The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-20
WHERE HORSES ARE HAPPY.


 New Years Feast at an English Home
 for Aged Nags-Interesting Inmates : If additional proof were needed of the
 tender regard shown by Englishinen to
 horse, 1t can be found in the Home
 of Rest for Horses which is situated
 at Friars Place Farm, Acton. This
 philanthropic movement, which is re- ceiving the warm support of many of
 the best families In the country, was
 started in the year 1886, at Neasden it's 1 object being to enable the poorer class
 es to procure, on moderate terms, rest
 and good treatment for animals that
 that are failing, not from age, but from
 continuous work, sickness, or accidental
 causes; to provide animals for poor per-
 sons for temporary use while their own i are resting in the home; and also to ob-
 tain a suitable asylum for "old favor ties" whose owners, instead of destroy
 ing or selling them for further labor, desire to place them under good treat ment for the remainder of their days, paying a remunerative charge for such accommodation. Through the kindness of Mrs. Gore, who is a consistently firm supporter of the institution, the animals in the home were yesterday enabled to enjoy a New Years dinner, the meal consisting of carrots, apples, brown l bread, white bread and sugar. The de- pressingly heavy fog which covered town and country alike limited the number of visitors who travelled to the to very few Nevertheless, they were well able to appreciate the excellent management of the superintendent, MT. Davis, who has occupied that position for nine years, having perfectly quali- fled himself for 1t by long experience in the Fourth Dragoon Guard
 As this is the only institution of the kind established during the reign of her Majesty the Queen, it will be interest ing to note that on the occasion of yes- terday's ceremony, there were forty three horses at the home. The majori ty of then-twenty-th y-three-were old fa- vorites, that is to say horses who have been sent to the farm as an asylum for the remainder of their days. The aver age time each horse is kept at the home is six weeks, but these old pensioners are there permanently on payment of e26 year. Among them is the we'll known "Bones"-troop horse, formerly of the Royal Horse Guards Blue. Bones was at Tel-el- Kebir, and was subsequently purchased by Miss Doro- thy Hardy, who used him as model for her paintings. The veteran was called 'Bones" because those who had him could never get him to make flesh, but he has recently somewhat belied | that description, and now 1t is pleas- ure to witness the good old black geld ing, with the weight of twenty-two | Summers sitting lightly upon him, either looking with almost human in- tellgence out of his roomy and comfort able box for those who are known to | him and who are kind to him, resting to his hearts content, or disporting himself in the paddocks attached to the home. There is still older pensioner on the farm, known as ''The Old Man" He is thirty-seven years old, and like the old war horse enjoys restful and old age. Up and down the boxes are horses of various descriptions and several donkeys. One pensioned brown gelding enjoys a particularly happy time in his old age He is the of a lady whose love for him is so irresistible that, to be able to con- stantly see him, she has taken up her residence In Acton, and provides all sorts of clothing and apparatus to keep him in comfort.
 There has been started In connection with the home an endowment fund by which, on the payment of e1,000, the Honor or donors would acquire the right to have always a continuous succession 1f inmates enjoying the benefits of the institution. One of the boxes bears an inscription plate with the name of that excellent institution on it. Our Dumb Friends League the committee having, t is understood, arranged to pay the necessary amount of money in order to nave the use of the box perpetually. It will, therefore, be seen that the work, # which MT. S. Sutherland Stafford, is he zealous Secretary, has many merits o commend it to the consideration of he philanthropic and to those who love Telegraph.