﻿294 PICTORIAL MISCELLANY 



bartering away three of them in exchange for permission that the re- 

 mainder should feed in his master's yard until they should be old 

 enough to pick up their subsistence in company with their mother 

 and the cow upon the common, and indulge in swimming there in 

 the abundant pools. At the proper time he sold the young geese 

 for the largest sum he had ever seen in his life ; for, though to have 

 kept some of them might have proved an additional source of profit, 

 he knew that he had only accommodation for one to hatch, A por- 

 tion of his money he gave to his mother, but he placed a one pound 

 note in the safe-keeping of his kind mistress, and when spring again 

 came round, he bought a year-old heifer, which he sent to graze on 

 the mountains, paying a small sum, the remnant of his money, which 

 he had reserved for this purpose. Old goosy again presented him 

 with young ones, the sale of which enabled him to purchase fodder 

 for his cow, when she was sent home at the end of the season. 

 And now he built a little shed for her with fir sticks from the bog 

 and heather sods, so that perhaps she was better cared for than 

 many a rich man's cow. We may be pretty sure, however, that 

 Billy never neglected his master's business to attend to his private 

 affairs, or he and his wife would not have encouraged him in his 

 plans, as they evidently did. It is not worth while to follow the de- 

 tails of the good fortune of the industrious little fellow, or to declare 

 precisely how he dealt in cows and geese. It may be enough to say, 

 that at the end of six years he quitted servitude, a richer man than 

 ever his father had been, on which occasion he presented the venera- 

 ble goose to his mother, to whose necessities and comforts he had for 

 some time constantly contributed. So soon as he was comfortably 

 established in the world, he married, but not till he had provided a 

 neat cottage for his parent, who had the happiness to enjoy for many 

 years the prosperity of her son, and who lived to see the poor cow- 

 boy a man among the most respected and esteemed in his native 

 country. 



" And so, you see," said the old apple-woman in conclusion, " it 

 is a foolish thing to despise small beginnings. Thrue as I am tell- 

 ing it ye, this is how Mr. Carter got the name of Billy Egg 

 though, d'ye see, he never was called Billy Goose no, never." 



