St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-03-29
CONCERNING THE GOOSE
The Somewhat Exalted Position It
Holds in History.
1t Was . Goose That Once Saved Rome
The English Goose Industry .
Thing Of the Past-SOme
Odd Stories.

Thing Of the I'ast-SOme
Odd Stories.
The goose figures largely in the his
.ory, the legends, and the proverbial
lore of our own and other lands. In
ancient Egypt it was an object of adOra-
ton in the temple and an article Of diet
on the table. The Egyptians mainly
took beef and goose flesh as their anima |
> food, and it has been suggested that
they expected to obtain physical power
from the beef and mental vigor from the
goose. To support this theory, it has
been shown that other nations have
eaten the flesh of wolves and drunk the
blood of lions, hoping thereby to become
fierce and courageous. Some other ma
tions have refused to partake of the hare
and the deer on account of the timidity
of these animals, fearing lest by eating
their flesh they should also partake of
their Characteristic fearfulness and
timidity.
Pliny thought very highly of the
goose. saying that one might almost be
tempted to think these creatures have
an appreciation of wisdom, for it is said
one of them was a constant companion
Of the peripatetic philosopher Lacydes,
and would never leave him, either in
public or when at the bath, by night or
by day."
The cackling of the goose saved
Rome. According to very old story. the
guards of the city were asleep. and the
enemy taking advantage of this, were
making their way through weak part
of the Notifications, expecting to take
the city by surprise. The wakeful
geese hearing them, at once commenced
cackling, and their noise awOke the
Romans, who soon made short work OF
their foes. This circumstance greatly
increased the gratitude of the Roman
citizens for the goose.
We gather from the quaint words Of
an old chronicler probable solution of
the familiar phrase, TO cook ones
goose" 1.-The kyng Of Swedlan6'-sO
runs the ancient record-'cOming to
towne of his enemyes with very little
company, his enemyes, to slyghte his
forces. did hang ont goose for him to
shoote; but perceiving before nyghte
that these fewe soldiers had invaded
and sette their chiefe houlds on fire,
they demanded of him what his intent
was, to whom he replyed: To cook your
goose.
In the days when the bow and arrow
were the chief weapons of warfare, it
was customary for the sheriffs of the
counties where geese were reared to
gather sufficient quantities of feathers
to wing the arrows of the English army.
Some of the old ballads contain refer
ences to winging the arrow with goose
feathers. A familiar instance is the
following:
"Bend all your bows" said Robin Hood;
'And with the gray goose wing.
such sport now show as you would do
In the presence of the King"
To check the expectation of feathers
. heavy export duty was put upon them.
The goose frequently figures in En-
glish tenures. In poem by Gascoigne,
published in 1875, there is an allusion to
rent-day gifts, which appear to have
been general in the olden time:
And when the tenants come to pay their
quarters rent,
They bring some fowle Mt Midsummer, dish
of fish in Lent,
At ChristmassS n capen, and at Michael
masse goose.
A strange memorial custom was kept
DIP at Hilton in the days of Charles III.
An image of brass. known as Jack Of
Hilton, was kept there. I'm the mouth"
we are told, WAS little hole just large
enough to admit the head of pin; wa
ter was poured in by hole in the back,
which was afterwards stopped up" The
figure was then set on the fire; and dur
ing the time it was blowing of steam,
the lord of the manor of Essington was
obliged to bring a goose to Hilton and
drive it three times round the hall-fire.
he next delivered the goose to the cook;
and when dressed. he carried it to the Ia
BILE and received in return a dish of
meat for his own mess.
In bygone times, Lincolnshire was . |
great place for breeding geese; and its |
extensive bogs. marshes and swamps |
were we'll adapted for the purpose. The |
drainage and cultivation of the land |
have done away with the haunts suita- |
Die for the goose: but in large measure
Lincolnshire has lost its reputation for |
its geese. Frequently in the time when |
geese were largely bred. one farmer |
would have a thousand breeding-geese.
and they would multiply some seven
fold every year. so that he would have
under his care annually some eight |
thousand geese. He had to be careful |
that they did not wander from the par
ticular district where he had right to 7!
allow them to feed, for they were re-
garded as trespassers. and the owner
could not get stray geese back unless he |
paid a fine Of twopence for each Of
fender.
Within the last fifty years it was
common occurrence to see on sale in the
market-place at Nottingham at the
Goose Fair from fifteen to twenty thou
sand geese, which had been brought
from the fens of Lincolnshire. A street
on the Lincolnshire side Of the town is
called Goose-gats