In a message dated 8/6/99 1:00:58 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> Oh, and also I noticed, from the back, some original plaster squished
through
>  the wooden lath (one of the few walls in the house that had survived) with
>  the customary "horsehair" binder.  Was it really horsehair?  Was horsehair
>  better than some other animal hair?   (Oh no, cats again!!) How did they
>  glean the horsehair?

One of my friends, in his efforts to amuse the preservationist of the 21st
century, has used golden retreiver hair as a binder.

And anyone who has owned a golden retreiver knows that there is an unending
supply of hair.

-Heidi