﻿BILLY EGG. 293 



own. One day this farmer gave Billy a newly laid goose's egg, 

 thinking it might make him a good meal, and be something of a 

 dainty, and as a sort of return for an act of good nature and watch- 

 fulness on Billy's part ; he, having noticed that a certain gate lead- 

 ing to the kitchen garden had been left open, took the precaution to 

 close it, thereby preventing the incursion of a greedy sow and her 

 interesting family, which undoubtedly would have played the part 

 of the Goths in that flourishing spot. It is very likely that Billy's 

 first impulse was to boil the egg and eat it ; but a moment's reflec- 

 tion convinced him that such conduct would be very like that of 

 the boy in the fable who slaughtered the goose that laid golden eggs. 

 But how to hatch his egg, for this was what he thought of, became 

 now the question. The good woman of the house noticed that Billy 

 was unusually silent at supper, and thought at first that some disas- 

 ter must have happened. She learned, however, that the cow had 

 her bed of customary soft heather, which it was Billy's pride to pick 

 for her, and had been as carefully attended to as usual in every par- 

 ticular. We ought to mention that Billy was a great favorite with 

 his mistress ; and perhaps he had won her heart by the care and at- 

 tention he bestowed at every spare moment on one of her little ones, 

 who was a very sickly, fretful child, but who, somehow or other, 

 was always most quickly pacified by Billy. ' She soon learned the 

 cause of his thoughtful silence, and kindly offered to remove two or 

 three eggs from under a duck which was then sitting, and give their 

 place to her cow-boy's single treasure. This was the foundation of 

 William Carter's fortune ; and it is worthy of remark, that both the 

 gift of the egg, and the opportunity of hatching it, he owed to acts 

 of thoughtful good nature on his own part. 



In due time the gosling appeared, and Billy fed it from his own 

 scanty fare, taking it with him when he was herding. By Christ- 

 mas it became a large fat goose, and its owner was offered half a 

 crown for it. But he had a higher ambition for it than this, and he 

 was not to be tempted from his purpose by the prospect of present 

 gain. The following spring he set her on twelve eggs, which she 

 had herself produced, and by and by twelve goslings appeared. Our 

 hero was now obliged to exercise some ingenuity in finding food for 

 so large a family of dependents; but he accomplished his end by 



