NURSERY MANTELPIECE

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 287, 31 August 1931, Page 4

NURSERY MANTELPIECE

Unique Decorations I have been looking into the question of a stableful ■ of fiery steeds for the nursery—or, at any rate, for the nursery mantelpiece—and I have succeeded in assembling a spirited and decorative collection of animals, writes Ann Feilding in an exchange.' I must tell you at once that they are not by any moans ordinary horses; for one thing their coats are buttercup-yel-low or poppy-orange—and beautiful glossy coats they are, being of the shiniest china. And for another thing, they are so small—oh, much smaller than the most Lilliputian Shetland pony, and yet I incline to think that they arc pure Arab by descent. There are one, two, three, four—no, five of them, and each one has his special trick. There is the yellow horse, who is very lazy, and you can be sure he’ll just be standing about whenever you happen to glance at the mantelpiece; he has, however, a yellow brother and an orange cousin, who are tremendously energetic, and spend their time running races up and down the mantelpiece as fast as they can go; and then there's a cross-grained orange fellow. Thesj} are all the grown-up horses in the stable—but I had almost forgotten to tell you about the colt. I think you will like the colt particularly, not only tvcause young animals are so much more endearing to the eye than growii-up animals, . but because this- colt is a Peter Pan of colts, and will never grow up. If he ever did grow up he would be a butter-cup-yellow horse, but as he has not and' never will attain to butter-cup-dom, he goes perennially clothed in a sleek suit of palest yellow—primrose, or cowslip, or daffodil, I don’t know what to call it—and he skips up and down the mantelpiece exploring a little timidly, forever backing and rearing at imaginary scares; the shadow of his own pranoing legs, a patter of quick footseps on the nursery floor, anything and everything, in fact, can make that silly young colt start his nervous contortions.