A Letter from Alice

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 28 January 1939, Page 12

A Letter from Alice

Dear Boys and Girls, I simply must tell you about the visitor / hod the other day. Someone from Wonderland, of course. I'll give you three guesses—the Duchess? No, The Mouse? Wrong again. The Queen of Hearts? There, you guessed right after all. Yes, it was the Queen of Hearts. Every time White Rabbit goes back to Wonderland to play croquet with her, she hears him talking about Nelson and our Wonderland Page, and at last curiosity made her take a trip over to see us. She examined Alice’s typewriter very carefully and even tapped out “The Kween of Harts” (she can’t spell at all well, you know). Then she went downstairs to inspect the huge machinery that prints our “Evening Mail” each day. “Does your Wonderland Page come out of here, too?” she asked Alice gruffly. “Oh yes, your Majesty.” “H’tn, wouldn’t mind writing something for your Page myself one of these days. Can any of your IVonderland members cook? / don’t suppose they know how.” “Oh, your Majesty, l have a targe number of members who are excellent con ’ Why, some of them do all the cooking for the family when Mother isn’t well and has to go to bed.” “I'm glad to hear it,” snapped the Queen, hut her eyes softened as she thought of those gallant little girls carrying on a job which is sometimes almost too big for Mother, even. “I might give you my recipe for tarts one of these days.” Alice curtseyed in delight. “Don’t bother to thank me,” said the Queen, in her usual cross manner. “/ might alter my mind.” But she won't, girts. The Queen of Hearts is tike a lot of other people you meet in the world. They speak very gruffly and frown at you without cause, but underneath they are wonderfully kind and sympathetic. It is just that they are shy of showing their real feelings. “I wouldn’t mind having a game of croquet white I’m here,” announced the Queen as they returned to Alice's office for a cup of tea, “but I don’t suppose you have a decent croquet lawn in Nelson.” “Indeed we have,” replied Alice indignantly. “There is a beautiful lawn along by the fire station, opposite Anzac Park.” “Very well.” The Queen almost smiled in her pleasure. “We shall have a game after lunch.” Alice suddenly remembered that the Queen had a most peculiar way of playing croquet, and how, if people angered her, she would order their heads to be cut off. “This is going to be very awkward,” said Alice to herself. “Of course, she hasn’t any soldiers with her, but you never know what a Queen will do.” When lunch was over, Alice suggested that they should have a look at the flowers in Anzac Park, which is quite close to “The Mail” Office. The Tahitian palms give the park a tropical air, and the Queen exclaimed with delight when she saw the flower beds vivid with colour. “Just look at those petunias,” she cried. “Periwinkle blue and sunrise pink. And those dahlias! I love dahlias. And the phlox drummondii, a rainbow carpet. These antirrhinums are the best I’ve ever seen. I must have this park.” “You—you must have it?” echoed Alice feebly. “Yes, but you may keep the African marigolds. I don’t care for them.” Alice blinked and tucked her hair behind her ears. Was she hearing aright? In any case, she didn’t care much for the marigolds herself. “Yes, this park will look very beautiful in the palace grounds,” went on the Queen happily. < Just then the Frog Footman came running up, though no one hut Alice and the Queen seemed to notice him. “Oh, Your Majesty,” he panted, his mouth wide open” your last batch of tarts has disappeared—the ones you made for the King’s supper to-night.”, The Queen stamped her foot and turned to Alice. "This is going too far,” she cried with anger. Alice, who was trying to imagine Nelson without its lovely Anzac Park, privately agreed, and as the Queen stamped off without so much as a goodbye, she felt that the Knave of Hearts wasn't such a bad fellow, after all. ' So we still have our Anzac Park, children, one of the prettiest parks in the whole of New Zealand, and perhaps one day the Queen will come back to give us her recipe for tarts. Perhaps we could have a competition for the best tarts made from her recipe. Would you like that ? Cheerio, boys and girls, Your happy friend, ALICE.