lost and starving dogs found in the street, were
temporarily received and cared for; and that
this place was open to the visits of the public.
I determined to repair thither at once. It is a
good thing for the dogs that they are sent to
the Home, for assuredly they would never find
their own intricate way there. On being landed
from the Favourite omnibus, I made several
inquiries, and at last found myself in Hollingsworth-
street: a pleasant locality, which would
have been pleasanter had there been less mud
and more pavement.

I looked around, but saw no sign of dogginess.
At last I succeeded in fixing a red-faced
matron who was cuffing her offspring, and of
her I inquired, as civilly as might be, if she
knew where the Dog's Home was situated?
Following this lady's directions, I crossed the
road, and soon found myself at the gates, when
a sharp little lad, so soon as he heard my
business, ushered me into the Home.

A big yard, at the opposite end of which I
see a block of kennels with a wirework fenced
show-place outside, very like that appropriated
to the monkeys at the Zoological Gardens. In
this, a crowd of dogs, who no sooner see the boy
accompanying me than they set up a tremendous
howling. Not a painful yelping, nothing
suggestive of hunger or physical suffering; but
simply that under-toned howl which means,
"Take me out and give me a run." Dogs of all
common kinds here, but nothing very valuable.
"Mongrel, puppy, and whelp, and curs, of low
degree." Big dogs, half-mastiff, half-sheepdog,
bastard Scotch and English terriers, in all
instances with a cross of wrong blood in them;
one or two that ought to have been beagles, but
seemed to have gone to the bad; several lurchers
looking as if they ought to have had a poacher's
heels to follow, and a grand gathering of the
genuine English cur: that cheery, dissipated,
dishonest scoundrel, who betrays his villany in
the shiftiness of his eye, and the limpness of his
tail: who is so often lame, and so perpetually
taking furtive snatches of sleep in doorways: a
citizen of the world, and yet a single-hearted
brute, who will follow any one for miles on the
strength of a kind word, and who, when kicked
off, turns round philosophically and awaits some
better fortune.

Comfortably housed are all these dogs, with
plenty to eat and drink, and a large open space
where they are periodically turned out for
exercise. I asked whether the neighbours did not
raise strong objections to the proximity of the
Home? I was told that at first all kinds of legal
persecutions were threatened, but that, as time
passed, the ill feeling died away, and now no
complaints were made. The dogs, who are
invariably rescued from starvation, are so worn out
on first reaching their new abode, that they
invariably sleep for many hours as soon as they
have taken food, and, on recovering, seem already
accustomed to their quarters, and consequently
indisposed to whine. All the dogs of any standing
look plump and well fed; but there are two
or three new comers with lacklustre eyes and
very painful anatomical developments. I
carefully scrutinised them. all. There were about
eighty. Alas, Pincher was not among them. He
might come in, the boy said; there was many
pleacemen bringin' in what they'd found in the
night; my dog might come in yet; hadn't I
better see the lady and talk to her? I found
"the lady" was the originator of the Home,
living closely adjacent; and from her I obtained
all the particulars of her amiable hobby.

The Home for lost and starving dogs has now
been in existence more than three years. The
establishment was started by the present
honorary secretary: a lady who had for some time
been in the habit of collecting such starving
animals as she found in her own neighbourhood,
and paying a person a weekly sum for their keep.
After explaining her plan in the columns of
one of the daily newspapers, she received warm
assistance, and the co-operation of the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals having
been obtained, the Home entered upon its
present extended sphere of usefulness, and boasts a
large number of annual subscribers. Its object
will be gathered from the following

RULES AND REGULATIONS.

1. Any dog found and brought to the Home, if
applied for by the owner, will be given up to its
master upon payment of the expenses of its keep.

2. Any dogs lost by Subscribers and brought to
the Home will be given up free of all expense.

3. Any dog brought to the Home, not identified
and claimed within fourteen days from the time of
its admission, will, by order of the Committee, be
sold to pay expenses, or be otherwise disposed of.

4. To prevent dog-stealing, no reward will be
given to persons bringing dogs to the Home. The
Committee would hope that, to persons of ordinary
humanity, the consciousness of having performed a
merciful action would be sufficient recompense.

5. Accommodation is now made for the reception
of dogs belonging to Ladies or Gentlemen who may
wish to have care taken of them during their absence
from home.

Ladies and Gentlemen finding lost or starving
dogs in the street, at a distance from their own
residences, are recommended to arrange with some
poor person, for a specified remuneration, to convey
them either to the "Home" itself, or to a receiving
house. The money should on no account be given
to the bearer of the dog beforehand, or only on
production of a certificate in this form:

Temporary Home for Lost and Starving Dogs.
The Bearer has brought                    dog to the Home.
                                                         ———, Keeper.
    Date

It is scarcely necessary to say that when the
scheme was first mooted it shared the fate of
many other good schemes, and received violent
opposition. People who would have left the
wounded traveller and passed by on the other
side, declaimed loudly against showing humanity
to dogs, while human creatures were starving;
and some humorists pleasantly asked whether
there was to be a home for lost and starving