Most tractors have one seat, which you might think would impede two, three or four people from riding on one at the same time. It doesn't. Safety on a farm, in most regards, is a relative term. Is riding the fender of a tractor safe? Most folk would say no, most definitely not, in fact it is rather dangerous. In my experience riding the hub is not particularly dangerous. I'm not saying it's as safe as being strapped into the back of a Motor Trend top safety pick sedan, but I never got ran over by a tractor, nor did my brothers, or anyone else I know. Well I did actually know of a couple old boys who got ran over by a tractor, but the circumstances were different from what I'm talking about here.
So when you're a little one on the farm and the old man is headed out to grind feed or put a bale of hay out for the cows or do something else that you can tag along for you ride on the tractor with him. My dad had this old IH Farmall tractor for the bulk of my youth...
As you can see it's got nice big flat topped fenders. Ideally designed for someone to sit comfortably, though a tad precariously. This is another one of those instances that everyone has, in which you do something and never realize what someone outside your community might find odd or dangerous or whatnot. You always realize there is a bit of danger to it, even as a little kid. Mom and Grandma, or whatever motherly entity might be around at the time, tells you to hang on tight before you even leave the house to chase after Dad. Once you're situated up on the tractor the old man reminds you to hold on. And you do, until you get the hang of it of course.
Very quickly you find you're able to balance pretty well as you're cruising down the road. Then you start exploring your bounds, well at least as much as you can perched atop an eighteen inch wide piece of sheet metal. You don't hang on at all, you're reckless and you ain't gonna fall. Below you there's this massive tire speeding around and around, it's thick tread a blur, and you hang your foot out in front of it. Tentatively you ease your foot toward it and as it makes contact your foot is sent jittering away from the tire. For an eight year old that's fairly exhilarating. Then you reach out with your hand; that hurts, not bad, but it isn't pleasant.
The other main tractor around the farm was grandpa's old Ford.
Accommodating passengers wasn't quite as easy with old blue. Basically you just stood right next to whoever was driving and tried not to accidentally bump into one of the many levers. Unlike the IH, Ford seemed to design their tractor to discourage passengers. Which forces you to consider another option.
On the Ford and also with the International, once there were 3 potential passengers, me and my brothers, you could catch a ride by standing on the drawbar (the little metal tongue on the back that you attach stuff to the tractor by, for those who might not be automatically familiar with the term 'drawbar'). This position was rather dangerous no matter how you saw it. You're standing on a four or five inch wide piece of slick metal, while clinging to any handhold you can manage. Granted you're behind the tractor so if you fall off you won't get run over, unless of course you're pulling a wagon or some other sort of heavy equipment. Odds are you are pulling something, sorta what the damn tractor is for. Even here though you temp fate. You'll lean down and drag one foot along the ground with the tractor going at top speed.
A sort of point I'm wanting to make here is that there are few occupations that might thrust your child into a somewhat dangerous situation, simply because that's the way it is. Riding around on the tractor was a fun thing for me to do as a kid, it'd be a fun thing for any kid. And that opportunity for me to tempt fate by dragging my foot across a tractor tire going 20 mph, wouldn't exist if the old man was a bank manager. Now I suppose there could be fun things for an 8 year old to do if they tagged along with their bank manager parent to work, I don't know what those things are though. My dad's office was a barn yard, to put it in the simplest terms, and a barn yard is a fun and somewhat dangerous place for a child. I reckon mom and dad could have denied me and my brothers the fun of riding around on the tractor, but going back to an idea I hit on in an earlier one of these stories you learn on the fly. You watch dad drive the tractor for a few years, perched on the fender, then one day he wants you to get behind the wheel. And guess what you're a natural at it.
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