The morning call., 1893-11-03

gomery avenue where Father Shelton
thinks he does business.
OF course, the business part of 1t is an
Authorization, for the things that Father
Shelton displays in his shanty are not the
articles that commerce and trade thrive
on. YOu need to take lantern with you
hen you penetrate the dimnesS of Father
Sheton's warehouse If there is one th ing
in the world as dark as black cat in the
coal bin of a dark cellar aG midnight il is
Father Shelton standing among his junk
curios with the Street door closed.
You must duck your head when you 60
in and nerve yourself against sudden fright
at the outlandish aspect Of the interior and
the queer, creepy things hanging all about
yOn.
Everything in the place is hanging
Pieces of rusty wire depending from rusty
nails in the black ana dusty rafters have
on the ends of them about all there is In
the shop, and the number of different
things in the shop is legion.
Here are three rusty lutte keys on the
eud of one wire. here IS badly battered
! canteen dangling from another, here a
| pewter hunting dog that once nrnamented
! the head of a cheap cane, here the remains
! o! a bruised and battered tOmach-pump,
| here an ole lead spoon. here broken par
rot cage, here broken electr0type plate
! that years ago printed the lad" OF patent
nostrum in the newspapers, here rusty
/ sadiTOn, here y cog-wheel with one or two
! cOgs broken, here paddock Of an ancient
pattern and imperfect works. here the
handspring of an old clock and here a
moldy sOup-ladle. here an lnkwell that
leaks, here the half Of dOorknOb. here the
end of hoe, the business part of a ham,
| mer, the celluloid tip OF an umbrella, one
| Joint of Il gas-tiXtnre that was once bright
and yellow. half Of gilt picture-frame-
lacking most Of the gilt; these aud few
thousand more bits of battered tinware
and iron odds anG ends. all rustv, dusty
| and fully as ancient as their owner, make
up Father Skeletons collection.
He is more than 60 years old. There is
African blood in his veins, but not only
tnat. lie is quiet, unobtrusive, polite 10 all
who enter his portals, whether they come
| 10 buy-which Is merely a supposition for
arguments sake-or only to work Off fit
of the blues by looking at something more
dismal than themselves.
There are no glittering baubes in Father
Shelton's collection and no sense of the
beautiful either in the things themselves
or in their lack of arrangement. His grand
motto is utility.
There is nothing in the world that one
can afford TO waste" says Father Shelton.
He means this from purely material
iStic standpoint. as il we're, taking no cog
niZance Of the time or energy that may or
may not De WaSteQ IN conserving rusty
hOrseshoes and old nails.
II have been here for more than fifteen
years nnw," he will tell you. "All my life
l have been saving and saving everything
in The way Of junk that could buy or find.
The result is the collection you see here. ="
Well. perhaps the result is commen-
surate with the efforts and years expended
in its collection; perhaps II is not. lrs
the way you look at it, Maybe Father
SheltOn's life might have been less useful
had he been less saving. 1t is hardly
likely that he would have made much OF Il
mark In the worlds of art or science. at all
events. His early educaton-0r lack of
It-was against that lie might have done
| worse. there's no doubt about that.
And he has distinguished himself. He
is the proud proprietor of junkshop that
has no equal either in the multiplicity of
its wares ur In their heterogeD eous char
acter. There was never junksh0p like
his
Father Shelton has the instinct of the
true collector. Nothing escapes his
vigilant eye-that is nothing in the shape
of junk. If he hears of rare specimen
lie spares nothing to possess 1t ana add 1t
to his museum. He will stop in the middle
of line Street To pick up ar old comb or
walk many blocks 10 secure rusty jack
knife. BE- long odds he is the greatest of
collectors in his line.
If you need broken nail. an empty
mucilage bottle, a second hand tooth
brush, or any little trifle like that there is
only one place in the city you will be sure
of finding it. Father Shelton'S is that
place.
But there is another side to Father Shell
tons life. He is more than collector of
rare and curious junk. He has an ante
bellum history. Recently legal difficulties
have beset him, and he says now that un-
Scrupulous ones have made him $1,000 the
poorer. He pleads-perhaps with more
pathos than tact-the protection of the la "
as against his enemies, and this is the rec
ord of himself he urges in justification OF
his plea:
81 was born in Orange County, Virginia.
sixty-fve years ago. My foreparents, my