348 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
cleaning, and trussing it for roasting, rub it all over (inside 
and out) with coarse kitchen salt; then put into the bird’s 
inside two large handfuls of salt; get a basket woven loosely 
enough at its bottom to let the salt drop through into a pan 
put underneath ; hang up the bird thus prepared in a cool place 
over the pan to catch the salt, and let it remain like this for 
three days; then before cooking wash the Goose thoroughly 
from the salt, and all the coarse, fatty material comes away in 
the water, whilst the bird’s flesh will prove as tender, and 
delicate as that of a turkey. The male Goose is known as a 
Gander (and a ‘‘ Goosey Gander ”’ means a blockhead); young 
Geese are Goslings, which are called green Geese until about 
four months old; these were formerly eaten with raisin, or 
crab-apple sauce. Kate Wiggin, in her Diary of a Goose-girl, 
recounts certain characteristics of the bird. “As to going to 
roost, ducks, and Geese, unlike hens, whose intelligence prompts 
them to go to bed at a virtuous hour of their own accord, have 
to be practically assisted, or, I believe, they would roam the 
streets until morning. Never did small boy detest, or resist 
being carried off to his nursery as these dullards. young and 
old, detest, and resist being borne off to theirs.” 
“ An ortolan is good to eat, 
A partridge is of use ; 
{ But these are scarce, whereas you meet 
At Paris, ay! in every street, 
A goose! ” 
And yet, as saith an old proverb, “ A Goosequill (pen) may be 
more dangerous than a lion’s claw;” though “le moineau en 
la main vaut mieux que Voie qui vole.” ‘A sparrow in the 
hand is worth more than a goose on the wing.” 
During the days of middle England, Goose was eaten pickled 
with cloves, and ginger. The fowl is rich in fat. “ This fat,” 
as Lemery taught (1674), “eases the piles; and those parts 
of the body which are troubled by rheumatism should be rubbed 
therewith.” As is commonly known, sage and onions are the 
usual condiments for stuffing a Goose. That the use of apple- 
sauce with roast Goose is an old custom can be proved by a 
reference to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: “Thy wit is a 
very bitter sweeting ” (7.e., a sweet apple) “it is a most sharp 
sauce, and is it not well served with a sweet Goose?”’ In the 
fourteenth century a Goose was often stuffed by Italian cooks 
