Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-05
Along the Water Front
By Carol Klotzbach

~ WLsl Dogs! Pigeons! Cats!
Rabbits! Rats! Mice! And
a Swan that swims close by.
A menagerie, except for the
Swan, which happens to be boat by
that name. the others being real All
at the Washington Yacht Club. And
Steward Allen is in a fair way OF be-
coming head keeper.
Here's the why and how. OF course,
the rats and mice and rabbits just oc-
cur, as they always do when water and
thicket join. And the owl-well, he
simply materialized Owls never are
seen arriving. One has a vacant plling,
a fence post, ridge pole. For long
time it is unoccupied-then, presto
One finds an owl.
The dog. To tell of him we must go
back to the hot weather. All OF us
were very much aware OF the not
weather. It seems that the dogs OF the
town were also aware. and uncomfort-
ably so. And the dogs went swimming
in the branch. Now it's easy 10 go
swimming in the branch. One--or a
dog-simply jumps in. Getting out Is
another matter-easy enough for hui
mans. but hard for a dog. For the
whole length of the branch IS parri-
caded by seawall, an almost unbroken
stretch of stone bulkhead that rises or
dinarily 2 or 8 feet above normal high
water. And so it is almost impossible
for dog to escape without help once
he is in.
The dog is one of many that Steward
Allen has rescued from the river. In
a week he has saved as many as three
dogs from exhaustion and drowning
Once he arose at o'clock in the morn
ing to answer to hail from the water
a long, low, hardly discernible hail from
a dog in his last moments. The record
stands at about 10 for the Summer.
They are dried out, fed and bedded
down by the old fellow until they are
recovered, then are turned loose to re-
turn home If the owner does not APP
pear in response to the found ad
(Which, by the way, Steward Allen pays
for out of his own meager salary, and
the rescue work goes on.
But this particular stump-tailed purp
refused to leave. What, leave this fell
low what's saved me, fed me and
purp. So that accounts for the dog.
A ND the pigeons. They arrived
"A singly. First came a carrier pigeon
that elected to roost On the club sign
board across the porch and make him
self at home in the kitchen, locker
room and club house in general. A
week of this and he disappeared for a
brief spell to return bearing on his
arm Cor wing, if you must have it so),
a not particularly blushing bride. So
Skipper Allen, with a view to having
them return to their proper home and
owner, promptly boxed them up and
had an obliging member carry them
away to Rosslyn and release them. The
release was made at BIS pm. At 1925
pm, by the clock, two pig 2Ons strutted
into the amazed view of the dog and
the steward. And housekeeping began
in earnest in a box under the caves.
The pigeons are now considered as
permanent.
THE Cat. None other than our old
i friend Barnacle, son of the lamented
Felix. the Swans last years cat. Now
this Barnacle is not what some might
call an ordinary cat Not that his
pedigree is anything to cry over. But
Barnacle was born aboard boat and
in his lifetime has spent not over five
fearful, trembling minutes on terra
f1rma. To judge from his actions, 1t
could not have seemed so "flrma" to
him. He is truly nautical cas4 And
very fuSsy w1thal. For example, ne
will not eat fish unless the fish Is
cooked
So there you have the little zoo at
the Washington Club The dog dozes
on the porch until the rabbit shows
himself from his covert in a bramble
patch and decides on a dash across
the yard and through the fence. A
chase ensues in which the bunny Is
always winner by a large margin (the
steward keeps a watchful eye for acct
dcnts) and the dog returns to his doze
after a few feints at the pigeons, who,
by the way, are not at all afraid OF
him. At sunset the owl arrives from
nowhere in particular. He roosts on
top of the creaking sign that advertises
the sole of gasoline and oil. The cat
SITS aboard the Swan and contemplates
thu owl The owl returns the compli-
ment. The pigeons chuckle from their
roost Within the club house may be
heard the conversation of the steward
to the dog. A rat seated on the rock
rip-rap nibbles at something flshed
from thu dark water A mouse scurries
across the dry grass stubble, there is
q terrified squeak, Anoiseless shadow