The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1908-05-03
By Elizabeth Haight Strong

TEE -zze slrshcuse. With its
STIGMA Ct nendiczncy. Is thing
Of the rrzst IN = building sense
TOO. Il has been RELOCATED 70: De
fore the fire days The renshackie
cd buildings formerly known as the
alnshGuss have been deserted and their
aged fanatics transferred from seuaiid-
dresrx roons 70 clean. sunshiny enes IN.
new buildings erected upon the aims
hose tract And the better: buildings
are known BY a better name Relief
Home <o- the Aged and Inhrm IS the
encizl term The. word home IS cor
rectlv used. too for. IN every sense II
is a real hone 1or those whose inhe-i~
tz-ce. q years IS age. ache and Penury-
Il Is claimed that. san Francisco has
housed its Impoverished and helpless in
The 4nest poorhouss~ n the United
states. II not in the world, Il has
been erected. bE the National Red Cross
sssoeiatIon, ard. when entirely com
plsteo, VIII have cost fsoa.soe-
The relief home. as Il IS abbreviated.
s o-e CT tie many improvements that
has come out q. The ezldron OF those
. threes. awful. certifying DAYS Of April.
1906. L fs-not ne nrst time the dis
aste- has proved 4. blessing IN disguise
Y X hsd not beer for the hre the city's
unfortunate and hsipless would prob
ably stsll be living IL. the same dilapi-
dated. slnsallirzry. buildings that they
had occupied for. years. But the re-
lief oornni5ttee found that as they grad
uaIiy.,-- closed the refugee camps. and
sifred out the anTorthv from those who
Cor various reasons were unable 10 heip
shsnsslvss there was szllI another ND
nicspsa problem 70 b. solved By de-
srees< the. number q unfortunate We
tins. Rad been decreasing until there
we're .so5 men ard women IN Charge Of
e WazIezberg IL Ingleside camp
wat was 70 be done With thems That
vas ne. question. Not one 70 Be Rightly
answered. None OF, them we're SELF
supporting. They wouId always need
tie eftyss care Consequently they must
Be pzt. under permanent shelter But
how ard where There was no room
20 spare a. the almshouse and the con-
citizens the-e were far from desirable
re answer e thu perplexing problem
vas the Few slnsEouse. the Red Cross
Relief Home for the Aged and Infrm-
And 50. Just short distance from
the old. poorh0use, for which the city
should. lave blusaed for years. the
= ---..-- - ro--n s-.~fo..e
sanitary. their -conveniences and mod
err equipment making lie within then
not only Iivable. but comfortable
And then. one dat. toward the end
OF January. when The: rain ceased and
the sur came out 500 old men and
women made their way slowly over tie
hills 10 tie poorko A pathetic
process Il was that formed a. Camp
Iuglesi6eau6 dragged It's weary leagth.
bu-oeued with years. along Dewey
boulevard. that made its muddy way
through the rain soaked. seeping hills.
past the city and county hospital. Up
g the zoe acres Ct lad called the
sImshouse tract There we're many
who were able 70 wax the distance,
bat those 10 whom age had brought
.nnrmities were taken IN the aims
house van ard other vehicles. And
thus x was that the last OF the refu-
gees % The great disaster lost their
identify as such IN the poorhoHse- But
they found n tie Buildings OF warm.
red brown. not unlike the color OF the
surrounding soil. with their roofs re-
senblng the tender green that the
rain lad brought 70 the hulsIdes, CON-