If Tucker's grandparents where like mine, they would have shoved all the old family stuff under the eaves of the attic. When Grandpa Bryson sold the family's sesquicentennial farm, Grandpa told my husband, Bill, "Throw all that junk away, but keep the cobbler's bench. It was my great-uncles." Well, Bill didn't through any of it away; but, yes, the cobbler's bench was very special. Bill re-enacts the roll of the cobble for special events at the Forks of the Wabash, an historic site here in Huntington.
In the blurry picture, you may be able to see the boot last on the far left to which Bill had demonstrated applying leather. In the middle are additional spacers so the boot could be made wide enough to not bind but to fit any size leg. Other shoe lasts are on the bench. Our "What's this?" are three more boot lasts.
If you found something like these in your attic, what would you do with them? Perhaps the entire bench, including the wooden pegs, were there, resting for years where the roof meets the attic walls. Draw a picture of the shoes you might design. They could be like Tucker McBride's old clodhoppers or they may be a modern design. You decide.
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