CHAPTER XXVII 

 HUMOURS OF THE "FANCY" 



THE honorary secretary of the National Mouse Club 

 was recently presented with j8 in subscriptions as a 

 mark of appreciation of his work for this club. The 

 journal which gives this item of news is not an 

 " extreme " fancier's organ, but a very humane one. 

 Even the remedies for some ailments of pugs are 

 advertised with the attractive heading of "No Starv- 

 ing." It also records some interesting details of how 

 the mouse classes are doing at shows. 



It appears that in the Midlands a district Fur and 

 Feather Society's annual show was remarkable for the 

 quality of these classes. " A very pretty Dutch mouse 

 won, and its owner took a V.H.C. [very highly com- 

 mended] with a lovely white one." Another well- 

 known exhibitor "sent a very fat fawn one, but his 

 fur was not in very good condition." A sable mouse, 

 with the best of ears, was third ; and a lovely black- 

 and-tan, catalogued at ^20, was second. The writer 

 does not know the points of a mouse, though 10 is 

 a price calculated to make beginners envious. But 

 this pitch of excellence is not obtained without intense 

 thought and expenditure of energy, as plainly appears 

 from the regrets expressed that one well-known 



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