----
Just a common Wild Goose of North America. In the spring and fall you will
see great flocks of us flying overhead, an old Gander in the lead, crying
_honk, honk_ as loud as he can. Our nests are only simple hollows in the
sand, on the shores of lakes and rivers, around which are placed a few
sticks and twigs, the five eggs laid on a layer of gray down.
"You're a Goose."
That's a polite way some people have of calling another stupid, but there
are Geese and Geese as well as men and men. I am going to tell you about
one Goose that dearly loved her master, and considering the way he treated
her you may conclude she _was_ a stupid Goose after all.
Well, this particular Goose took such a fancy to her owner that she would
follow him about like a dog, even to the village, where she would wait
outside the barber's or other shop which he might enter.
People noticed this, and instead of calling the farmer by his proper name
began to speak of him as "Mr. Goosey." This angered the man and he ordered
the poor loving Goose to be locked up in the poultry-yard. Shortly after he
went to an adjoining town to attend a meeting; in the midst of the business
he felt something warm and soft rubbing against his legs; he looked down
and there stood his Goose, with protruding neck and quivering wings, gazing
up at him with pleasure and fondness unutterable.
The people about shouted with laughter, which so enraged her master, that
seizing his whip, he twisted the thong of it about the poor bird's neck,
swung her round and round, and supposing her dead, angrily threw her body
out of the window.
A few days after Mr. Goosey was seized with a severe illness, which brought
him to the verge of the grave. He recovered, however, and was able at
length to sit beside the open window. There on the grass sat the Goose
gazing up at him with the same old look of affection in her eyes.
"Am I never to be rid of that stupid thing?" he cried, but when he was told
that through all his illness the faithful bird had sat there opposite his
window, scarcely touching food, his hard heart melted, and from thenceforth
Mr. Goosey treated his feathered friend with the greatest kindness.
[Illustration: CANADA GOOSE.]