"OLD JOE" 305 



succeeded him, Joe still keeping his office as first 

 whipper-in. 



When Mr. Parkin gave up keeping hounds Joe 

 went to live with a clergyman at Little Salkeld, and 

 whilst there he married. He soon left the service 

 of the clergyman after his marriage and took a 

 sub-contract on the Carlisle and Maryport Railway. 

 This proved remunerative, and with the money he 

 made he commenced a horse-dealing business at 

 Carlisle, dealing principally in coach horses and 

 post horses. When increasing railway accommoda- 

 tion interfered with this trade he took the Willow 

 Holme Flour Mill in partnership with a Mr. F. 

 Simpson. But he always had a keen yearning to 

 get back to hounds, and when he knew that Bob 

 Cowen, his old chief, who was now huntsman to 

 the Cumberland Hounds, which were kennelled at 

 Newtown, was sorely put to it to keep things going 

 on account of scarcity of funds, he threw himself 

 into the work with his characteristic energy, and 

 whipped-in as an amateur, and in many other ways 

 helped to keep the game alive. 



Matters had come to a low ebb, and the game 

 was nearly up when Captain Ferguson took the 

 country in hand, and foxes being scarce, he fre- 

 quently hunted the carted deer. This was a game 

 quite to " Old Joe's " liking, and he was wont to 

 rattle on in front on an old white horse rejoicing in 

 the name of The Curate, and it took a good one 

 to catch him. After carrying the horn for five years 

 Captain Ferguson gave up, and it was then that 

 Mr. Tom Salkeld, of Holm Hill, took hold. Joe 

 was on his promotion as huntsman, and it is not 

 going too far to say of master and man that they 

 were both " characters " in their way. On one 



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