I thought perhaps in the dark they 'd touch me , but they never have yet . ' I do so want them to want to go to Him , and to feel how , if He is there , it must be happy . '' Let me add -- for I feel I have drifted into far too serious a vein for a preface to a fairy-tale -- the deliciously naïve remark of a very dear child-friend , whom I asked , after an acquaintance of two or three days , if she had read ` Alice ' and the ` Looking-Glass . ' `` Oh yes , '' she replied readily , `` I 've read both of them ! And I think '' -LRB- this more slowly and thoughtfully -RRB- `` I think ` Through the Looking-Glass ' is more stupid than ` Alice 's Adventures . ' Do n't you think so ? '' But this was a question I felt it would be hardly discreet for me to enter upon . LEWIS CARROLL . Dec. 1886 . * * * * * AN EASTER GREETING TO EVERY CHILD WHO LOVES `` Alice . '' 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 XXXXX 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 ?
Do bringing enjoy enter feel rippling seen think thought touch