Concerning Cats 



ing the possible appearance of a claimant or owner ; 

 at the end of which time the animals are placed in 

 the " lethal chamber," where they die instantly and 

 painlessly by asphyxiation. In Boston, the Society 

 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have no such 

 refuge or pound, but in place of it keep one or two 

 men whose business it is to go wherever sent and 

 " mercifully put to death " the superfluous, maimed, 

 or sick animals that shall be given them. 



Captain Appleton's idea, however, was something 

 entirely different from this. These creatures, he 

 argued, have a right to their lives and the pursuit of 

 happiness after their own fashion, and he proposed 

 to help them to enjoy that right. He appealed to a 

 few sympathetic friends and gave two or three acres 

 of land from his own estate, near " Nonantum Hill," 

 where the Apostle Eliot preached to the Indians, and 

 where his iodine springs are located. He had raised 

 a thousand or two dollars and planned a structure of 

 some kind to shelter stray dogs and cats, when the 

 good angel that attends our household pets guided 

 him to the lawyer who had charge of the estates of 

 Miss Ellen M. Gifford, of New Haven, Ct. " I think 

 I can help you," said the lawyer. But he would say 

 nothing more at that time. A few weeks later. Cap- 

 tain Appleton was sent for. Miss Gifford had become 

 deeply interested in the project, and after making 

 more inquiries, gave the proposed home some twenty- 

 five thousand dollars, adding to this amount afterward 



190 



