Tood's Town XVI

Corncob Harry had a farm about a half mile west of Tood's Town. Corncob was unique in a couple of respects. First, as far as I know Corncob Harry never drove an automobile into town. His mode of transportation was a vintage Ford tractor with a small trailer in tow.

Whenever Corncob Harry came to town he was more likely than not to be the subject of a prank. Often, the young guys in town would put a smoke bomb on his tractor. Corncob would fire up his tractor and there would be small explosion followed by lot's of smoke. Sometimes, the explosion would break a spark plug. Calmly, Corncob would dismount his tractor, remove the offending bomb, and drive away. As far as I know, Corncob never retaliated for the vandalism practiced on his tractor.

The second unusual aspect of Corncob Harry's life was his interest in, what else, corncobs. At least several times a week, and maybe everyday, Corncob Harry would take his tractor and trailer to the Cairo Elevator and fill the trailer with corncobs. The trailer was relatively small about 4' by 6' and had 4 or 5 foot side boards to increase the quantity of corncobs he could haul on each trip.

He used the corncobs as fill for a low wet lot behind his barn. I don't know if he ever gained any ground on the wetness, but he certainly hauled an incredible quantity of cobs from Tood's Town.

Dillard Farnsworth