I don't know if Dale never sent me this tune, or if I lost it. I see that the lyrics in the Digital Tradition are a bit "off," so I'll post a corrected version here and get a MIDI done eventually.
The Great Database in the Sky says that this song is on a Rounder CD by Marvin Gaster called Uncle Henry's Favorites. The Database also says that I own this CD, but I can't find it.
-Joe Offer-

AN OLD LOG CABIN FOR SALE
(Words and music by Mrs. J.W. Payte)

While strolling alone in the country,
Reviewing the scenes new and old,
I found an old fashioned log cabin,
So beautiful there to behold;
A stranger was standing in silence,
His eyes firmly fixt on the door,
My heart ached in pity to see him,
For these were the words that it bore:

CHORUS
'Mid pleasures and palaces,
Tho we may roam,
Be it ever so humble,
There's no place like home;
A charm from the skies
Seems to halo us there,
There is no place like home,
There's no place like home.


A welcome I read on the floor mat,
An old braided rug by the door,
The hands of an angel had made it
With many a prayer prayed before.
In an old rocking chair, long she waited
For one glimpse of him how she yearned,
And now he was standing in silence
Too late, yes, too late he'd returned.

CHORUS

How long has it been since you've written
A letter to mother and dad?
How long has it been since you've seen them?
O why don't you make their hearts glad?
Too soon will the old home be vacant,
A candle light gleaming no more,
Don't wait till too late to remember,
There may be a sign on the door.

FINAL CHORUS:

And the sign read "An old log cabin for sale,
An old oaken bucket and well"
Easy terms, just keep a log on the fire each day
And a light burning bright in the dell;
Many years an old couple so patiently looked
For a boy whose last promise did fail,
Now the old rocking chair will be rocking no more,
"There's an old log cabin for sale."

Copyright 1939, by Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing

from Alfred E. Brumley's Book of Radio Favorites


Recorded by Porter Wagoner
@country @home
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JRO