“Caucus”, contd.

Wise reader Vivion commented on the previous post that in her opinion the best definition of “caucus” comes from Alice in Wonderland.
After kicking myself that I had not thought of Lewis Carroll’s reference to a “Caucus-race” first, I followed the link Vivion gave to the full text of Carroll’s late-19th-century classic. I’ll provide just a little more text than she did. But thanks so much, Vivion, for reminding us about this great description…
The story starts after Alice has fallen down the rabbit-hole, met sundry strange creatures, and wept so much that there’s been a massive flood… Many of the creatures have become wet and bedraggled…
Chapter 3 continues:

`What I was going to say,’ said the Dodo in an offended tone, `was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.’
`What is a Caucus-race?’ said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that somebody ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anything.
`Why,’ said the Dodo, `the best way to explain it is to do it.’ (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)


First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, (`the exact shape doesn’t matter,’ it said,) and then all the party were placed along the course, here and there. There was no `One, two, three, and away,’ but they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out `The race is over!’ and they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, `But who has won?’
This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, `everybody has won, and all must have prizes.’