Chapter I: Front Matter

ALICE IN BLUNDERLAND

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

A House-boat on the Styx
Coffee and Repartee
Mollie and the Unwiseman
Worsted Man; A Musical Play for Amateurs
The Enchanted Typewriter
Ghosts I Have Met
Mrs. Raffles
Olympian Nights
R. Holmes & Co.
And Many Other Short Stories

Alice in Blunderland

An Iridescent Dream

By

JOHN KENDRICK BANGS

Illustrated by

ALBERT LEVERING

New York Doubleday, Page & Company 1907

COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY THE MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP PUBLISHING BUREAU

COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY PUBLISHED, SEPTEMBER, 1907

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Off to Blunderland 3

II. The Immovable Trolley 19

III. The Aromatic Gas Plant 37

IV. The City-owned Police 56

V. The Municipaphone 73

VI. The Department of Public Verse 92

VII. The Municipal Ownership of Children 108

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

The Cheshire Cat 5

The March Hare 6

"'Listen here'" 7

The municipal chewery 11

The municipal toothery 13

"Handing her a card" 17

"'Put that fellow off'" 20

"Requested the Hatter to crack a filbert for him" 24

"'Banged into the car ahead'" 27

The Chief Engineer 30

"'It came to me like a flash'" 31

"'Studying the economic theories of Dr. Wack'" 45

"The White Knight interfered" 48

"'In the matter of perfume it was fine'" 50

"'Nobody could be gas-fixturated'" 51

"Wrote on the side of a convenient gas tank" 57

"'I'm the soundest sleeper in town'" 59

"'Tea is served on every corner'" 64

"'We respond immediately to the call'" 67

"Made off with the agility of an antelope" 69

"'You can talk all you please'" 73

"'Fined five dollars'" 84

"'The dictionary we are compiling'" 85

"Alice transfixed at the phone" 86

"'The biggest jackass from Dan to Beersheba'" 87

"'Larger measure than was the custom'" 94

"Greeted by the Commissioner, the Haberdasher" 99

"'It runs this way, your honour'" 100

"'Our thinking department'" 102

"'When they think nobody's looking'" 116

"'If you get into trouble, use this'" 119

"Seizing her by the arm" 122

"'Why--have I--I really fallen?'" 124