My pony, “Shadyside Ranger” arrived July 29th. It was a rainy day but mamma hitched her driving horse to the farm wagon and drove to the depot and as she came down the street everyone was saying “Oh see, the dear little pony going down to the Towers Farm.” They all knew where he was going because so many know mamma and then the wagon was Mr. Towers’. Well, to say I was pleased is putting it small. I just hugged and kissed the darling. He was so tired that when he got out off the crate he just walked for a long time round in the big box stall.
Well my pony is about three years old and he weighs around 300 pounds. He is chestnut and white and nice and gentle. Lots of people have come down from the city to see him and everyone is delighted with him. “Ranger” comes into the house and eats off the table and makes himself at home as much in the house as he does in the barn.
“Ranger” is a foxy little fellow, for the door to his box is held shut with a wooden button and we put a nail over the button so it wouldn’t get out in the night, but he has learned to reach out and pull the nail and turn the button and walk out, so we have to put in a different fastening and he will turn the button around but can’t understand why the door won’t open for him. Now, if anyone has a brighter pony than “Ranger,” I would like to hear from them and papa has taught him to kiss, shake hands and is now teaching him to stand on a box – and he learned all this in less than two months. “Ranger” has the run of the farm and he always makes for the clover piece and then out to the orchard for apples.
I send my love to the children who have been lucky as I and will ask them all to be as kind to their darling ponies as I am to mine.
I am a very happy little girl, just six years old when I won “Shadyside Ranger.”
by Charlotte (Massachusetts)
[From 1907 to 1918, the Webb Publishing Company hired children to sell subscriptions to The Farmer’s Wife magazine. Some of these children, due to their exceptional salespersonship, were awarded the grand prize. The grand prize was a Shetland pony, along with a saddle and bridle.]
Farmer’S Wife Pony Club. (1915)
Lucky Pony Winners. St. Paul, Minn., Webb publishing co. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/15018654/.