How Farmer Found Perfect Place, Dr. Frank Crane, July 21, 1921

He Kept the Farm

Some years ago Dr. Frank Crane told a story in one of his editorials about a farmer who had become tired of his farm. He had lived on the place all his life. He was born there. When a boy he drove the cows in from the field, gathered apples in the orchard, swam in the creek, and carried his books across the meadow and through the woods-pasture to the little box of a schoolhouse down the north road.

As a young man he ploughed and harrowed in the Spring, made hay and bound oats in the Summer, and hauled fodder to the cattle in the Winter.

To the old home he had brought his bride. There his children were born that were now grown up and gone. He was sick of the place. He dreamed of some nice, quiet spot where conditions were ideal, where he could pass his declining days in comfort.

So he went to a real-estate agent in town and listed his farm for sale. The agent drove out and looked the premises over. He said he thought he would have no difficulty in finding a purchaser as the property seemed to be in fine condition.

When the farmer got the next week’s issue of his county paper he read the real-estate agent’s advertisement. It stated that the Perkins farm of 160 acres was for sale. It was all fertile. A crop failure had never been known. There were 40 acres of excellent timber, a good artesian well, plenty of pasture land, and a charming dwelling-house, with adequate barns, bins, and sheds. The place was well stocked with cattle, horses, pigs and poultry. It was of easy access to the city, and had telephone and rural free delivery advantages. Anyone looking for an ideal farm would do well to consult the agent at once.

The next day the farmer called at the agent’s office and said:

“Say, I read your advertisement of my place in the paper, and as near as I can figure that’s exactly the kind of farm I’ve been looking for. I’ll keep it myself.”

That's the way Dr. Crane tells the story. How much happier all of us would be if some clever advertising agent could write up our jobs, our homes, and our businesses, so that we could see them as others see them!

From the Roanoke-Chowan Times, Rich Square, Northampton County, N.C., Thursday, July 21, 1921.