he discovered this old toy tractor, covered in who knows how many years of dust and dirt, squirreled away there. We went online and referenced the only available evidence the toy provided for us, "Arcade Toys" and "McCormick Deering," and the best we could determine is that the tractor is missing a nickel plated farmer holding a steering wheel that fits onto the long shaft protruding up at an angle from the tractor, and that the cast iron toy was manufactured and sold between the 1920s and the 1940s.But I couldn't help but wonder who hid it up there and why. Was it a father punishing a misbehaving child, convincing him with a bluff that toys not put away are thrown away; was it a mean child hiding the toy from a sibling; was it perhaps a selfish child beset by the turmoil of relatives moving into the house protecting his assets from curious cousins' hands; in any case, forgotten for eternity? Or, just maybe, was it a previous owner who had spent the best years of his life in this house, perhaps coming of age here, who, upon setting out into the world on his own, couldn't bear to separate the two old friends and hid the toy in his old home's guts in hopes that they'd never be separated?
Did whoever put it where it was found ever as an adult think back to this toy and wonder whatever happened to it? Or worse, did that person ever think back to it and realize that, when the family moved, he forgot it up in the floor joists above the basement where he hid it?
Is this person even alive today?
Whoever you are, we found your toy, and we think it's just the neatest thing. If you show up on our doorstep and ask for it back, we would gladly give it to you.
dassall
5 comments:
That's a really cool find! My wife and I own a couple of old houses (one is 115 years old), and I always wonder about the workmen who built them. What were their names and histories? Who was it who plastered the walls in the master bedroom, for instance. What did he look like? That sort of thing.
I haven't seen one of those tractors in years! My grandfather had one that my dad played with, and when he never had any grandsons, he gave it to me. That, a few photos, and a Holly Hobbie watch are all I have left of the far too few years I got to spend with him - he passed when I was 5.
That's an amazing story, and a great find. Makes you wonder about the history of other items you find. I have that thought process whenever I go into a vintage store or a thrift shop. Who wore that wedding dress. or did it ever even make it down the aisle? Who rocked whom in that chair in the corner?
I'm just full of questions today!
Claire
That is a totally cool find! I handed my collection of Matchbox and Hotwheel cars down to my son in hopes that they'll get handed down again. D'oh! Stupid nastalgia!
That's not stupid - that's human nature. We all want to know we left our mark, that we left something behind, that we'll be remembered when we're gone. Family heirlooms is one way to try and achieve that immortality the human body won't allow...
I left my mark. I pooped in the courtyard of Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago at 3:00am one Saturday night.
Nyuk, nyuk!
But seriously... M.T., you HAVE left your mark. It's your child(ren). When you're gone, as long as someone remembers you or has stories to tell about you, you still live. Sponsor in your children an interest in genealogy, and you, your parents and grandparents will live on forever. I resurrected memories in my father that he hadn't thought about in years, just by investigating my roots.
dassall
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