The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1909-08-04

didn't guess anything but that it was
mighty foolish goose.
The next day when Ezra went out
to sit on the soap kettle and mourn
for Is or 20 minutes up came the
goose! This time it had feather in
it's bill, too. So it sort of aggravated
Ezra. A white goose feather is no
sort of thing to hand to a man that
is in deep mourning. 1t is a light and
cheerful sort of thing and might be
looked at as an insult, and Ezra chose
to look at it that way. He turned to
the goose and spoke to it quite sharp
ly. But the goose just looked up at
him with sad, patient eyes and stood
right where it was, but on the other
foot from the one it had been standing
on. So Ezra said he saw plain enough
that he couldn't mourn in peace there,
and he got up and went away, and the
goose went right along with him. 1t
followed him all around the block, and
down Main street, faithfully holding
out the feather for Ezra to take, and
when Ezra couldn't stand it any loE.
ger and went home and into the house
| stood on the door step with uplifted
feather. 1t stood there all night.
But 1t was just as faithful as ever.
and at daybreak it waddled out to the
| woodshed and plucked another feath-
| er, and when Ezra came out, there
| was the goose with two feathers in its
bill Ezra saw he couldn't mourn in
peace on the soap kettle, and he had
reticence about wandering around
| Betzville followed by a goose with its
bill full of feathers, so he just locked
himself into the house and stayed
there.
| That night it was colder than ever.
and the goose mourned all night, and
in the morning it was plain that its
spirit was entirely broken, as well as
that it had extremely acute rheuma-
tism in the feet. 1t waited outside UNI
til 1890, and then it hobbled slowly
toward the woodshed, and when 1t was
nearly there its attention was attracted
by a noise next door. The noise was
Uncle Ashdod Clute wringing the
neck of a chicken. AS soon as the
goose saw that, and how easy such
death was, it made up its mind, and it
| reached up with one foot and grabbed
| itself by the neck. 1t did it's best,
poor thing, but the rheumatism was SO
bad it had no strength in it's foot, and
it couldn't wiring it's own neck. Ezra
Claggin was up in the garnet moping
around, and he happened to look out
of the window and saw the goose, and
all he felt at the sight was pleasure.
The goose saw Ezra, too, and gave
him one last reproachful look, and
then STREET he'd out it's neck full length,
bent it around so it could get good
grip on it With it's BILL held it fast.
and whirled it's body around until it
had wrung it's head off.
At that very minute Ezra ran across
the little pile of feathers Fluenza had
been saving up, and all at once he UNI
derstood everything, and he rushed
down to the yard, but too late! There
was the goose in one corner of the
yard, and it's head in another, and in
it's bill the two feathers, showing It
was faithful to the last. Ezra looked
at his watch and saw it wa2 just
y. m, and then he sat down on the
soap kettle and wept, and for every
three tears he shed for Fluenza he
shed one for the goose, regularly, all
afternoon, until the SIM set, and then
he went indoors and kept on shedding
until bed time in the same ratio.
Copyright, 1903, ty w. G. ChapmanI