Chapter 2: The Pool of Tears

 

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Chapter 2: The Pool of Tears
`Curiouser and curiouser!’ cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); `now I’m opening out like the largest telescope that ever was!  Good-bye, feet!’ (for when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off).  `Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears?  I’m sure _I_ shan’t be able!  I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you:  you must manage the best way you can; –but I must be kind to them,’ thought Alice, `or perhaps they won’t walk the way I want to go!  Let me see:  I’ll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.’  And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. `They must go by the carrier,’ she thought; `and how funny it’ll seem, sending presents to one’s own feet!  And how odd the directions will look!
ALICE’S RIGHT FOOT, ESQ.                         HEARTHRUG,                             NEAR THE FENDER,                                 (WITH ALICE’S LOVE).  Oh dear, what nonsense I’m talking!’  Just then her head struck against the roof of the hall:  in fact she was now more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door.  Poor Alice!  It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side, to look through into the garden with one eye; but to get through was more hopeless than ever:  she sat down and began to cry again.  `You ought to be ashamed of yourself,’ said Alice, `a great girl like you,’ (she might well say this), `to go on crying in this way!  Stop this moment, I tell you!’  But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about four inches deep and reaching half down the hall.

 

After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other:  he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came, `Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! Oh! won’t she be savage if I’ve kept her waiting!‘  Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, `If you please, sir–’  The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, and skurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go.

Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: `Dear, dear!  How queer everything is to-day!  And yesterday things went on just as usual.  I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night?  Let me think:  was I the same when I got up this morning?  I almost think I can remember feeling a little different.  But if I’m not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I?  Ah, THAT’S the great puzzle!’  And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of them.  `I’m sure I’m not Ada,’ she said, `for her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn’t go in ringlets at all; and I’m sure I can’t be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, oh! she knows such a very little!  Besides, SHE’S she, and I’m I, and–oh dear, how puzzling it all is!  I’ll try if I know all the things I used to know.  Let me see:  four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is–oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!  However, the Multiplication Table doesn’t signify:  let’s try Geography. London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome, and Rome–no, THAT’S all wrong, I’m certain!  I must have been changed for Mabel!  I’ll try and say “How doth the little–”‘ and she crossed her hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it, but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to do:–                      `How doth the little crocodile                       Improve his shining tail,                     And pour the waters of the Nile                       On every golden scale!                      `How cheerfully he seems to grin,                       How neatly spread his claws,                     And welcome little fishes in                       With gently smiling jaws!’  `I’m sure those are not the right words,’ said poor Alice, and her eyes filled with tears again as she went on, `I must be Mabel after all, and I shall have to go and live in that poky little house, and have next to no toys to play with, and oh! ever so many lessons to learn!  No, I’ve made up my mind about it; if I’m Mabel, I’ll stay down here!  It’ll be no use their putting their heads down and saying “Come up again, dear!”  I shall only look up and say “Who am I then?  Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I’ll come up:  if not, I’ll stay down here till I’m somebody else”–but, oh dear!’ cried Alice, with a sudden burst of tears, `I do wish they WOULD put their heads down!  I am so VERY tired of being all alone here!’  As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was surprised to see that she had put on one of the Rabbit’s little white kid gloves while she was talking.  `How CAN I have done that?’ she thought.  `I must be growing small again.’  She got up and went to the table to measure herself by it, and found that, as nearly as she could guess, she was now about two feet high, and was going on shrinking rapidly:  she soon found out that the cause of this was the fan she was holding, and she dropped it hastily, just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether.  `That WAS a narrow escape!’ said Alice, a good deal frightened at the sudden change, but very glad to find herself still in existence; `and now for the garden!’ and she ran with all speed back to the little door:  but, alas! the little door was shut again, and the little golden key was lying on the glass table as before, `and things are worse than ever,’ thought the poor child, `for I never was so small as this before, never!  And I declare it’s too bad, that it is!’  As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, splash! she was up to her chin in salt water.  Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea, `and in that case I can go back by railway,’ she said to herself.  (Alice had been to the seaside once in her life, and had come to the general conclusion, that wherever you go to on the English coast you find a number of bathing machines in the sea, some children digging in the sand with wooden spades, then a row of lodging houses, and behind them a railway station.)  However, she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high.

 

`I wish I hadn’t cried so much!’ said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out.  `I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears!  That WILL be a queer thing, to be sure!  However, everything is queer to-day.’

Just then she heard something splashing about in the pool a little way off, and she swam nearer to make out what it was:  at first she thought it must be a walrus or hippopotamus, but then she remembered how small she was now, and she soon made out that it was only a mouse that had slipped in like herself.  `Would it be of any use, now,’ thought Alice, `to speak to this mouse?  Everything is so out-of-the-way down here, that I should think very likely it can talk:  at any rate, there’s no harm in trying.’  So she began:  `O Mouse, do you know the way out of this pool?  I am very tired of swimming about here, O Mouse!’ (Alice thought this must be the right way of speaking to a mouse: she had never done such a thing before, but she remembered having seen in her brother’s Latin Grammar, `A mouse–of a mouse–to a mouse–a mouse–O mouse!’  The Mouse looked at her rather inquisitively, and seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes, but it said nothing.

 

`Perhaps it doesn’t understand English,’ thought Alice; `I daresay it’s a French mouse, come over with William the Conqueror.’  (For, with all her knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion how long ago anything had happened.)  So she began again:  `Ou est ma chatte?’ which was the first sentence in her French lesson-book.  The Mouse gave a sudden leap out of the water, and seemed to quiver all over with fright.  `Oh, I beg your pardon!’ cried Alice hastily, afraid that she had hurt the poor animal’s feelings.  `I quite forgot you didn’t like cats.’  `Not like cats!’ cried the Mouse, in a shrill, passionate voice.  `Would YOU like cats if you were me?’  `Well, perhaps not,’ said Alice in a soothing tone:  `don’t be angry about it.  And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah: I think you’d take a fancy to cats if you could only see her. She is such a dear quiet thing,’ Alice went on, half to herself, as she swam lazily about in the pool, `and she sits purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face–and she is such a nice soft thing to nurse–and she’s such a capital one for catching mice–oh, I beg your pardon!’ cried Alice again, for this time the Mouse was bristling all over, and she felt certain it must be really offended.  `We won’t talk about her any more if you’d rather not.’  `We indeed!’ cried the Mouse, who was trembling down to the end of his tail.  `As if I would talk on such a subject!  Our family always HATED cats:  nasty, low, vulgar things!  Don’t let me hear the name again!’  `I won’t indeed!’ said Alice, in a great hurry to change the subject of conversation.  `Are you–are you fond–of–of dogs?’ The Mouse did not answer, so Alice went on eagerly:  `There is such a nice little dog near our house I should like to show you! A little bright-eyed terrier, you know, with oh, such long curly brown hair!  And it’ll fetch things when you throw them, and it’ll sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts of things–I can’t remember half of them–and it belongs to a farmer, you know, and he says it’s so useful, it’s worth a hundred pounds! He says it kills all the rats and–oh dear!’ cried Alice in a sorrowful tone, `I’m afraid I’ve offended it again!’  For the Mouse was swimming away from her as hard as it could go, and making quite a commotion in the pool as it went.  So she called softly after it, `Mouse dear!  Do come back again, and we won’t talk about cats or dogs either, if you don’t like them!’  When the Mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her:  its face was quite pale (with passion, Alice thought), and it said in a low trembling voice, `Let us get to the shore, and then I’ll tell you my history, and you’ll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs.’  It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with the birds and animals that had fallen into it:  there were a Duck and a Dodo, a Lory and an Eaglet, and several other curious creatures.  Alice led the way, and the whole party swam to the shore.

Alice in wonderland chapter 1

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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll   Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit-Hole Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do:  once or twice she had peeped[R1]  into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?’ So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, `Oh dear!  Oh dear!  I shall be late!’  (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket , and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after went Alice after it[R2]  it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

 

In another moment down, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well. Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next.  First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed[R3]  that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs.  She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled `Orange Marmalade’, but to her great disappointment it was empty:  she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it. `Well!’ thought Alice to herself, `after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs!  How brave they’ll all think me at home!  Why, I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!’ (Which was very likely true.) Down, down, down.  Would the fall never come to an end!  `I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen by this time?’ she said aloud. `I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth.  Let me see:  that would be four thousand miles down, I think–’ (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) `–yes, that’s about the right distance–but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I’ve got to?’  (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.) Presently she began again.  `I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth!  How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward!  The Antipathies, I think–’ (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it didn’t sound at all the right word) `–but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma’am, is this New Zealand or Australia?’ (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke–fancy curtseying as you’re falling through the air!  Do you think you could manage it?)  `And what an ignorant little girl she’ll think me for asking!  No, it’ll never do to ask:  perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.’ Down, down, down.  There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again.  `Dinah’ll miss me very much to-night, I should think!’  (Dinah was the cat.)  `I hope they’ll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time.  Dinah my dear!  I wish you were down here with me!  There are no mice in the air, I’m afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that’s very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?’  And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, `Do cats eat bats?  Do cats eat bats?’ and sometimes, `Do bats eat cats?’ for, you see, as she couldn’t answer either question, it didn’t much matter which way she put it.  She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, `Now, Dinah, tell me the truth:  did you ever eat a bat?’ when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over. Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment:  she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it.  There was not a moment to be lost[R4] : away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, `Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it’s getting!’  She was close behind it when she turned the corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen:  she found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof. There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again.

 

Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice’s first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any of them.  However, on the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high:  she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!

Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole:  she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head though the doorway; `and even if my head would go through,’ thought poor Alice, `it would be of very little use without my shoulders.  Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope!  I think I could, if I only know how to begin.’  For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible.   There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes:  this time she found a little bottle on it, (`which certainly was not here before,’ said Alice,) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words `Drink Me’ beautifully printed on it in large letters.

 

It was all very well to say `Drink Me,’ but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry.  `No, I’ll look first,’ she said, `and see whether it’s marked “poison” or not’; for she had read several nice little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they would not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them:  such as, that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your finger very deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked `poison,’ it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later. However, this bottle was not marked `poison,’ so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off.

*       *       *       *       *       *       *                  *       *       *       *       *       *              *       *       *       *       *       *       * `What a curious feeling!’ said Alice; `I must be shutting up like a telescope.’ And so it was indeed:  she was now only ten inches high, and her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little door into that lovely garden. First, however, she waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further:  she felt a little nervous about this; `for it might end, you know,’ said Alice to herself, `in my going out altogether, like a candle.  I wonder what I should be like then?’  And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember ever having seen such a thing. After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going into the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the door, she found she had forgotten the little golden key, and when she went back to the table for it, she found she could not possibly reach it:  she could see it quite plainly through the glass, and she tried her best to climb up one of the legs of the table, but it was too slippery; and when she had tired herself out with trying, the poor little thing sat down and cried. `Come, there’s no use in crying like that!’ said Alice to herself, rather sharply; `I advise you to leave off this minute!’ She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people.  `But it’s no use now,’ thought poor Alice, `to pretend to be two people!  Why, there’s hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person!’ 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 in currants. `Well, I’ll eat it,’ said Alice, `and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I’ll get into the garden, and I don’t care which happens!’ She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, `Which way?  Which way?’, holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size:  to be sure, this generally happens when one eats cake, but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way. So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.              *       *       *       *       *       *       *                  *       *       *       *       *       *              *       *       *       *       *       *       *

---

 [R1]Semantic field

 [R2]Inveraion

 [R3]Vs realised

 [R4]Passive voive

 WORK ON

1.- VOCABULARY [ MAKE COMMENTS WITH DOUBTS IF ANY ]

2.-USE OF TENSES [ SIMPLE PAST AND PAST PERFECT ] PURPOSE

Alice in wonderland

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Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught (Oscar Wilde)

but I have a piece of advice for you.

bazluhrmannsunscreen.htm

Rubén, Mavi and Lacy passed, congratulations

Have a safe journey into English Language and Culture !

Matador key ^_^

1.-	CLoze	to have and to hold from this day forward[, for better for worse ], for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health…	For better or for worse
		These drugs can lead to [ as much as] a 30 percent increase in sleep interruption	Sell out
2.-	Definition	cease to operate or cause to cease operating	Shut down
3.-		get rid of all one’s merchandise
		a person who is in charge	Head of
4.-		bestow an honor upon	To award
5.-		a notable achievement	A feat
6.-		go beyond	To top
7.-		a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction	accolade
8.-	Phonetics	/əˈwɔːd/	award
		/fiːt/	feat
		/ ˈæk.ə.leɪd/	accolade

Matador

Return of an old-school matador

After coming out of premature retirement, the bullfighter José Tomás returned

to Madrid last week. His career has been a unique and controversial one

A Monumental day

José Tomás’ return to the ring on June 17, 2007 after five years in retirement was received with adulation from fans and loud protests by detractors of the “fiesta.”For better or for worse, the matador made his comeback at La Monumental, the Barcelona bullring that is in danger of shutting down due to an anti-bullfighting campaign in Catalonia. Despite the protests, the fight was sold out, with resale tickets going for as much as €3,000. Tomás did not disappoint his fans, who included Juan Antonio Samaranch, the former head of the International Olympic Committee. Following a splendid performance, the man who is so often compared with Manolete was awarded three ears — a feat topped only by himself last week at Ventas — and taken out of the ring on the shoulders of his fans, the greatest accolade a bullfighter can hope for

 

 

Exploitation

Return of an old-school matador

After coming out of premature retirement, the bullfighter José Tomás returned

to Madrid last week. His career has been a unique and controversial one

A Monumental day

José Tomás’ return to the ring on June 17, 2007 after five years in retirement was received with adulation from fans and loud protests by detractors of the “fiesta.”For better or for worse, the matador made his comeback at La Monumental, the Barcelona bullring that is in danger of shutting down due to an anti-bullfighting campaign in Catalonia. Despite the protests, the fight was sold out, with resale tickets going for as much as €3,000. Tomás did not disappoint his fans, who included Juan Antonio Samaranch, the former head of the International Olympic Committee.

 

 

 

 

Following a splendid performance, the man who is so often compared with Manolete was awarded three ears — a feat topped only by himself last week at Ventas — and taken out of the ring on the shoulders of his fans, the greatest accolade a bullfighter can hope for.

 

1.-	CLoze	to have and to hold from this day forward[, for better for worse ], for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health…	For better or for worse
		These drugs can lead to [ as much as] a 30 percent increase in sleep interruption	Sell out
2.-	Definition	cease to operate or cause to cease operating	Shut down
3.-		get rid of all one’s merchandise
		a person who is in charge	Head of
4.-		bestow an honor upon	To award
5.-		a notable achievement	A feat
6.-		go beyond	To top
7.-		a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction	accolade
8.-	Phonetics	/əˈwɔːd/	award
		/fiːt/	feat
		/ ˈæk.ə.leɪd/	accolade

 

Homophones

/fiːt/

	feet
	feat
	ft

 

 

Come back for key in 24 hours

 

 

 

 

Mrs Clinton supports Barack Obama

Tapescript

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, so much. Thank you, all. Thank you very, very much.

Well — Well, this isn’t exactly the party I’d planned, but I sure like the company.

And I want to start today by saying how grateful I am to all of you, to everyone who poured your hearts and your hopes into this campaign, who drove for miles and lined the streets waving homemade signs, who scrimped and saved to raise money, who knocked on doors and made calls, who talked, sometimes argued with your friends and neighbors, who e-mailed and contributed online, who invested so much in our common enterprise, to the moms and dads who came to our events, who lifted their little girls and little boys on their shoulders and whispered in their ears, “See, you can be anything you want to be.”

To the young people like 13-year-old Anne Riddell [ph] from Mayfield, Ohio, who had been saving for two years to go to Disney World and decided to use her savings instead to travel to Pennsylvania with her mom and volunteer there, as well.

To the veterans, to the childhood friends, to New Yorkers and Arkansans who traveled across the country, telling anyone who would listen why you supported me. And to all of those women in their 80s and their 90s born before women could vote, who cast their votes for our campaign. I’ve told you before about Florence Stein [ph] of South Dakota who was 88 years old and insisted that her daughter bring an absentee ballot to her hospice bedside. Her daughter and a friend put an American flag behind her bed and helped her fill out the ballot.

She passed away soon after and, under state law, her ballot didn’t count, but her daughter later told a reporter, “My dad’s an ornery, old cowboy, and he didn’t like it when he heard Mom’s vote wouldn’t be counted. I don’t think he had voted in 20 years, but he voted in place of my mom.”

So to all those who voted for me and to whom I pledged my utmost, my commitment to you and to the progress we seek is unyielding. You have inspired and touched me with the stories of the joys and sorrows that make up the fabric of our lives. And you have humbled me with your commitment to our country. Eighteen million of you, from all walks of life — women and men, young and old, Latino and Asian, African- American and Caucasian, rich, poor, and middle-class, gay and straight, you have stood with me. And I will continue to stand strong with you every time, every place, in every way that I can. The dreams we share are worth fighting for.

Remember, we fought for the single mom with the young daughter, juggling work and school, who told me, “I’m doing it all to better myself for her.” We fought for the woman who grabbed my hand and asked me, “What are you going to do to make sure I have health care?” and began to cry, because even though she works three jobs, she can’t afford insurance. We fought for the young man in the Marine Corps t-shirt who waited months for medical care and said, “Take care of my buddies over there, and then will you please take care of me?” We fought for all those who’ve lost jobs and health care, who can’t afford gas or groceries or college, who have felt invisible to their President these last seven years.

I entered this race because I have an old-fashioned conviction that public service is about helping people solve their problems and live their dreams. I’ve had every opportunity and blessing in my own life, and I want the same for all Americans. And until that day comes, you’ll always find me on the front lines of democracy, fighting for the future.

The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength, and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama, the next President of the United States. Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him. And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.

I have served in the Senate with him for four years. I have been in this campaign with him for 16 months. I have stood on the stage and gone toe-to-toe with him in 22 debates. I’ve had a front-row seat to his candidacy, and I have seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit. In his own life, Barack Obama has lived the American dream, as a community organizer, in the State Senate, as a United States senator. He has dedicated himself to ensuring the dream is realized. And in this campaign, he has inspired so many to become involved in the democratic process and invested in our common future.

Now, when I started this race, I intended to win back the White House and make sure we have a President who puts our country back on the path to peace, prosperity and progress. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do, by ensuring that Barack Obama walks through the doors of the Oval Office on January 20, 2009.

Now, I understand — I understand that we all know this has been a tough fight, but the Democratic Party is a family. And now it’s time to restore the ties that bind us together and to come together around the ideals we share, the values we cherish, and the country we love. We may have started on separate journeys, but today our paths have merged. And we’re all heading toward the same destination, united and more ready than ever to win in November and to turn our country around, because so much is at stake.

We all want an economy that sustains the American dream, the opportunity to work hard and have that work rewarded, to save for college, a home and retirement, to afford that gas and those groceries, and still have a little left over at the end of the month, an economy that lifts all of our people and ensures that our prosperity is broadly distributed and shared.

We all want a health care system that is universal, high-quality and affordable, so that parents don’t have to choose between care for themselves or their children or be stuck in dead-end jobs simply to keep their insurance. This isn’t just an issue for me. It is a passion and a cause, and it is a fight I will continue until every single American is insured, no exceptions and no excuses.

We all want an America defined by deep and meaningful equality, from civil rights to labor rights, from women’s rights to gay rights from ending discrimination to promoting unionization, to providing help for the most important job there is: caring for our families.

And we all want to restore America’s standing in the world, to end the war in Iraq, and once again lead by the power of our values and to join with our allies to confront our shared challenges, from poverty and genocide to terrorism and global warming.

You know, I’ve been involved in politics and public life in one way or another for four decades. And during those — during those 40 years, our country has voted 10 times for President. Democrats won only three of those times, and the man who won two of those elections is with us today. We made tremendous progress during the ’90s under a Democratic President, with a flourishing economy and our leadership for peace and security respected around the world.

Just think how much more progress we could have made over the past 40 years if we’d had a Democratic President. Think about the lost opportunities of these past seven years on the environment and the economy, on health care and civil rights, on education, foreign policy and the Supreme Court. Imagine how far we could have come, how much we could have achieved if we had just had a Democrat in the White House. We cannot let this moment slip away. We have come too far and accomplished too much.

Now, the journey ahead will not be easy. Some will say we can’t do it, that it’s too hard, we’re just not up to the task. But for as long as America has existed, it has been the American way to reject can’t-do claims and to choose instead to stretch the boundaries of the possible through hard work, determination, and a pioneering spirit. It is this belief, this optimism that Senator Obama and I share and that has inspired so many millions of our supporters to make their voices heard. So today I am standing with Senator Obama to say: Yes, we can!

And that together we will work — we’ll have to work hard to achieve universal health care. But on the day we live in an America where no child, no man, and no woman is without health insurance, we will live in a stronger America. That’s why we need to help elect Barack Obama our President.

We’ll have to work hard to get back to fiscal responsibility and a strong middle class. But on the day we live in an America whose middle class is thriving and growing again, where all Americans, no matter where they live or where their ancestors came from, can earn a decent living, we will live in a stronger America. And that is why we must help elect Barack Obama our President.

We’ll have to work hard to foster the innovation that will make us energy independent and lift the threat of global warming from our children’s future. But on the day we live in an America fueled by renewable energy, we will live in a stronger America. And that is why we have to help elect Barack Obama our President.

We’ll have to work hard to bring our troops home from Iraq and get them the support they’ve earned by their service. But on the day we live in an America that’s as loyal to our troops as they have been to us, we will live in a stronger America. And that is why we must help elect Barack Obama our President.

This election is a turning-point election. And it is critical that we all understand what our choice really is. Will we go forward together, or will we stall and slip backwards?

Now, think how much progress we’ve already made. When we first started, people everywhere asked the same questions. Could a woman really serve as commander-in-chief? Well, I think we answered that one. Could an African-American really be our President? And Senator Obama has answered that one. Together, Senator Obama and I achieved milestones essential to our progress as a nation, part of our perpetual duty to form a more perfect union.

Now, on a personal note, when I was asked what it means to be a woman running for President, I always gave the same answer, that I was proud to be running as a woman, but I was running because I thought I’d be the best President. But — But I am a woman and, like millions of women, I know there are still barriers and biases out there, often unconscious, and I want to build an America that respects and embraces the potential of every last one of us.

I ran as a daughter who benefited from opportunities my mother never dreamed of. I ran as a mother who worries about my daughter’s future and a mother who wants to leave all children brighter tomorrows. To build that future I see, we must make sure that women and men alike understand the struggles of their grandmothers and their mothers, and that women enjoy equal opportunities, equal pay, and equal respect. Let us — Let us resolve and work toward achieving very simple propositions: There are no acceptable limits, and there are no acceptable prejudices in the 21st century in our country.

You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories; unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee; unremarkable to think that a woman can be the President of the United States — and that is truly remarkable, my friends.

To those who are disappointed that we couldn’t go all of the way, especially the young people who put so much into this campaign, it would break my heart if, in falling short of my goal, I in any way discouraged any of you from pursuing yours. Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. And, when you stumble, keep faith. And, when you’re knocked down, get right back up and never listen to anyone who says you can’t or shouldn’t go on.

As we gather here today in this historic, magnificent building, the 50th woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House. Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it, and the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time.

That has always been the history of progress in America. Think of the suffragists who gathered at Seneca Falls in 1848 and those who kept fighting until women could cast their votes. Think of the abolitionists who struggled and died to see the end of slavery. Think of the civil rights heroes and foot soldiers who marched, protested, and risked their lives to bring about the end of segregation and Jim Crow.

Because of them, I grew up taking for granted that women could vote and, because of them, my daughter grew up taking for granted that children of all colors could go to school together.

Because of them, Barack Obama and I could wage a hard-fought campaign for the Democratic nomination. Because of them and because of you, children today will grow up taking for granted that an African-American or a woman can, yes, become the President of the United States. And so when that day arrives, and a woman takes the oath of office as our President, we will all stand taller, proud of the values of our nation, proud that every little girl can dream big and that her dreams can come true in America. And all of you will know that, because of your passion and hard work, you helped pave the way for that day.

So I want to say to my supporters: When you hear people saying or think to yourself, “If only, or, “What if,” I say, please, don’t go there. Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward. Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to dwell on what might have been. We have to work together for what still can be. And that is why I will work my heart out to make sure that Senator Obama is our next President. And I hope and pray that all of you will join me in that effort.

To my supporters and colleagues in Congress, to the governors and mayors, elected officials who stood