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the third slightly chipped, but showing no 

 sign of life. 



Not having outlived the amateur's desire to 

 cosset every feeble spark of life, I carried 

 the egg down to the house, held it over a 

 steaming kettle to soften the dry, hard shell, 

 which I gradually chipped off, revealing an 

 apparently lifeless, under-sized gosling, which 

 I subjected to a combination of steaming and 

 baking until, just as effort was about to be dis- 

 continued in despair, it kicked a feeble, 

 die-away sort of kick certainly, but it stimu- 

 lated my desire to save its life, which was 

 eventually granted; but the result was such 

 a miserable-looking object for weeks, that, 

 had it not been for the odd, intelligent per- 

 sonality of the poor little w 7 retch, I fear its 

 existence would have been summarily cur- 

 tailed. 



It persisted in continually waddling after 

 me, squatting down suddenly at my feet as 

 soon as I came to a stand-still, and looking 

 up with a comically satisfied expression which 



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