While taking a shortcut across town, I saw a grey haired old farmer selling vegetables from the back of his battered pickup truck....Skin burned mahogany by the Tennessee sun, battered old straw hat perched on the back of his thinning hair, he was having a great time selling his extra garden "truck " and visiting with people there under that big shade tree...It reminded me of the Peddler men who used to travel the dusty roads where I grew up , come summertime..... My ' favorite ' memory of this vanished breed happened when I was about 4 years old....It was laundry day at our log house over near the Thompson Creek bottoms, and the fire was burning hot under the old wash 'kittle '...We had drug up dead limbs from the edge of the wood, set the kittle legs in some tin cans scrounged from somewhere so we could build a fire underneath it to heat the water laboriously drawn from the well...The wash tub was settin' on the chopping block, scrub board waiting for Mama to slather on some of her home made lye soap and scrub the dirtiest spots of our clothes... We were all around behind the house , each doing our part, no matter our age, when I spied Peddler John walking around the corner of the house ...I started backing silently away from him,eyes big as saucers, probably, and set right down in a foot tub of water ! After making sure nothing was hurt but my dignity, and everyone had got through laughing, the peddler spread his pack out on the back steps and showed Mama his treasures... thread, beautifully colored hair bow ribbons, needles, etc. I remembered it as being like a blanket roll but Mom said it was like a box that opened up...must have had several 'wings' that folded out, with things hooked on to each one . He made regular rounds , walking those dusty country roads, toting that box on his back...I remember him as being all dark..... hair, hat, 3 piece suit, and even his skin....darkened by the sun .I don't think he could speak much English , and have read that they were Jewish , and had stores in places like New York City that they worked in during the Winter months...Some people let peddlers stay overnight just to hear them tell what all they had seen, but our parents were never that trusting...I do so wish they had.....Who knows what wonderful tales he could have told ? I also remember an old man in an A model sort of car who came around when we lived at the Jones place...One of the things he sold Mama was Folgers coffee in a glass jar with a small top, and later on we could buy special flats and rings so they could be used for canning food......In the very top of the jar was a donut shaped gum drop type piece of candy, large as the jar, just about....He also sold pencils and paper, needles , thread..candy and such...... The very last Peddler man I can remember was when we lived with Ma that short while after Daddy died...One of Aunt Mildred Winchester's brothers..Dan Owens, I think, drove what was called a "Bob" truck around with candy , groceries ,etc. I remember Mom getting him to bring a sack of feed one time, and he put it on his shoulder and toted it up to the house...Mama told us his leg creaked toting that 100 pound sack up the steep bank because he had an artificial leg...old war wound , probably....We were most impressed with his strength...He could furnish a much larger line of groceries and special orders in that truck, but nothing could match the intrigue of Peddler John ! I wonder to this day what we missed by not inviting him in to eat supper with us and letting him spend the night on a "Baptist pallet !" Jeannie T ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.