D ecember 19
THE LANDS\VO~A N
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The Dairy Show
EVESTEE)f Land. Army women took
part lll a millung competH.wn at t~
DanT Show-bdd nt tlli.~ .A(rncultural H all m
London. On tho n.c-tual clay 1t was one
breathk~~ ru,h nnd n<·n·ous btra.m fro m
5 a.w., when wo .,crambJE>d 1nto our cl~thc-s
.nt the Hostel whC're we had spont the rught,
until lH' had fuueheu our tea. "h eh Wl" could
hardlvf'nt fort"XCiteml•nt, at(; p.m., when we
heard' th" final result:. read out to us.
The hour for the fin-t <'OID}X'tition was so
f'arly that v.e-("Omll1g as \H' -WE'l'C obliged to t rtn·el to
London the night oofol't'
\Ye all put up
for the night at a H~tcl nMr ' "('stminstor
Bnd~ ·,
and at 5 n.m. on l •'r1day,
Octooor 24th, o loJry camt~ to tak(' uR along
to ,L,Iington . We co.U<"d at Con•ut Gard <-n
<~n our v.ay just to colic•('t scarlet carnt\tJons
for our button holes, which ihe Edttor m -
sist.ed lHl mu.st ha.ve, so that we nright bo The Competitor.
Alfitri,
looking our Vf'ry smartest when '' o faced the
judgc·s, a.nd so '~~' dJ.d. Put<' whito smocks,
sun honnt·ts of th0 same colour, s potlc~s swn.hs, mformed us that s ho bad the lis t of \\Jnne rs l u 1
pocket, whc.ro it had beon safcJv hidden all throulc~
scarlt•t hutton holes and smiling fat.(•S pmk wit h
the m eal ! Nmo of us we ro S('lc oted to nulk n aig
e:r:."lk'ment, corn bmcd to make a Ycrv brave show
for tho tancl Armv
on thlS memomble occasion. in the afternoon. a ud th(} res t of the 17 went'ogff n,
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pa~~ to console each othor with. tho thought th~~
W~ '\ • ro turi fled that we were going to 00 dtS·
(rua.hfi(:d tllr·ro and th<·n whf'n we were told that wo 1t JS 1mposs1 ble for e veryone to wm a pri ze.
WE' were no t due to meet again till 4.15 pm s
(Jught to have brought our own stools, but frJCnd.ly
cowmon in the Hall knt us soni<' of tl1cnrs and wo for the rest of the day, s ome of us wandered · ro~~~
tl~at wonderful s how, some rushed off to mt>ct
:;tartcd. lt wu.s ncrvollil work. Of cou~c none of
us know t~ co·M;, and "c t•nc h, one· nnd all, wondered fne nds m London, and a. few of us sent wires to our
how our particular ono would Lt ha\e-. Some were f a rmers to le t th6m kno w how we were getting on
[I heard of one farm e r who wns judg1ng that day-at
hrut• ttnd some \HH'O da.rhn~s . and I was sorry fo r
two orthrtoof the ~ir)w put h1s foot in "tho milk pail
how
- i s gettiJ?g ~m, I wonde r. " - Editor]
and then ~b<' gavo up hope!
Tho aftemoon IIDlkin~Z was much more nervous
work than tho morning had been, because, although
Tho end <'anw at luA and we all trooped in to
bJ'C'akfnst. It wns (!ood nncl wo cnjoyt>d 1t-but wo
we had got a ccustomed to t he judges and the cows,
t ho c rowds of people who gathered round the ropes
wn.ntf'd bi\(Uv to knO\\ tlw rNmHs of our e ffo r ts ·
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and just aa \HI Wl't'\' finishi ng. tho Ed1tor , who iB
t<> watch the competition made us a ll feel horri bly
nervous. The e xcitement, too, was i n tense-for so
also tho Chic•f \VL·Ifnro Ofikor of th( L and Army,
closo was the contest that the t wo first girls
had to milk agai n, and even then I heard
af terwards that thoro were o nly six points
be tween the first girl and the l ast. It was
out of t.ho ques tion to expect us to oat any-
thing at tea. time : we just guJ ped down cuj>s
of tea, always with an eye on the door
for the messeng~r who was t-o bring the
decision of those judges.
At last the news
c ame -brought by Miss MacQuoon herself,
who told us that the judges wE-re so pleased
w1th the class that t.hev hnd given
et'€ryone a. prize ! A first,¥ second, three
thirds, three fourths and a fifth. ~o in the
e nd wo .. a.U~went .. home happy .
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Read, for tbo F1 ay
Zj8
Have you joined the National
Association of Landswomen?
lJatlll Skt tell,