The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1902-11-26
Woo1ly Wisp
By John Horald Hamlin.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
THE mere fact that he was a sheep
aapzsquss1n.sessau1

THE mere fact that he was q shee,
gave him woolly reputation. HI
had not always focked with Virginia
denizens, yet he lived there when tha
place reeked of wild, western life, ant
the sheep seemed not at all out of his
| element on the gay Comstock Lode
i Woolly was derelict, a lone Ianl
when first he entered Virginia's pre-
cincts, abandoned by a careless shep
/ herd and pursued by coyotes into the
very heart of that bustling mining
camp. The miners were just chang
ing shifts when the lambkin darted
down c street, night shadows threw a
| gloom abroad, and the diminutive, fit
ting white object mystifed the miners
| as they troopef homewards. One
| thiek-tongued individual shouted out
sLook att, boys! sTis will O. wisp!'
The "wisp" bleated pitifully, and the
merry men laughed loudly as they be-
held timid lamb. "Not viii o. wisp,
Slimps, but a decidedly woolly one,
mani"
In such fahsion did the sheep come
by his name, and from that date
Woolly Wisp played a privileged role
claimed him. He was public prop
erty, and consequently Woolly's
bringing up lacked a certain proper
ton OF home influence so essential
to the proper training of young things.
The first real wicked deed Woolly en-
acted endeared him to the whole bevy
of school children. If the sheep had
reasoning powers, one would be in
clined to believe he maliciously
planned his-assault against Prof. Wig
site, principal of the Virginia schools.
The principal adhered to the rod"
motto, and the pupils hated him much
and feared him more. Prof. Wigstie
was partial to tan shoes; he cared not
what style they were so long as the
color cleaned yellow. His most recent
acquisition in shoe leather made glad
his heart-a glaring saffron shade, and
soles that squeaked in minor key,
thus attracting not only the eye but
the ear as well.
- Woolly Wisp stood in a side street
one bright morning. The hang of his
head bespoken dejectedness; a bat
tered tin can, suffixed, explaining his
bad mood. Woony frequently ratified
tin-ware through the precipitous
streets on Mt Davidson's slopes. It
always ruffled his temper, which was
pretty average bad at its best. While
brooding in this ugly state CT mind, a
tall, spare man with wildly yellow and
noisy shoes adorning his pedal extrem-
tiles squeaked by in ms solent eomplai-
sance. Woolly stamped his foot; the
can clattered behind him-of he went,
not like, but in reality, a battering
ram. Prof. Wigstie sprawled quite
across c street. Many of his irrepres-
sible pupils gathered about the fallen |
owner of yellow shoes and lost dignity. /
Woolly Wisp tarried n OF, but continued~t
on his career at a rafting pace.
After that star performance of the |
sheep, no youth in any OF the Virginia
"cliques" ever again attached things
to his tail. He was, in their eyes, a
creature to be revered as the hero who
"downed" the terrible Wigstie. In such
guise Woolly commanded all due re-
spect from the younger generation, and
his future popularity was assured SIM
ply by that one daring act.
Woolly wasn't a traditional lamb, for
he never ventured near the school
house. The truce established between
himself and the school children oc-
Cured at a too recent date to carry any
weight with him. He distrusted impul-
sive youth, and many times he betook
himself to the outskirts of Virginia
City that he might be entirely out of II
sight and hearing of rough youngsters.
Prof. Wigstie lived near the towns
.dge, in a house that looked three sto- r
lies high, front view, and a mere shed, J
back Niew.- The steepness of the side I
ill site accounted for this disparity. I
The small front jard biazed with big
and brilliaz4t dahlias. I J
Noolly ad nii.ed this rare garden-spot, ]
nd forced an entrance one luckless I
.fternoon. The professor, returning
rom school, espied the trespasser;
lis wrath fared forth, and he bore i
own upon the sheep in a frenzy. '
Voolly realized that safety lay in
light, and he Immediately took that t
curse. Away went pedagogue and
am, careening down the mountain. S
It a moment when the race seemed E
ost to Prof. Vigstie, dire calamity /
efen Che pursued. An old mining t
haft, partially obscured by. sage a
rush, yawned directly in the sleeps i
ash. Fe disappeared down its black e
epths. 10 sign, 10 sound could Prof.
Vigstie. detect of the ingulfed tor "
lent. /,
..Good enough! That blasted beast r
a hoodoo, and it's good riddance of f
MS petted Woolly Wisp." "
The removing of the $500, 1000 a
,orth of silver and gold from the b
cart of Mt. Davidson necessitated a t
onderful amount of excavation. To b
ny that the whole mountain is honey '
ombed is plain statement of truth. S
force of men picking in tortuous a
rift heard a muffied ba-a, ba-a. They
.opped work; caught the sound again, "
i'd, with few strokes of picks, broke a
trough into an old shaft. Rather an n
sheep met their t.
I, /