Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1905-08-17
BUYING A FARM.
How Col. John Hay Got an Adjoining
Estate.

The following incident was published
recently in the Maiden Evening Mail,
Maiden, Mass, concerning q for
mer weli-known resident OF Ran
dOlpb, who removed 10 Maiden, one OF
B0sion's beautiful suburbs, in 1874. Mr.,
Howard makes a frequent pilgrimage 10
Randolph 10 visit his relatives and friends
and is always Ioath to return 10 the city.
He hopes, however, that sometime he can
again take up his home in this vicinity,
where his boyhOOd was spent.
a widely-known real estate agent OF
this city for more than . years reeites a
very pleasant business experience with the
late Hon. John Hay.
at seems that several years ago, Col.
Hay, through the Maiden agent, secured a
strip OF land to s%traighten his own estate
from the main road 10 the waters Of Lake
Sunapee. About three years ago, the
agent received a letter from Col. Hay, say
ing that there was a farm adjoining his
property which he was very anxious 10
buy. His own agent had for several years
been negotiating with the owner, who, at
first. put the price Of his property at 5000.
By the time this price had been reported
/ to Col. Hay and the agent had again re-
turned to the owner OF the farm, his price
had advanced to 500 J. These negotia-
tions were repeated until finally the price
OF the farm had risen to siCc1.
sAt this stage Of the proceedings Col.
HAY wrote TO the Maiden agent and added,
II you can buy this farm at a reasonable
price, ! will give you a substantial check
in addition to any commission you may
receive from the owner
.Ihe agent Immediately began a cores
pondenee with the owner Of the farm, but
the answers came back rather discourag-
ingiy. Upon reporting them to Col. Hay,
he wired back. Better drop the whole
matter; evidently nothing can be done at
present However. with the usual per-
s~istency Of a real estate man, the Maiden
agent took he next train for Lake Suna-
pee. When above Concord, learning that
the owner Of the farm was on the train
just returning from a Democratic conven-
ton In that city, he promptly began TO
talk business with him. Upon arriving at
the station, they found that the team had
been delayed, and consequently had an
uphill walk Of " and a half miles. The
two men kept up the conversation all Of
that distance, stopping at nearly every bar
at each rise OF the land to continue the ar
gument, and at last arrived at their desti-
nation fully three hours late.
"The following morning the Maiden
agent appeared at The Fells,' Col. Hays
summer home, and after the preliminary
remarks, the agent said, Il oppose, Col.
Hay, you are still anxious to secure that
farm II you can buy Il at the right price 2
To which inquiry Col. Hay replied, Ger
tairly, l shall be glad indeed to have you
secure It for me-
at took about all Of that day to com
plete the trade, but at 5 O'Clock, the agent,
having had no dinner, again arrived at
Col. Hays home with the m-uch-coveted
agreement, greatly to the surprise OF Col.
Hay, who thanked the agent several times
in q manner which showed his extreme
pleasure.
1T is perhaps needless TO say that a few
days later the promised check came inside
OF a copy Of Col. Hays poems, with the
following inscription written on the ini-
tial page:-'To Charles w. Howard, with
the compliments OF John Hay