Page:Carroll - Phantasmagoria and other poems (1869).djvu/27

Rh  "That's plain," said I, "as Tare and Tret,
 * To any comprehension:

I only wish some ghosts I've met Would not so constantly forget
 * The maxim that you mention."

"Perhaps," he said, "you first transgressed
 * The laws of hospitality:

You'll mostly come off second-best When you omit to treat your guest
 * With proper cordiality.

"If you address a ghost as 'thing,'
 * Or strike him with a hatchet,

He is permitted by the king To drop all formal parleying—
 * And then you're sure to catch it!