Uncle Joel Sparks and his hound, Muse Submitted by Kay Mason Uncle JOEL= [SPARKS], as his neighbors called him, always kept a pack of skinny hounds - said they ran better when in thin flesh, and he and the boys were ardent fox hunters. I knew no other hounds in our neighborhood and the farmers= wives were careful to keep their kitchen and smokehouse doors shut, as these hounds went searching for food after a hunt and would eat anything they found. Mother kept a close watch at our house. Like the traditional hunters, Uncle JOEL [SPARKS], had his favorite hound and no hunt was complete until this hound had taken part in it. One day he had invited his neighbors to a >log rolling= in some new land he and his boys were clearing and while the men were at the noonday meal the well known sound of hounds in chase of a fox was heard. As the sounds came nearer Uncle JOEL [SPARKS] could sit at the table no longer and so went out in the yard and paced forth and back with his ear cocked his ear to catch every note, which was music to him - and as he walked he was eagerly talking about >Muse,= his favorite. In imagination I can see him - with his long hair cut square at the bottom in the old fashion way and blowing in the wind - as he repeated over and over, >By God, Muse is ahead, boys, listen to her talk to it= >She=s the best damn hound in the world.= While the excitement was mounting every minute suddenly Uncle JOEL=s [SPARKS] pride and joy were brought low and dragged in the dust for his son JOHN [SPARKS] suddenly called out, >Pap, here=s old Muse asleep under the bed,= and proceeded to drag her out to view. Poor Uncle JOEL [SPARKS] was a long time living that down - and >Muse= was forever disgraced.@ Kay Mason USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format or presentation by other organizations or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or his legal representative and then contact the listed USGENWEB archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store this file permanently for free access.