Woolly Wisp

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 374, 9 July 1903, Page 8

Woolly Wisp

By Jfthn SorsJd laall*. |

THE mere fact that he waa a shaep gave him a woolly reputation. Ha •ttd not always flocked with Virginia's aVanirens, yet he lired there when that plans feeked of wild, western life, and Oh* tfcaep seemed not at all out of his ■feasant on the gay Conistock Lode. aToelly waa a derelict, a lone lamb ehatc first he entered Virginia's prefloats, abandoned by a careless sbepberd and pursued by coyotes into the vary heart of that bustling mining •nap. The miners were just changing shifts when the lambkin darted down C street, night shadows threw a gloom abroad, and the diminutive, flit* sing white object mystified the miners *e they trooped homewarda. One •hick-tongued individual shouted out: '%oek at it. boya! Tis a will o' wiap!" . The "wisp" bleated pitifully, and th* tnerry men laughed loudly as they beheld a timid lamb. "Sot will o' wisp, laUmpa, but a decidedly woolly one, awn!"

In such fahsion did the sneep come by his name, and from that date Woolly Wisp played a privileged role •n Virginia's circles. No one person alalined him. He was public proparty, and consequently Woolly's brtavging up lacked a certain proportion of home influence so essential to the proper training of young things. The first real wicked deed Woolly enacted endeared him to the whole bevy «f school children. If the sheep had reasoning powers, one would be inclined to believe he maliciously planned his assault against Prof. Wigatie, principal of the Virginia scboole. The principal adhered to the "rod" TBotio, and the pupils hat-ed 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 gleamed yellow. His most.recent acquisition in shoe leather made glad tola heart —a glaring saffron shade, and soles that squeaked in a minor key ; thus attracting not ontr the eye but the ear as well. Woolly Wisp stood" In a side street one bright morning. The hang of his bead bespoken dejectedness; a battered tin can, suffixed, explaining his bad mood. Woolly frequently rattled tin-ware through the precipitous aTtreets on Mt. Davidson's slopes. It always ruffled his temper, which was pretty average bad st its best. While brooding in this ugly state of mind, a t»l!, spare man with vividly yellow and a'oisy shoes adorning his pedal extremities squeaked by in insolent complaisance. Woolly stamped his foot; the ««>n clattered behind him—off be went, sot like, but in reality, a batU ring ram. Prof. Wigstie sprawled « : iiite •cross C street. Many of his irrepressible pupils gathered about the fallen owner of yellow shoes and lost dignity. Woolly Wisp tarried not, but continued on his career at a rattlinsr pace. After that star performance of the •beep, no youth in any of the Virginia "oiiques" ever again attached things to his tail. He was. in their eyes, n creature to be revered as the hero who "downed" the terrible Wigstie. In such - guise Woolly commanded all due respect from the younger generation, snd his future popularity was assured limply by that one darinir act. Woolly wasn't a traditional lamb, for bo never ventured near the schoolhouse. The truce established between himself and the school children occurred at a too recent date to carry any ■ weight with him. He distrusted impulsive youth, and many times he betook himself to the outskirts of Virginia City that he might be entirely out of sight and hearing of rough youngsters. Prof. Wigstie lived near the town's edge, in a house that looked three stories high, front viaw, and a mere shed, back view. The steepness of the sidebill site accounted for this disparity.

The small front yard blazed with big

sunflowers and brilliant dahlias. ' Woolly admired th'u rare garden-spot, e.ad forced an entrance one luckless •fteraoon. The professor, returning from school, espied the trespasser; his wrath flared forth, and he bore down upon the sheep in a frenzy. Woolly realized that safety lay in flight, and he immediately took that coarse. Away went pedagogue and ram, careening down the mountain. At a moment when the race seemed tost to Prof Wigatis, a dire calamity fcefeii the pursued. An old mining•haf r . partially obscured by sagebrush, ya* r.ed directly in the sheep's path. He disappeared down its black depths. No sign, no sound could Prof. Wigstie detect of the ingulfed torment.

"Good enough! That blasted beast la a hoodoo, and it's good riddance of this petted Woolly Wisp." The removing of the 1700.000.W0 worth of silver and gold from the heart of Mt. Davidson necessitated a wonderful amount of excavation. To say that the whole mountain is honeycombed ia a plain statement of J riiih. A force of men picking in a tortuous drift heard a muffled ba-a, ba-a. They ■topped work; caught the sound again, and, with a few strokes of picks, broke through into an old shaft. Rather an emaciated-looking sheep met their surprised gazs. One of hia horns had been '..roktn off; ha appeared slightly saze J—but they recognized in him the mjsterioualy disappeared Woollv Wisp.

"Poor Woolly r Tou'ro a sorry aight, but we are right glad to sea you •gain." said Siimpa, ha who flrat di*. sovered this will o' wisp. It didn't take long to got the sheep out of his underground prison, nor did it consume much time for him to ra» afaia ait aortas! ajt%«tH.aaa.

j One Urea in Virginia city but a brief period ere one- learns that the wind f blows fiercely and frequently. JocuI lsrly termed Washoe zephyrs arc these " sweeping breezes that lift and cany tin roofs, capsize houses and* deftly ! pick box cars clear off the tracks. Prof. Wigstie was an imported teacher. His peculiarities were extremely at ends—that is, he adored yellow shoes, ss hereinbefore mentioned, and, although past 50, had luxuriant, curly, black hair. On a Sunday, soteral days after Woolly's rescue, the professor and his wife wera earning home from ohurch. The morning had dawned beautifully, so Prof. Wigstie took much pains with his toilet. Shoes a. burnished yellow, hair an oily mass of curls. A Washoe zephyr sprung snddenly out of the west, even as the congregation poured forth from the holy edifice. It blew and raged and rampaged with Tim. It twisted gowns »wry, and caught up an occasional hst, or kerchief, or loose wrap. Prof. Wigatie held on to hi* head-gear faithfully; abruptly turning a corner, he let go his hat, threw up his hands and shouted: "Sarah, Sarah, look at it! That demon of a sheep! Why he is a thousand feat—" The- sentence went unfinished. A boisterous gust snatched the profea- • or'a haV and .at first thought one would lussjnr his hair arose from { fright at tfco spectacle of Woolly -Wisp's gbost. Not so; his hair looked vaacharage—'twas falsa.' And there, la sight of the whole congregation. Prof. Wigatie stood, a hatleak, hairless individual; while his wig—Strang* •ataaidence that Wigatie should wear a wig—whirled gayly CB the wings of the wind. •*

"Hoodoo aheap! Hoodoo sheep!" The words ran through his mind and elipptd audibly over his tongue. Tba "hoodoo" sheep saw the tangled blsefc ball of hair rolling awiftly toward kiss, ■a j'nmped aside then in funny stifflegged l*ap* ha took after the object, lie tow ba-a, ba-a, accompanied every Jaaap. A jolly crowd of miners stepped out ad s saloon. They observed the detail* af the Sabbath atreet-show and bov they did hoot! Some one grabbed ii| the wig—with meek courtesy it wn returned to the dazed, chagrined ped:gogue. Prof. Wigstie silently -csolv? that vengeance should br his: th: tb&s ahaep aatd h* could not live peace tatty together hi Virginia City. *T* thought of shooting the beastno, that could not be; for the handlinw of pistol* alarmed him as much as his wielding of a strap terrified the scholars. "Poison! I'll lay it in my garder. leave the gate open and Woolly's appetite will do the rest."

That evening the professor saw the undaunted sheep eying his oasis-likt flower-garden. "Delays are dangerous," quoted Wigstie. oracularly, and ho quickly procured stryx-hnine and softly placed it here and there on the ehoicest plants. Owing to the dilapidated condition of the wind-tossed wig, the professor had ordered a new crop of hair. The same arrived late in the evening of this day on which Wigstie plotted against Woolly's life. Visitors happened to be at his house, a I'd he laid the package on his bureau without examining it. Mrs. Professor—a woman, and curious—opened the bundle, smiled approvingly and whi-pervd to herself: "Dear Henry, he has at last overcome his pride for his youthful looks. Bless his dear heart! This gray wig will be so becoming to him." She placed the wig on the stand where Henry always kept his hair, and quits forgot it» In the wee early hours of morning Prof. Wigstie awoke with a start. He listened apprehensively. Art" unusual pattering noise filled the room. He reached over in the dark and grabbed his wig, clapped it on his head, leaped out of bed and rushed to the window. He saw—Great Scott! —he saw Woolly Wisp multiplied an hundredfold! There were sheep in his garden; sheep racing down the street; sheep scattered all over the sidehill. What could it mean? Was he dreaming? He trembled as the word "hoodoo" flashed through his mind. Pale moonbeams flooded everything. They cast a ghostly pallor upon the sleeping, sheep-haunted city. Prof. Wigstie turned aside. A mirror stood in the niche by the faintly illuminated window. Horror upon horrors! Hit hair—his false hair—had actually turned white!

It is a wonder the man didn't go stark, staring mad. Hia wife tried to explain the miracles—but failed utterly. She did explain, though, to the trustees, why her husband could not attend to hia school duties; for he vanished completely, nor was he again aver heard of by Comstockers. afxa. Wigstie languished for a few »,_3ks in her lonely house. Several letters addressed to Prof. Wigstie arrived, among which she discovered one from the hairdresser who supplied bin; with hirsute furnishings. It read like an apology; a mistake had been made; his wig was sent to another party, and the other old man—received bis, the professor's, black curls. Mri. W—— shook her head, murmured something about "poor, puzzled dear" and silently wwpt.

When a .letter csme, shortly afterward, she cheered up amazingly; bads a few frienda good-by, and—it was rumored —joined her husband, who came to his senses, but could nut muster up enough courage to come' back to the scenes of his mortifying experiences with Woolly Wisp. Woolly, fickle creature, deserted his happy home and wandered off with the flock »{ sheep that passed through Virstreet* on the night of Wigatie's hallucinations.

Not knowing what became of Prof. VVigslic, we cannot say whether Woolly persisted in being his "hoodoo." or whether, which is more likely, he went the way of all ordinary mut-ton-sheep.—San Francisco Argonaut.