As Alice and the Hatter walked along they passed many curious things,
such as Wolves in Sheep's Clothing, the skin of a Tiger nailed to a barn
door, St. George and the Dragon, Father Knickerbocker, barrels of
political mud, a huge serpent labeled "Anarchy," a drug store window
full of bottles of Political Dope and boxes of Political Pills, an
orchard of Political Plum Trees, and other objects which the Hatter said
were as old as the hills. "I'm afraid there's nothing to hold us here,"
he declared.
Alice's attention was suddenly attracted by a little girl in a thin and
ragged dress who, with an empty basket on her arm, was gazing wistfully
at the goodies in a bakeshop window.
"She represents Poverty," said the Hatter. "When she isn't staring at a
bakeshop she's looking at a proclamation by the ice trust, or something
like that."
Alice spoke to the child and learned that she was one of a large family.
Her father, she said, was a New York cartoonist who one day had been
visited by an Original Idea.
"Where is he?" cried the Hatter excitedly.
"He dropped dead!" replied the child, weeping bitterly.
"Good night!" said the Hatter, and walked away.