The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1915-08-13
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, AUGUST IS 1915
A SELF-MADE FARMER AT FIF.
TEEN.

In the Interesting People" depart
ment Of the July American Magazine
appears ~ article about Melvin Spot
ford Hatch, fifteen-year-Old North
Carolina boy who AT thirteen bought a
farm with money that he himself
earned. What normal American boy
who is encouraged in thrift and en-
terprise can accomplish is described
in this article, an extract from which
follows:
"a young boy in the mountains Of
western North Carolina, Master Mel
vim SpOfford Hatch, bought small
truck farm on the outskirts OR the
town ut Hendersonville when Tx was
thirteen, finishing payment for II by
the time his fifteenth birthday had ar
rived, last September.
Thousands Of boys are as favor
ably situated as he is for doing the
same thing; it is only that they could
do it and he did it that makes the diff
ference His methods have not been
spectacular; he bears not the slightest
resemblance to the heroes Of various
popular boys books, nor has Tx been
spurred NV any dire necessity; he has
not been goaded into action in any
way Or required to drudge away his
boyhoOd; he has merely been given
sympathetic encouragement, and been
allowed to do his own thinking and
Planning and to reap his own reward.
ne fact that at fifteen he has achiey-
ed a success that might be enyied by
a full-grown man (and that without
the loss Of a single day at school or
the loss or too great a part Of his boy
lin pleasures il to be attributed To
three virtues that should b. common
place: thrift, industry, and good Judg-
ment.
THE purchase Of the farm was
handled in an entirely businesslike
manner. No fayors were given or
asked on either side. Eighty dollars
was the first payment, and mortgage
at the legal rate of interest was given
for the remainder of the purchase
price. The house was promptly rent
cd for five dollars a month, which
took care Of the interest and taxes
and left a small sum over toward the
payments On the principal. At this
rate. Nh farm would be nearly paid
for by the time he was twenty-one
without a single extra exertion on his
part, and all the money he earned
might be spent for baseball bats,
tickets to the moving picture shows,
and other things dear to the boyish
heart; some of it did 60 in these di-
rections, for, be it understood, he Is
real live boy; some Of it, too, went ia
a donation to the town hospital and To-
an orphanage, for he Il "a public-spir-
tied citizen Ill well a. good business
man; however, our hero of the COM
monpIace did not rest on his laurels,
but looked around for more oppor-
tunities.
las before said, the town was a
summer resort overf1owing with
boarding houses; it was also minus a
system Of garbage collection, SO the
landlady OF the nearest boarding
house Wa more than willing 70 fall
in with proposition To buy two pigs
fCr Melvin tO Keep On MI fathers
farm.
lin addition to being landed pro
prietor, Master Hatch has also a
steady income, acquired solely by mis-
own exertions, for he has a small
sum of money loaned at good interest,
as well as the steady rent of the
house, and, most hopeful sign, when
the country's needs are considered, it
it il evident that the siren song Of the
city will fail On deaf ears in coming
years, for the other day he said to hi
business adviser, his mother, I think
it would 5e good thing ii | were to
mortgage my land and buy more, %
! can be improving it and be ready to
make my living on it when / am
twenty-one. l ought to be able to get
it in good shape in the next six
years "