of the gander, and said it was a stupid creature, and
could learn no tricks, and he only kept it on account of its affection
for the pony. He had got them both on a Vermont farm, when he was
looking for show animals. The pony's master had made a pet of him, and
had taught him to come whenever he whistled for him. Though the pony was
only a scrub of a creature, he had a gentle disposition, and every other
animal on the farm liked him. A gander, in particular, had such an
admiration for him that he followed him wherever he went, and if he lost
him for an instant, he would mount one of the knolls on the farm and
stretch out his neck looking for him. When he caught sight of him, he
gabbled with delight, and running to him, waddled up and down beside
him. Every little while the pony put his nose down, and seemed to be
having a conversation with the goose. If the farmer whistled for the
pony and he started to run to him, the gander, knowing he could not keep
up, would seize the pony's tail in his beak, and flapping his wings,
would get along as fast as the pony did. And the pony never kicked him.
The Italian saw that this pony would be a good one to train for the
stage, so he offered the farmer a large price for him, and took him
away.

"Oh, Joe, I forgot to say, that by this time all the animals had been
sent off the stage except the pony and the gander, and they stood
looking at the Italian while he talked. I never saw anything as human in
dumb animals as that pony's face. He looked as if he understood every
word that his master was saying. After this story was over, the Italian
made another bow, and then told the pony to bow. He nodded his head at
the people, and they all laughed. Then the Italian asked him to favor us
with a waltz, and the pony got up on his hind legs and danced. You
should have seen that gander skirmishing around, so as to be near the
pony and yet keep out of the way of his heels. We fellows just roared,
and we would have kept him dancing all the afternoon if the Italian
hadn't begged 'ze young gentlemen not to make ze noise, but let ze pony
do ze rest of his tricks.' Pony number two came on the stage, and it was
too queer for anything to see the things the two of them did. They
helped the Italian on with his coat, they pulled off his rubbers, they
took his coat away and brought him a chair, and dragged a table up to
it. They brought him letters and papers, and rang bells, and rolled
barrels, and swung t