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

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MISSION HIGH SCHOOL His Antique Shop was known far and wide as the Mecca of all antique hunters. Rich matrons, shrewd collectors, stranded artists and business men all came to him for that one chair to complete the Mid-Victorian dining set, that old tapestry for the Conservatory wall, that rose-bordered tea-pot to complete the Vere de Vere collection, that ancient bracelet of Queen Mary of Scots, that collar of Henry the Fifth's hunt- ing dog, that arrow of William Tell's, that portion of sail from the Santa Maria. From his shop the searching collector always emerged satisfied. No matter how futile previous attempts had proven, there the hunter found his game. True the price might be more than bargained for, or the color might be Wrongg Aleutian would then point out the added merit of the purchase. The site for the shop had been chosen with Wise forethought. lts rustic surround- ings belied any suspected claim it had to newness. He had planned for the time when he would become sufliciently well-known in his work to be able to permeate his shop with that illusive quality of atmosphere that inveigles the curiosity of the treasure- seeking public. Having reached the pinnacle of its popularity, the shop did a thriving business. Set back from the road which rose to its highest elevation at the center, the shop was surrounded by a high-picketed, green fence artistically shaded to look old. The build- ing itself was nondescript. High, slanting roof and numerous windows, rickety door and crooked, brick chimney which extended from the ground clear up to its heavenly height above the shingles were its chief claims to convention. Inviting one to enter the threshhold was a ragged-edged sign, The Antique Shop, which hung above the door. Thus had Aleutian prepared atmosphere for his customers. Curiously enough, the shop was divided into two parts. Not that a distinct line of division was visible to the buyer. To the contrary, it looked entirely whole. But Aleu- tian knew enough of human nature to judge his customers. For the occasional experi- enced collector who came he had a store of truly priceless antiques. For the hunter who merely bought for the novelty of the thing he possessed a complete supply of manufactured antiques. Consequently, the unwary victims were satisfied and pleased with imitations. He suffered no qualms of conscience because of the delusion. Knowing that the collecting mania would die a youthful death, he displayed these manufac- tured antiques with those more scarce articles, genuine antiques. No one had ever been known to sell Aleutian an article which had not been worth the price he paid for it. A bargain made him suspicious. Fruits brought in on a silver platter are not half so tempting as those of the forbidden variety. This was the state of his mind when a seemingly friendly customer one day brought him word of an auction to be held in a near-by town. Aleutian listened, and with a bored shrug of his shoulders intimated that he did not waste his time with uninteresting trifles. The cus- tomer departed, Aleutian closed his shop with the sign, Gone for the Day, hung per- tinently on the entrance gate. Glancing around to see that he departed unnoticed, he hastened away in the direction of the near-by town. It took a good hour's walk to reach his destination. But the day llll

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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

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THE MISSION was fair and he enjoyed the solitude. Coming at last to the gate of an old, dignified, country mansion, he paused and calculated the age of the house, the extent of the sur- rounding grounds, the possibility of an inconspicuous entrance, the number of people that would be present and the plausible chance of securing anything of real value. His conclusions were of a depreciating character. The house might be one hundred, per- haps a hundred and a quarter in age, average country home of well-to-do families of the preceding century, might cover fifteen acres, probably less, no chance to enter unnoticedg crowds of people, not a thing of real worth in sight. Donning an air of a mildly interested spectator, he entered the gate to go into the house. To his right was a large colonial dining hall. There the auctioneer was glibly praising the wares. Aleutian wandered through the entrance hall into a small back parlor. On the wall he noticed a simple oil painting. The artist was practically un- known. Presumably the contents of the room were to be auctioned off next. The color of it caught his eye and he waited until the crowd had dispersed, then accosted the auctioneer. Assuming an air of sublime ignorance he asked the price. But, though small, it was too high for the painting and he returned to the main hall where the featured article of the day was being sold under a separate group. The bidding progressed heatedly. Cautiously, Aleutian bid, never too low to be trifling and never too high to buy. Deftly he created the impression that he was a novice at antique hunting. Then even went so far as to pay a ridiculously high price for the mediocre painting that he had refused before. People smiled knowingly. The pic- ture was valueless and they laughed at his supposed ignorance. Then the crowd became subdued. The choice antique of the whole collection was to be bid for. Breathlessly they waited while it was brought into view. Enviously the auctioneer was watched as he removed from a clumsy box a sparkling chandelier of ancient design. Here was what Aleutian had been waiting for all afternoon. He gloated over it with hungry eyes. The lights danced in the crystal glass of its candle holders and sent out inviting lights of red and orange. The auctioneer held it higher so all might get a full view of the shining gem. Then the bidding began. Higher and higher the price rose until all the bounds of sanity were broken. Aleutian bid with the rest. Seeing one bid who seemed so innocent of the wiles of antique hunt- ing, people gradually dropped out of the race. If one so ignorant were bidding, they reasoned, the chandelier might be only a manufactured antique. Two were left Aleutian and a rival. The triumph of victory ran through him as he out-bid the man again and again. After an endless period of indecision, his opponent dropped out. The chandelier was his. True, he had paid an unprecedented price for the prize but it was Worth the sacrifice to him. The onlookers eyed him with respect now. They no longer smiled at his ignorance. Acting the part of a beginner was now dropped from his repertoire and he stepped forth again as Aleutian Adams, A. D. C., experienced antique collector. Jubilantly, he carried it back to the shop. In his excitement he forgot the painting he had bought. The chandelier was fastened in full glory in the central portion of the E121