Parson Goodhue and the Wild Gander. [Page 105].
In walking over the island and climbing the fence, the good man had so exerted himself, that a large fold of shirt appeared, and hung over the waistband. The gander came up to him, put his head very gently against him, took hold of it, and, while the attention of the minister was directed to the goslings and the tame goose, filled his mouth with the cloth; at length, having with the utmost gentleness obtained a firm hold, the gander suddenly spread his great wings and began to thrash the minister about the head and face, with the force of so many flails. His cocked hat was knocked off in an instant; the wig followed suit. Blinded and confused, he jumped back, falling prostrate upon his back: he was now at the mercy of his antagonist, who, with the knobs of horn on his wings, inflicted blows upon his face and bare scalp, that drew blood at every stroke, the wild goose seconding the efforts of her mate by viciously nipping his legs and hands.
His screams were heard by Sally, who, deceived by the apparent good nature of the gander, had gone to the house to see to the baby. She threw her shawl over the gander’s wings, and seizing him by the neck, choked him off, and thrust him into the pen made for the tame goose to sit in, then assisted the parson to rise.
He was indeed in a sorry plight; the blood was streaming from his face and scalp, his clothing was soiled by the impurities of the yard, his face covered with straw and feathers which the wings of the gander had flung over him, and that stuck in the blood. The wild goose, with that strong, sharp bill, with which they will pull up eel-grass by the roots, had torn holes in the black silk stockings, and even torn the skin beneath.
Sally was affected to tears by this wholesale desecration of the person of one she had been accustomed from infancy to look up to with reverence. The wig, which had been the great object of her veneration, and the cocked hat were trampled under foot by the parson in his first attempts to escape. This, indeed, was no trifling matter, as the wig could only be dressed and curled once a year; and for this it was necessary to go to Boston, and it took a professional hairdresser a whole day.
The good man, however, was much less disturbed than Sally, and after he had been put to rights by her and Sally Merrithew, took quite a cheerful view of the matter, affirming, that though Paul passed through many perils, he much doubted whether he had ever been in peril by a wild gander.