174 
GEESE. 
Sunday to church by a Gander, taking hold of her 
gown with its hill ; when she had seated herself, it 
retired to graze in the church-yard till she came out 
again, when it led her home. One day, the clergy 
man called at her house, and, expressing his surprise 
to her daughter, that her mother should venture 
abroad, she replied, — Oh, sir ! we are not afraid of 
trusting her out of our sight, for the Gander is with 
her.” We frankly own, that so strange and impro- 
bable do the above stories appear, that we should 
neither have inserted , nor paid them the slightest 
attention, had we not the following testimony to their 
credibility, for the accuracy of which we can vouch ; 
and deeply do we regret, that a better fate did not 
await so extraordinary a bird, which, under more 
intelligent observers, might have afforded oppor- 
tunities of ascertaining the extent of so unusual a 
development of affection. 
A farmer in Cheshire possessed a flock of Geese, 
one of which, at the end of about three years, 
without any apparent cause, began to show a 
peculiar partiality for its master. It first appeared 
on the bird’s quitting its companions in the barn- 
yard or pond, and stalking after him. These symp- 
toms became daily stronger, and in a short time, 
wherever the farmer went, whether to the mill or 
the blacksmith’s-shop, or through the hustling streets 
of a neighbouring manufacturing town, the Goose 
was at his heels. So perse veringly did it follow his 
steps, that if he wished to go out alone, he was 
under the necessity of fastening up the bird. 
The farmer was in the habit of holding his own 
plough, and on these occasions, the Goose as regu- 
