When asked by the Caterpillar to recite Robert Southey's "You are old, Father William," Alice
doesn't get it quite right. Here's the original, designed for the moral improvement of children.
(Alice's version is an improvement, don't you think?)

Robert Southey (1774-1843)

"The Old Man's Comforts, and How He Gained Them"
(1799)

You are old, Father William, the young man cried,       The few locks which are left you are grey; You are hale, Father William, a hearty old man,       Now tell me the reason I pray. In the days of my youth, Father William replied,       I remember'd that youth would fly fast, And abused not my health and my vigour at first       That I never might need them at last. You are old, Father William, the young man cried,       And pleasures with youth pass away, And yet you lament not the days that are gone,       Now tell me the reason I pray. In the days of my youth, Father William replied,       I remember'd that youth could not last; I thought of the future whatever I did,       That I never might grieve for the past. You are old, Father William, the young man cried,       And life must be hastening away; You are chearful, and love to converse upon death!       Now tell me the reason I pray. I am chearful, young man, Father William replied,       Let the cause thy attention engage; In the days of my youth I remember'd my God!       And He hath not forgotten my age.

Return to Carroll's "Father William"