If only it could speak

In a day or two we will be able to move back into our hallway after its redecoration. So this morning I spent time giving the hall chair a thorough polish with beeswax.
This chair was given to Normous by an elderly aunt who lived in a cottage near Evesham. When it came to us it had plywood tacked onto the seat but the holes were there underneath from previous caning so we had it reseated. As I polished it today I thought about its previous use in a country kitchen. Scratches on the seat from a farmhand's rough trousers? Worn smooth arms from his labourer' hands? Maybe my imagination was running away with me, but it is certainly the case that this chair has been a comfortable resting place for a variety of people over its at least 200 year history. What stories it could tell.