68 PEEP AT OUR NEIGHBORS.

it. I knew of a whole flock of geese
once, who got as drunk as fools, eating
cherries that had been soaked in rum.
But nobody could ever make a single
goose in that flock eat such things after
that. They had been drunk once.
That was sufficient for them. What a
pity that all the members of the human
family did not profit by what they learn,
as these geese did by their knowledge.

But I am getting off on this “ wild
goose chase” too far, and I must come
straight back to the story.

The interior of our barn—and I am
not sure but the same could be said of all
the barns in our neighborhood—had on