Page:Carroll - Sylvie and Bruno Concluded.djvu/381

XXI] will need time, I'm afraid: but that is a trifling disadvantage. Now observe. If I were to unhook this weight, and let go, it would fall to the ground. You do not deny that?"

Nobody denied it.

"And in the same way, if I were to bend this piece of whalebone round the postthusand put the ring over this hookthusit stays bent: but, if I unhook it, it straightens itself again. You do not deny that?"

Again, nobody denied it.

"Well, now, suppose we left things just as they are, for a long time. The force of the whalebone would get exhausted, you know, and it would stay bent, even when you unhooked it. Now, why shouldn't the same thing happen with the weight? The whalebone gets so used to being bent, that It ca'n't straighten itself any more. Why shouldn't the weight get so used to being held up, that it ca'n't fall any more? That's what I want to know!"

"That's what we want to know!" echoed the crowd.

"How long must we wait?" grumbled the Emperor.