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On this day in 1865, the Rev Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), published Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

One of the best loved and most influential books ever published, the story was originally devised as a whimsical fantasy to entertain a group of three children on a boat trip. Dodgson was also a brilliant mathematician though he seems to have had difficulty relating to adults. His preference for the company of young girls raised eyebrows at the time but seems to have been innocent.

He wrote this acrostic poem years later, about the famous boat trip, A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky:

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
Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July.
Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.
In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream
Lingering in the golden dream
Life, what is it but a dream?

Note: the first letter of each line spells the name – Alice Pleasance Liddell.

Living in Wonderland with the curiosity of a child is for most of us not possible. Perhaps the best we can do is enjoy life and keep a sense of reality, like Alice: `Who cares for you?’ said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this time.) `You’re nothing but a pack of cards!’

Today I ask that I will never lose my curiosity for the wonders in life.