A Mad Tea Party

Chapter VII

Happy Birthday, Charles!

Charles Dodgson was born in England on January 27, 1832. Although he lectured in mathematics and, under his real name, wrote books on the subject, he is better known by his pseudonym Lewis Carroll. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, and the poem "Jabberwocky".

As you scroll through this post, follow the Mad Hatter's insightful instructions:
"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop."Illustration from the original 1865 edition by John Tenniel
The Beginning
"We're all mad here," said the Cheshire Cat. "I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."



I must be mad too.
It's the dead of winter and my table is set for a
SUMMER Tea Party.
Where are the snowflakes? Where are all the blues and whites?
I must be mad.
Yes, yes. I shall be mad!
And you must be too "or you wouldn't have come here."


There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house,
and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it. . .
"No room! No room!" they cried out when they saw Alice coming.


"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied, "so I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take LESS," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take MORE than nothing."


She heard the rabbit say to itself, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!" Then it actually TOOK A WATCH OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT- POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on.

"Is there a reason SO MANY tea-things are put out here?" she asked.
"Yes," said the Hatter. "It's always tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between whiles."
"Then you keep moving round, I suppose?" said Alice.
"Exactly so," said the Hatter, "as the things get used up."

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words "EAT ME" were beautifully marked. "Well, I'll eat it," said Alice.

So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake. "Curiouser and curiouser!" cried Alice.
She was now more than nine feet high.








"If I had a world of my own," said the Hatter, "everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't."
Below is the Tea Party clip from the 1951 animated movie, Alice in Wonderland.
Though you may not have time to watch now (You're late, you're late, you're terribly late!), it is interesting to see how Disney Studios wove the original text into its version of the Alice books.
Actually, it's more than interesting. It's curiouser and curiouser.




China: Normandie, KPM (Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur, Prussia), inherited
Sterling: Burgundy, Reed and Barton
Tea set: M601, silver plate, Wallace Melford, inherited
Clock: Pottery Barn, gift
Clock chain: Lowe's
Napkins: cotton blend fabric, JoAnn's Fabric
Napkin rings: Pier One, gift
Cloche Domes: 10.5 inches high cloches, domes only, Sur La Table
Mad Hatter's hat: made from paper grocery bags and glue.I plan to link to:
Lady Katherine Tea Parlor for Tuesday Tea Parlor,
A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesdays,
The Plumed Pen for Tuesday Tea for Two and
Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.