Everything But Pink Mice and Elephants Well might any man who had of had an occasional glimpse of pink mice (with or without striped ele-pliants) exclaim, with Bret Harte, if he visited the Market Hall St. Al: ans, one slay recently:—Is visions about?
Is things what they seem?
Blue mice, chocolate, champagne mice, red mice, fawn mice. silver mice, black mice, multi-coloured mice, even mouse-coloured mice, were all around; restless, runabout mice; statuesque, haunch-sitting mice; sleeping mice, nervous mic bold, beady-eyed mice; sleek 'a! sticky mice—and just mice.
It was the Coronation and summer cup show of the National Mouse Club. and here were assembled all that is best in the mouse world—the aristocrats of the United Kingdom, whose markings are their quarterings and whose ancestry, even if short by some standards—an ambitious buck can look forward to seeing many erations of defendants before he Gies—stretches back several years.
So variegated are modern mice in hue that they seem to twitch their Hittle noses disdainfully at their simple white brethren, the odorif ously pungent pets of boyhood days. Well-placed patches or an adequate number of spots seem to be preferred to the white coat, although a white tnouse with black instead of pink eves is sufficiently rare to become interesting. There were about 900 entrants to-day from places as far apart as Scotland and Cornwall—and when Scottish exhibitors enter for prizes which may amount to as little 65.and never exceed £1, one uspects a Burns-like sentiment towards the wee creatures, This country can claim to be the chief breeding centre for prize mice. Ne longer is the keeping.of them merely boyish pastime; of the more than 1,000 British breeders a large proportion are women—the weak sex who are supposed to hate mice with a shuddering horror. To-day they could be seen discussing eagerly how "points" and handling the mice ith as little squeamishness as they would pat 2 dog. Schoolgirls, too, apparently take as much interest in the modern mice of many colours their brothers The schemes of even champion and prize mice "gang aft a-gloy." They have their little day and cease to be—cease to be, that is, as mice; but in a new and glorified form they may be anything. The National Mouse Club is trying to develop an industry in mouse. skins
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.