The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1896-04-16

THE SUCCESSFUL OPERATION OF A FELINE
BOARDING HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA.

BOARDING HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA.
A boarding house where the motto is
''Eat, drink, and be merry" whose board
ers never annoy the landlady with com
plants about the monotony of the bill of
fare or the toughness of the steak, would
seem to be model institution. Such a
one is conducted at 1912 Lombard street,
says the Philadelphia Record, and its II
boarders are free from care. They pos
sess no worldly goods, never think of
working for a living, care not and know
not about the regularity with which their
board bills are paid, and pass their even
ing socially in the exercise of natural
musical talent. The house is under the
supervision of the Morris Refuge Asso-
citation, which provides meals and lodg-
ings for cats of good moral character at
nominal rates, and puts homeless, sick,
or suffering felines out Of the way hui
namely.
The Lombard street house of the asso-
citation is fitted up with view to supply
ing it's inmates with all the comforts of
home. The greater part of the yard is
utilized as a playground, from which a
bldll way " d ocCOutl-SlOIy IOOtu,
the walls of which are fitted with Shelves
where the purring creatures may reclne
at ease. In summer, when many families
remove to the country or the shore, and
find it incCnvenient to carry the highly
priced mouser, that animal is sent around
to the Morris Refuge Association, where
it is cared for at a charge of so cents a
week. Last summer the accommodations
of the house were taxed to the utmost,
the daily attendance at dinner often reach
ing 100.
"Little Goldie'' is star buarder The
property of Fourth street saloon keeper,
Goldie seems to think that, in vie n of his
age, weight, and attainments. he is en-
titled to the respect and admiration of all
of his race. Little Goldie has u years of
more or less honorable life to his credit,
weighs about 20 pounds, and is ever pre-
pared to maintain his assertion that he is
twice as big as any cat in the house. At
meal hours it is his prerogative, as star
boarder, to have dish all to himself. He
is, moreover, extremely jealous of any at
tentlon bestowed upon the minor sate1-
lltes who do him reverence. and it a visit
or caresses or makes friends with another
cat in Little Goldie'S presence the latter's
behavior toward the favored feline says
almost as plainly as words: II II thrash
you before morning. And he never fails
to carry out his threat.
Little Goldie has a protege in Limpe, a
cat with d history I4impie is natural
curiosity, having been born with but three
legs, and no sign of a limb is discernibc
where the fourth one ought to be. This
phenomena cat was the property of
woman in poor circumstances, who
brought him up by hand' until she
could no longer afford the luxury of keep
ing a cat, and thereupon placed him as Il
charity boarder ut the Morris Refuge
The other boarders are apt to look down
on Limpie as a -'charity cat" ''alms-
house sport" aud the like: but ii is gen
orally understood that he is under the di-
rect protection of Little Goldie, whose
anger is not to be lightly brooked
Perhaps the most aptly named of the
strange tribe is a six months old Maltese.
answering to the name of 'Dunraven. -
Suffering from some mysterious distem-
per, he holds aloof from the others for
hours at time, after an apparently
friendly tiff with playmate and he can
not be induced to eat anything, no matter
how tempting, while he is ''in the sulks' -
Dung as he is, Dunraven has already
won distinction as mouser and boards
at the expense of a wealthy woman, who
sent him to the asylum to have his tenn
permanent improved.
Agent Philip J. Smith is in charge of
the refuge, and all the boarders look upon
him almost as father. He ministers to all
their wants. and is fairly wOrshipped be-
cause he serves three meals day, at reg
ular hours. The diet is plain, but un-
don htp1lv ,1ntritinnSs ,1-fo
NJ, bread and milk; dinner at noon, raw
beef, and supper at 80 p. NJ, bread and
milk. Although II felines now play in
the back yard and slide upon the cellar
door, covers are laid for but II. Little
Goldie, Limpie, Dunraven and few
Others of the privileged class eat from
''individuals, P" and permit no intrudels to
feed from tie same dish. The others,
forming Iii cliques of two or three, eat
from the remaining pans, and at meal
hours they form polite and orderly as
s4mblage
While the happy go-lucky boarders
anuse themselves with ''pussy-in- the cor
ner' and kindred games between meals.
they are unaware that an innocent looking
charcoal furnace in the same yard daily
puts to death between 80 and so small ami
mails of various kinds. Each day the as
sociation receives through the mail a large
number of requests to call at various adj
dresses for animals, principally cats and
dogs-which the owners desire to have put
to death. Agent Smith collects the crop
each day in wagon, and on his return to
the house only such animals as seem to be
valuable and in good health are spared.
These are temporarily boarded while an
effort is made to find comfortable homes
for them, and the others are humanely
put to death by aspLyxiation.
This daily flood of mail asking for the
removal of cats includes many amusing
epistles. Some are requests; others are
imperative demands. sample of the
former is appended verbatim:
'Please call at above address for yery
beautiful cats Mother and son or else |
shall be obliged to destroy them of which
l do not wish to do-please call so quick
as convenient and oblige a sick Lady"
Sometimes the agent who calls in re-
Spouse to request is informed that
strange cats have been running around
the back yard at night and is invited to 60
out and catch them. On recent trip to
tenement, from one of the rooms of
which a Celtic ledger had been evicted.
the agent found five large Newfoundland
dogs, which had been left behind by the
tenant. How the woman had existed in
one small room with SO much COMPANY is
a mystery