said the Queen , `` first the sentence , and then the evidence ! '' `` Nonsense ! '' cried Alice , so loudly that everybody jumped , `` the idea of having the sentence first ! '' `` Hold your tongue ! '' said the Queen . `` I wo n't ! '' said Alice , `` you 're nothing but a pack of cards ! Who cares for you ? '' At this the whole pack rose up into the air , and came flying down upon her : she gave a little scream of fright , and tried to beat them off , and found herself lying on the bank , with her head in the lap of her sister , who was gently brushing away some leaves that had fluttered down from the trees on to her face . `` Wake up ! Alice dear ! '' said her sister , `` what a nice long sleep you 've had ! '' `` Oh , I 've had such a curious dream ! '' said Alice , and she told her sister all her Adventures Under Ground , as you have read them , and when she had finished , her sister kissed her and said `` it was a curious dream , dear , certainly ! But now run in to your tea : it 's getting late . '' So Alice ran off , thinking while she ran -LRB- as well she might -RRB- what a wonderful dream it had been . * * * * * But her sister sat there some while longer , watching the setting sun , and thinking of little Alice and her Adventures , till she too began dreaming after a fashion , and this was her dream : She saw an ancient city , and a quiet river winding near it along the plain , and up the stream went slowly gliding a boat with a merry party of children on board -- she could hear their voices and laughter like music over the water -- and among them was another little Alice , who sat listening with bright eager eyes to a tale that was being told , and she listened for the words of the tale , and lo ! it was the dream of her own little sister . So the boat wound slowly along , beneath the bright summer-day , with its merry crew and its music of voices and laughter , till it passed round one of the many turnings of the stream , and she saw it no more . Then she thought , -LRB- in a dream within the dream , as it were , -RRB- how this same little Alice would , in the after-time , be herself a grown woman : and how she would keep , through her riper years , the simple and loving heart of her childhood : and how she would gather around her other little children , and make their eyes bright and eager with many a wonderful tale , perhaps even with these very adventures of the little Alice of long-ago : and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows , and find a pleasure in all their simple joys , remembering her own child-life , and the happy summer days .
-LSB- Illustration -RSB- happy summer XXXXX .
Alice Queen child-life children days evidence first idea summer-day years