Last week we told you about Uncle Artford's dog Yardstick.. The three legged fox hound which was the best foxhound in the county despite only having one back foot and a neck so stiff he couldn't bend his head down to the ground when he was trailing a fox.

We told you about his tragic death when he froze up on the inside and busted.. Well for the two or three people who read and enjoyed that story we don't want to leave you sad and wondering what happened after that.

I am glad to report that it all had a happy ending. Uncle Artford still had his other foxhounds... Mangy, Wormy, Lazy and Draggy.

Uncle Artford was really surprised when Mangy had a litter of nine puppies. He had never paid that much attention, but was shocked because he had always just assumed that Mangy was a boy dog.

Well as it turned out old yardstick was obviously the daddy of the puppies.. and had marked them well.. All nine of them had one back foot missing at birth and all nine of them were also stiff-necked just like yardstick..

Uncle Artford took the pick of the litter and sold the other eight to fox hunters all around the county who wanted some of that stock of dog.. He named his new pup Yardstick the second, but just called him junior for short, and he turned out to be just as good as his old daddy had been.

In fact Uncle Artford had to stuff cotton in one side of his nose to stop him from running two foxes at the same time...

Well, all the other puppies grew up to be the pride and joy of their new owners. For many generations to come, a-four legged fox hound was seldom seen at their Friday night fox hunts.. The four legged ones just couldn't compete with that yardstick line of dogs..

As far as I know they still use those three legged dogs around Needmore.

Now does this all sound like a big Lie to you? Well I have been assured by none other than Brother Herb Leftwich, pastor of Wolf Creek Baptist Church and an avid fox hunter himself, that if you are talking about fox hounds it' ain't lying, so I will just take his word for it.. You do believe all this don't you.... grin. My God loves me in spite of all my shortcomings and he loves you also. May God bless you really good.. No, you don't have to believe about old yardstick if you don't want too. It seems a lot of folks have a little trouble believing his story... smile.

I am in revival at West Main Baptist in Alexandria Oct. 12-17. Y'all come