I had completely forgotten the bit about mercury-coating silver coins like dimes, quarters and (yes they were commonly used!) half dollars (the walking liberties or the new Ben Franklins). Left kind of a white frosting on the surface. Made them toxic, of course, which we didn't know and so we cluelessly circulated them. That would be so illegal today. Of course, it took dentists nearly fifty years to stop using mercury in dental amalgams!

Asbestos: all the hot water and steam radiator piping in our apartment building was covered in asbestos, as was the coal furnace where you burnt your household garbage in the winter. Of course, as kids, we swung from those pipes down in the basement where we played both winter and summer in Chi town. Kicked up so much asbestos dust when one of our thrown darts or balls impacted those pipes. Should be dead from mesothelioma several times over.

Suddenly another chemistry-related life experience pops into mind from back in the day. Back then the old wheat back pennies were made of bronze (95% copper with a 5% mix of tin and zinc) and could be shrunk to the size of a dime with nitric acid and used in vending machines of the day. One lunch period at my Catholic high school I tried using one of my shrunk-down pennies in the soda vending machine (the old type that mixed a dollop of flavored syrup with carbonated water in a paper cup) and was caught in the act by the priest on patrol as the penny kept being rejected by the device (must have been slightly off in size or weight). I could have been expelled for that offense, but the guy let me go. Probably used to do the same himself.

Another amusing thing about the old bronze pennies was, though you could never bend them between your fingers (far too strong), you could perfectly replicate the effect by slamming the penny down flat on a smooth surface. It was so warped that it couldn't be wrapped into the coin rolls commonly used (still used, though coin usage itself has become absolutely trivial).

Back then a penny was actually worth something. There WERE actual penny candies you could buy at actual "candy shops" (long extinct). There WERE actual five and dimes (aka "dime stores") where the products only cost that much. You could send a first class piece of mail across the country (and to some foreign countries) for three flippin' cents! But your paycheck, even for many in middle management or college-educated tech workers, was well under 10K--usually more like 5 or 6K in the mid-50's to early-60's. My engineer father gave me the advice to become a college chemistry professor rather than a high school science teacher because "they make as much as 10 grand a year!" Today that's a poorly paid month. Ah, memories!

"We always had a Benediction at the end of each troop meeting."

We stood in a circle, in the center of which was a lit candle, with our arms around each other's shoulders. We sang taps.

"Day is done,
Gone the Sun
From the lakes
From the hills
From the skies.
All is well
Safely rest
God is nigh."

Very moving.

Then we all raised our right hands in the Scout salute towards the middle of the circle and said

"And now may the Great Master of all good Scouts be with us till we meet again."