A LETTER FROM ALICE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 30 November 1945, Page 3

A LETTER FROM ALICE

THE A. and P. SHOW Dear Boys and Girls, What fun Alice and White Rabbit had at the A. and P. Show last Friday! It was Judges’ Day and there was plenty of room to move round, so the two just ambled from place to place and were not jostled about. White Rabbit was specially interested in the wonder, j ful cakes and vegetable* on view, but Alice made straight for the pig and cattle sections, where she browsed round all the pens and thoroughly enjoyed herself. One old black pig was very bored indeed. lie just sat on his haunches and stared into space. Even buzzing flies and pieces of straw poked at Tflm made no difference, and Alice felt so sorry for him that she wanted to open the door and see what would happen when he discovered his freedom. Two little ginger twins next door were quite lively, though. They glistened in the sun just as if they had been shampooed, and rooted very busily in the straw as if they were certain they would come across some wonderful titbit in this warm new bed of theirs. A little further along the row there was the biggest pig Alice had ever seen. He could only just fit into his pen, and his great back nearly reached the top rail. With his sawn-off tusks and ! nasty little eyes, he looked very fierce and certainly showed his irritation, too, when he hissed and snarled at a stick that was pointed at him. Another huge ginger follow was quite the opposite. He lay like an overgrown sausage and basked in the sun. Rolls of fat round his neck and even the way his ears shaded his eyes, showed.that he didn’t mind a really comfortable day for a change. THE BULLS AND COWS The bulls and cows also fascinated Alice. She couldn’t keep her eyes away from some of those great enor~. mous dark brown animals with satin smooth coats. There was one fearsomelooking affair with high wild horns and Alice felt quite nervous until she looked into its eyes which were soft and brown. The horns suggested an angry bull, but to Alice’s great surprise it was a cow. What a good thing we human women don’t have to carry round heavy fierce horns like that, thought Alice gratefully. The big thing lay on its bed of straw and seeds clung to Its shaggy red coat. The placard on the pen said it was an Aberdeen Angus, and Alice smiled to herself. Why, she might have known—it just shouted of bagpipes and kilts from its pale sandy whiskers and white eyelashes. Then there was the little champion Jersey bull with fluffed tail-end and self-important back. Alice didn’t like him much, but who was she to judge? However, she did like the champion strawberry-mottled Shorthorn bull. He was tremendous and looked so strong and smooth. Yet he was quite indifferent to everything and paced round the ring with the purple ribbon of championship across his broad back-as if it were quite the natural thing to do. Alice just gasped that such a big animal could be so handsome. And the dear little Jersey cows, with their laughter wrinkles round their soft eyes. Surely they must feed from inside fairy rings and share secrets with the elves who live in luscious long green grass. THE SHED OF NOISE From here Alice stepped along to a big barn affair inside which there seemed to be a great commotion. No, it wasn’t a nightmare of the very highest order, but there seemed to be hundreds of roosters, fowls, bantams and amazing-looking feathered things that were called’ the “Fancy Class,” and each bird wanted to show off its own peculiar voice at the same time. The bantam roosters soared away above some spotted cock’s baritone song and another extremely handsome man in the chook world amused himself all day with calling out at the top of his voice, which annoyed his smaller neigh, hours very much. Alice was very pleased to see he had only got a 2nd prize for his pains. Some of the roosters were just like coloured postcards, so beautiful and true to type were they. One White Leghorn fellow amused Alice by the fact that he stood sideways on in his cage and just posed so that people would remark on his good looks, which everyone did. THE FRIENDLY DOGS But best of all were the dogs. Alice wandered past them dozens of times and each time she stopped to say hullo to each. Farm dogs are always friendly, and after Alice had spoken to them several times they greeted her as a very old friend and showed off their favourite shaking-hands tricks. All day long both Alice and White Rabbit enjoyed themselves and all day long they walked from end to end of the Show grounds, sampling tea made with the very best champion Jersey milk,'inspecting all the work of school children, gazing longingly at some of the wonderfully cooked cakes and generally remembering everything that was of interest. It is a pity that a whole year has to go by before another A and P. Show is held at Richmond. Did you go to the Show, members? If you did, we would love to hear about what you liked best. With love from your friend, ALICE.