n the ground that they never had thoughts so late in the
evening. The Lory said that he had one at home, but he had forgotten to
bring it.

"You can't make anything out of these Wonderland creatures," said Miss
Muffet. "I can't really feel that they are animals I have known, though
of course I know their names."

When Bagheera was asked his opinion, he only growled that it was all in
the day's work. But wise old Baloo answered:--

"It all depends on grammar."

This made every one look very solemn, for they realized now that it was
a serious matter.

"First Person, Singular, I hunt. Second Person, Thou huntest. Third
Person, He or She hunts. So long as you confine it to the First Person,
it's proper and right. When you go beyond that, it's carrying it too
far. When you get to the Second Person, that's where the danger comes
in."

This was such sound sense that they all agreed to it, though Mr. Wolf
declared that the First Person, Plural, seemed to him to be more
sociable.

"Does it make any difference about the moods and tenses?" asked Miss
Muffet.

"Passive--First Person, Singular, I am hunted."

There was a general cry of horror. "What a dreadful point of view!" said
the Dodo; "it makes me shiver to think about it."

Even the wildest animals agreed that it was atrocious. What was most
remarkable was that the Boy Hunters, who had been on the Orinoco and the
Congo and all the most dangerous places, admitted that they had the same
feelings.

"There's a limit beyond which hunting is not true sport. It should not
be allowed to go as far as the First Person, Singular, in the Passive."

"I'm so glad that you agree about it," said Miss Muffet. "I knew you
would when you came to understand one another. That's the great good of
being at parties; it makes us feel that we are all more alike than we
thought."

[Illustration: Chapter IX]

When Miss Muffet began to be a little tired, Mr. Spider asked her to
take a stroll with him into the open air. So he led her through a low
archway which brought them at last into the Child's Garden of Verses.

"We had to make the entrance quite small," he said apologetically, "to
keep out the big boys. They run over everything, and we should have to
put up those horrid signs,'Keep off the Verses.'"

[Illustration: _Wynken, Blynken, and Nod_]

"I am so glad that you have brought me into the garden where I can see
the verses growing. Mamma told me that people make verse