This was the foundation
of William Carter's fortune; and it is worthy of remark, that both
the gift of the egg, and the opportunity of hatching it, he owed to
acts of thoughtful good-nature on his own part.
In due time the goslin appeared, and Billy fed it from his own scanty
fare, taking it with him when he was herding. By Christmas it had
become a large fat goose, and its owner was offered half-a-crown for
it. But he had a higher ambition for it than this, and he was not to
be tempted from his purpose by the prospect of present gain. The
following spring he set her on twelve eggs, which she had herself
produced, and by and by twelve goslins appeared. Our hero was now
obliged to exercise some ingenuity in finding food for so large a
family of dependents; but he accomplished his end by bartering away
three of them, in exchange for permission that the remainder 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.
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