Quote of the Day (Lewis Carroll, on a Boat Ride in July)

“A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July —
 
“Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear.”— English children’s book author, clergyman, mathematician, and photographer Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), “A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky,” from Through The Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871)

The first couple of stanzas from this poem that I’ve quoted here refer to one of the most consequential boat rides in history: the one in July 1862 when Lewis Carroll, going up the Thames with Alice Liddell and her two sisters, came up with the tale that eventually saw print as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.