them. Sam Slick tells us that he has learnt several languages in his life, +but somehow 'couldn't keep the parcels sorted' in his mind. And many a +mind that hurries through book after book, without waiting to digest or +arrange anything, gets into that sort of condition, and the unfortunate +owner finds himself far from fit really to support the character all his +friends give him. + +'A thoroughly well-read man. Just you try him in any subject, now. You +can't puzzle him.' + +You turn to the thoroughly well-read man. You ask him a question, say, in +English history (he is understood to have just finished reading Macaulay). +He smiles good-naturedly, tries to look as if he knew all about it, and +proceeds to dive into his mind for the answer. Up comes a handful of very +promising facts, but on examination they turn out to belong to the wrong +century, and are pitched in again. A second haul brings up a fact much +more like the real thing, but, unfortunately, along with it comes a tangle +of other things--a fact in political economy, a rule in arithmetic, the +ages of his brother's children, and a stanza of Gray's 'Elegy,' and among +all these, the fact he wants has got hopelessly twisted up and entangled. +Meanwhile, every one is waiting for his reply, and, as the silence is +getting more and more awkward, our well-read friend has to stammer out +some half-answer at last, not nearly so clear or so satisfactory as an +ordinary schoolboy would have given. And all this for want of making up +his knowledge into proper bundles and ticketing them. + +Do you know the unfortunate victim of ill-judged mental feeding when you +see him? Can you doubt him? Look at him drearily wandering round a +reading-room, tasting dish after dish--we beg his pardon, book after +book--keeping to none. First a mouthful of novel; but no, faugh! he has +had nothing but that to eat for the last week, and is quite tired of the +taste. Then a slice of science; but you know at once what the result of +that will be--ah, of course, much too tough for _his_ teeth. And so on +through the whole weary round, which he tried (and failed in) yesterday, +and will probably try and fail in to-morrow. + +Mr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in his very amusing book, 'The Professor at the +Breakfast Table,' gives the following rule for knowing whether a human +being is young or old: 'The crucial experiment is this--offer a bulky bun +to the suspected individual just ten minutes before dinner. If this is +easily accepted and devoured, the fact of youth is established.' He tells +us that a human being, 'if young, will eat anything at any hour of the day +or night.' + +To ascertain the healthiness of the _mental_ appetite of a human animal, +place in its hands a short, well-written, but not exciting treatise on +some popular subject--a mental _bun_, in fact. If it is read with eager +interest and perfect attention, _and if the reader can answer questions on +the subject afterwards_, the mind is in first-rate working order. If it be +politely laid down again, or perhaps lounged over for a few minutes, and +then, 'I can't read this stupid book! Would you hand me the second volume +of "The Mysterious Murder"?' you may be equally sure that there is +something wrong in the mental digestion. + +If this paper has given you any useful hints on the important subject of +reading, and made you see that it is one's duty no less than one's +interest to 'read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest' the good books that +fall in your way, its purpose will be fulfilled. + + +BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Feeding the Mind, by Lewis Carroll + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FEEDING THE MIND *** + +***** This file should be named 35535.txt or 35535.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/3/35535/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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