STEEP TRAILS 



appears to be in a state of change. In the 

 course of my examinations of the wild fleeces 

 mentioned above, three fibers were found that 

 were wool at one end and hair at the other. 

 This, however, does not necessarily imply 

 imperfection, or any process of change similar 

 to that caused by human culture. Water-lilies 

 contain parts variously developed into stamens 

 at one end, petals at the other, as the constant 

 and normal condition. These half wool, half 

 hair fibers may therefore subserve some fixed 

 requirement essential to the perfection of the 

 whole, or they may simply be the fine boundary- 

 lines where an exact balance between the wool 

 and the hair is attained. 



I have been offering samples of mountain 

 wool to my friends, demanding in return that 

 the fineness of wildness be fairly recognized 

 and confessed, but the returns are deplorably 

 tame. The first question asked is, "Now truly, 

 wild sheep, wild sheep, have you any wool?" 

 while they peer curiously down among the 

 hairs through lenses and spectacles. "Yes, 

 wild sheep, you have wool; but Mary's lamb 

 had more. In the name of use, how many wild 

 sheep, think you, would be required to furnish 

 wool sufficient for a pair of socks?" I endeavor 

 to point out the irrelevancy of the latter ques- 

 tion, arguing that wild wool was not made for 



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