I checked out the 'blob' of stuff on the steering tube today. I was able to peel it off and it appears to be an old glob of rubberized body sealer. Underneath was a perfectly round little hole, it's original purpose is unknown to me, maybe someone else with more experience will know why it's there.
I agree that it would be very helpful to see some detailed pics of a factory steering tube exiting the firewall of a stick shift car if anyone out there has any. I've searched on the net and really can't get a good close-up pic of this area other than to identify that my cars setup is apparently like ones originally built to have an automatic transmission.