Ralph,  Just goes to show how little you know about Vermont farmers.  Dad
either got the bucket of tar at an auction or at the grain store on sale
for little or nothing.  He had, still has, all kinds of stuff that, "might
come in handy sometime."  He did all his own repairs, building as well as
mechanical.  Probably wouldn't meet preservation standards but preserved
us, our home and Dad's meager income.

I didn't say they "let" me play with it.  I was not supervised closely on a
farm with much acreage.  I remember putting a ball of tar in the pocket of
my pants and couldn't get it out so I cut the pocket off and no questions
were ever asked as no one knew the pocket was missing.

I had a great childhood.  Ruth





At 8:31 AM -0500 2/6/03, Ralph Walter wrote:
Ruth,

I wouldn't expect you to have your own, unless Da was a roofing contractor.
Does seem rather strange to me that they'd let you play with the stuff
(even the just-warm-in summer stuff, as opposed to the boiling stuff from a
kettle) from a can.  Pretty sticky and messy and hard to clean off for
anybody, much less a little girl.

No doubt you had better things to occupy yourselves with than toys. My
mother (the South GA farm girl who moved to Los Angeles and married the
Hebe) once said that when her mother came from GA  to visit us in CA, that
Granny was horrified (well, less than approving, ) that we had so MANY
toys.  Could explain a lot of things about Mrs. Ralph Seniorette.

Ralph

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Ruth Barton
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Westminster, VT

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