WILD WOOL 



man but for sheep, and that, however deficient 

 as clothing for other animals, it is just the thing 

 for the brave mountain-dweller that wears it. 

 Plain, however, as all this appears, the quan- 

 tity question rises again and again in all its 

 commonplace tameness. For in my experience 

 it seems well-nigh impossible to obtain a hear- 

 ing on behalf of Nature from any other stand- 

 point than that of human use. Domestic flocks 

 yield more flannel per sheep than the wild, 

 therefore it is claimed that culture has im- 

 proved upon wildness; and so it has as far as 

 flannel is concerned, but all to the contrary as 

 far as a sheep's dress is concerned. If every 

 wild sheep inhabiting the Sierra were to put 

 on tame wool, probably only a few would sur- 

 vive the dangers of a single season. With their 

 fine limbs muffled and buried beneath a tangle 

 of hairless wool, they would become short- 

 winded, and fall an easy prey to the strong 

 mountain wolves. In descending precipices 

 they would be thrown out of balance and 

 killed, by their taggy wool catching upon 

 sharp points of rocks. Disease would also be 

 brought on by the dirt which always finds a 

 lodgment in tame wool, and by the draggled 

 and water-soaked condition into which it falls 

 during stormy weather. 

 No dogma taught by the present civilization 

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