Mission High School - Mission Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

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MISSION HIGH SCHOOI The Uutloofe f5'O77'l Our Tower I 9 I

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THE MISSION Flickering Fancies There are pungent scents from flowers exotic, Following the spice laden sacrifice To ancient gods Within an ivory tower There are palace gardens, Languid in the twilight's hush, There are prayers sighed upon Eastern winds- The entrancement of Oriental Night. The bewildering curl of incense, Leading onward Into a Persian temple. The corridors that wind away Into ancient mysterious legend, The glitter of gems through The perfumed dusk, Mysterious echoes filled with Flower voices, A Hurry of timid feet, Jeweled and belled, Float silently across the carpet Of Lotus blossoms, Pale crushed flowers, sweet With dew. ' SHELAGH GOLDIE L 8 l

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THE MISSION Antics of an Antique He was an even-tempered gentleman. One of that vast army of insurgents who deem it a moral crime to purchase more than one new suit every five years. His bald head, fringed with wisps of gray, was set at an angle that expressed good humor. Van Winkle brows rose bushily above his eyes which seemed to effervesce with shrewdness. His nose was the one misscast feature of his countenance. Thin and sensitive, it some- how produced a look of false aristocracy on an otherwise common-place face. A mouth suggestive of humor and persistence set above a chin which merged into another chin. That double chin was his Waterloo. He answered to the name of Aleutian Adams, A. D. C. The A. D. C. he explained to everyone, stands for Aide de Campf' Having served in the war with Spain when a boy he considered it his right to continue the use of that title. When asked for whom he had A. D.C.'d, he merely shrugged his shoulders and answered something very unintelligible. His verboseness on the subject was in- exhaustible. Bly family tree dates back to the beginning of time. Adam is the oldest name in existence therefore it should be respected. I, he would speak with great emphasis at this point, am the direct descendant of the original Adam. But, it was this way. Our family away back became so large and so famous that my ancestors decided to change the name from the original Adam to Adams. The plural of that name seemed much more appropriate than the singular. After ending the recital on the importance of his surname he would consent to relate the history of his given name. My great uncle sailed the Pacific in his day and he was a great sailor. Once he ran across the Aleutian Islands. A bare, bald rock juts out into the sea on one of them .So some Russian called them the Aleutians, which means 'bald rock.' The name kind of struck his fancy so, when he came to port, there I was wait- ing for a name. He called me Aleutian because, he said, the name just fit me. He had reached that stage of life where his position was established. Too old to be young and too young to be old, he was ready for the unexpected. Nothing could or would surprise him. If an object of rare beauty and unestimated value reached him, he accepted as a sign of the approval of Fate upon him. He never pursued an antique. The indifference which he either assumed or naturally possessed toward these articles caused his customers to trust him implicitly. Having reached this indeterminate age, he also was old enough for set opinions and ideas. The ties of his youth bound him safely to traditions and customs of the past. He closed the shop at six each night as he had done for the preceding twenty years. At the brink he stood where 'forty years is the old age of youth, while fifty is the youth of old age.' Aleutian Adams, A. D. C. met the world sitting down. Just as Mohammed came to the mountain, the world came to Aleutian. He sat behind the counter of his Antique Shop and bargained, borrowed, loaned, gossiped and traded with all who entered his domain. Here he was king. His word was law. I10l