The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 20, 1902, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CALL, HAVEN OF REST FOR “BOW BOW,” « MEOW?” ANDDECREPIT ‘POLLY.” had his 4 w it s ¥ and 's day ws for s s. But nothing of ve come need n here are own, s of g, president of the club are, 100, when gat eir wits fro s of a mort, ows through wing marks of dless with ¥ y etretch their ticns have ad-pted the nstit eottage plar r it would be ¢ ous to keep ge a family of strangers fn one hous Twice a day they are fed with good meat end rice, fish, bread & as though were abl y for peighbors they have & large fan of beautiful Angoras, white, tortoise- shell and y tabbles, who sit wrapped lly mantles and Sufly ruffs, wi Jook in thelr royalty bestow Perbaps pu mever known hisses and bad If-shut amber eye: on the bourgeols , who has alleys and ¥s, and whose cogt is adbare in spots ge of envious green in his eye ough the wire screen blood. Perhaps he may bby looks and long f hair in the tips of at pussy, the b. be conscious of for the 0 ears v erneath, a ruff, r eyes and a bushy tall, 1 ancestry. e in peace, sure of two bed at night. at the refuge that is willing to work. e. 8o, after a cuperation, homes are cs, on ranches, in w , where th can go In is a hos- SRTEL, bt ¢ ) are sick the a L unfit,” such 2 warm room and a doc- and careful pursing. A kitte f t birth is alw ca r cared for like a y ur ecthing time, which, fortun- ate sooner than baby's. But if it the try: first six a falr chance for its ry rd to w puss is very quiet. She ts careless of her looks and her face. Sometime Medicines are something of 2 pill. She ha and the mouth at just ut saying that the hospital pporting. Its pro a hospit indeed. For the poor pus a good mouser, love, bt dard of worth, might prompt t of hospital charges: and as h love is rare and such cats not rar the free wards in the hospital are bett patronized than the pay wards. All animal hospitals, however, are not hilanthropic ba At the polly on this 1 parrot ince, according to Ilment and the care she needs. int little place on California street, ge of Chinatown, is the par- of Mrs. Louise Ball. The »h bigger than th Birds Boardec Sick Parrots Treated,” but polly is art of it, and two big cages ing for canary tenants the s not m come to ans ason when boarders 1 that cana become ‘a problem to hov ¥ who would close their houses and be , but polly metimes it as any child sometimes it is la grippe, it is tumors, which ap; beak and e and, if not checked in time, prove tal. And ther are even more serious and baffling di eases which lay hold of polly and carry own, her off in twenty-four or thirt hours if left without proper treatment. When polly mopes and refu: to eat it gener y a sign that she is ill. She is quiet, too, which might tempt heartless r bors 10 T when polly’s & for slow recovery. But :ad and tail feathers droop and she sits huddled in a corner by the ho ress is the right sort po ve a doctor or go to the hos- pital a patle 1 it com he rebels t polly is meek and docile to taking medicine. Then he must be bound wing and claw, for her tempe: and she will scratch and bite the hand that seeks to relieve her without a pang of conscience. Once her claws are covered and her wings cannot flap, it is an easy trick to hold her head back, which forces the k open, and in goes the medicine. A very good tempered polly will some- take medicine from a spoon un- But it is not alone the giving of medi- cine that Polly needs when ill—far from it. There are times when her nurse must be up every half hour through the night putting hot lids in the bottom of the cage to keep Polly warm; and when Polly wheezes sadly with the asthma or snif- fles rh she needs many little All this means money, and arges vary from three to fif- teen dollars a month, as the case war- rants. Sometimes it takes Polly several months to recover from a serious illness, which makes her doctor bill run pretty high; but there are people in the world who wouldn't take a hundred dollars for a pet parrot. In connection with her bird home and hospital Mrs. Ball maintains a sort of poor farm for cats. Just beyond her back fence lies China- town, and Chinatown is full of pauper cats. John is good enough to a cat that serves him, but when there gets to be more than one, as will happen, John's kindness expires and cruelty sets in. The extra cats are starved and abused and either kicked into the street or left under the pavement. Once a able cat was rescued as a little Chi- boy was about to throw it beneath a cable car. These outcasts appeal to Mrs. Ball, and no matter how sick or lame or blind they may be she takes them home, feeds them, gives them a warm bed, and when they are well again she finds them a home. It they can't get well they are given a de- cent burial. The Chinese have come to know what to do with surplus cats, and more than once a board from the bazk fence has been loosened and a ssrawny Kkittén to starve mit is not a sweet one, " e [ FASITIC /QA‘Y <TLVUD \ RET dropped inside. away, numbers a dozen, sometimes two dozen. Not one is ever turned AT So much for cats and birds. For dogs Steers’ hospital on Cedar avenue is per- and often the family of strays there are and always have been many haps not so much a type as a good ex- hospitals in San Francisco, Of these Dr. ample. A BROREW LAID UP WITH LES The unpretentious exterior gives no sug- gestion of the accommodations within. Every patient has his private room, with & neat cot in one corner, the floor and walls kept scrupulously clean by dally scrubbing, disinfectants and frequent coats of paint. There is no free ward in the hospital, though the doctor does much charity work. On no two visits does one find the same patients. They come and go there for an hour or two a day, a week, a month. They are always glad to see strangers, for it helps to pass the time. 1“Yow'll have to speak a little louder,” sald a beautiful, soft-eyed Gordon setter when asked how he felt. He held out his hand to be stroked. “Im almost totally deaf and the trou- ble all came about by my getting a few grains of barley in my ear one day when I was chasing a rabbit. I had dreadful gatherings in my ear, and for a while they thought I'd die. I lived with were good to me until thought I wasn’t going to get well, and then they sent me to the animals’ home, which, you know, is the politc name for the pound. They didn't mean to be cruel, of course, but it was hard on me. “The pound man didn’t think T looked very bad and he found another place for me, but T gotso homesick I just had to g0 back to my old friends. I guess they got sorry, for they were very kind when 1 went btack and they sent me here. I think I'm getting better My picture? Oh, no, not ‘to-day, please,” and he drew back Into a dark corner of the room. “I never have cared to have my pleture in the paper. Be- sides, my friends might recognize me and not like it because I've talked so much. But I'll be glad to see you when you come again if I'm still here.” “T guess I'm not so very sick,” sald a saucy little Yorkshire terrier that an- swered to the name of “Rags.” “Just a bad cold; Influenza I belleve they call it. 1 have to run around with this shawl and a chest protector and take some nasty medicine, but think I'll be out in a few days. “T don't look very well to have my ple- ture taken, but I'm not very vain, so 30 ahead.” In another room was a poor little fox terrier with his right hind leg in a splint “It's not broke,” he said curtly, as he tried to get up and stand with one leg made longer than it really ought to be by being stretched straight with the stiff cardboard splint. “A brute of a dog bit me and blood poi- soning set in. Thought 1 was going to lose my leg, and of course I'd rather die and be done with it. Guess it's going to be all right now, though they say it'll be a little short. The sore one has to be dressed pretty often and washed with an- tiseptics. Glad I don’t have to use crutches.” “I'm here to have my eyes treated,” sald a great, bouncing, shaggy St. Bern- ard. PUSSY SETS TUBBINT L “Oh, yes, you've probably heard of my father. Everybody knows him. Guess he's worth more to-day than any of the rest of our family. “I'm troubled with granulated eyelids. I don’t know whether I inherited them or not, but the doctor says these weaknesses are often hereditary, just as they are with two-leggers. . “I've rather enjoyed being here in the hospital. I'm not sick enough to have to stay in my room all the time and I've met some pretty decent fellows since I came. “Oh, yes, you can have all the plctures you wamt. I've had a good many taken and dow’t mind at all.” Some of the “patients were sleeping. others beginning to think about supper, and all by their quiet behavior showed their good breeding. It was plain that they were accustomed to pleasant heme surroundings. After making the round of cat, bird and dog hospitals ome is apt to wonder how many bebies die every year of starvation and lack of care.