ROAST GOOSE.
One morning when in camp in Kentucky, as we were walking up the color line, on which the guns were stacked, we saw under a stack of guns in front of company G's quarters, a dead gander. As we passed along we reached down and grabbing the gander round the neck, kept on. We got to our company with our prize in safety, and hunted up the captain's darkey, and promised him a dime and a piece of the gander, if he would cook it for us. He accepted the proposition and took charge of the bird. In a short time we were ordered to fall into line for company inspection. The right of the company rested on a big pile of logs that were making a splendid fire. As the order to "right dress" was given, we cast our eyes to the right, and lo! and behold! there stood the captain's darkey with our gander. Elevating him by one leg, he would hold him over the fire until the heat would compel him to change, when he would hold him by the other, every once in a while jerking him up, and pinching pieces of the flesh out with his fingers, and eating it to see if it was cooked. He had not half picked it, and the gander looked very much as if it had received a coat of tar and feathers. At times the darkey would get tired holding, and then he would rest himself by placing the fearfully mistreated bird on top of his wooly pate. I kept watching him, taking a peep at him as often as I could. At last I nudged the fellow next to me, he looked and saw, and nudged the fellow next to him. Then the captain, seeing that something was going wrong, happened to turn his eyes in the same direction, also. There stood the darkey, as black an one as ever we saw, looking reflectively into the fire, with the mutilated gander perched on his wooly head. It was too much for the captain, even; he smiled, and then for a moment we all laughed, but the darkey was driven away and order restored. I never knew what became of my gander, nor did I care, after having seen him treated in such a manner, but if our memory serves us right, some of the boys made a raid on the darkey after inspection was over, and captured what was left of it.