Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-03
The Old Mahogany Man and
His Quaint Shop.
MANY FINE ANTIQUES
RESURRECTION OF COLONIAL
FURNITURE HOLDS NO PROBLEMS
Story Of Mysterious Box With Hid
den Springs, the Contents of Which
Settled an Old Law Suit.

black and white sign over the windows.
Outside there is a narrow platform, holding
a battered old mahogany chair, covered
with haircloth. a small mahogany table
and set of queer old andirons; inside
there is battered workaday man, In an
old SLOUGH hat, who loves beautiful piece
of wood a man loves his sweetheart,
and who bends over to smooth old mahog-
any with the tenderness of a mother
ressing her child.
He isn't ain aesthetic figure His hands
are guarly with hard work, his eyes per-
sistently refuse to look in a common d.
rection at a given moment, and his skin
is as deeply Drowned as the old ma
hogany on which he loves to work; but he
is an infallible authority on fine woods and
their proper finish and handling, and the
resurrection of old colonial furniture holds
40 problems for him.
There is business a-plenty in the dusty
little shop, for lovers of old mahogany have
found this out, and bring him their treas
ures to bring bach to life; but the CONNER
cial spirit dwells not in him, and he cares
not whit for the money that his skill
brings to him, in his keen pleasure at work.
ing on the quaint old chairs tables, four
post beds and sdeboards which come to
him, dull with age and weather, and rick
ETY. from long use and disuse. No consid-
erations of seeking or holding trade move
him In the least, except when he wants to
get his hands on some old piece of furniture
to see what he can do with it. Not ling since
he stoutly refused to accept one commits
sion because a wealthy but unappreciative
woman wanted an old mahogany table of
rare design made over into a washstand-
an act of cold FLOODED murder in his eyes;
and, on the other hand, he secured the city
for customer for an old sideboard which
he found. SO that he might get the chance
to work on it, being unable to buy it him
self.
Rare Contents.
The little shop is filed to choking with
rare old bits of rosewood, mahogany and
walnut. Piled in the corner are some beau
tiful dismantled bookcases in solid mahog-
any, which he is going to make over for a
smaller room than the great Virginia Ii
brary where they stood for many years.
There is a. tumble of old high dressers, with
glass knobs; stately davenports, tiestered
beds, queer, old tinny pianos, and chairs
and tables beyond number, and of every
odd, rare shape. Then there are very few
unusual things-a carved walnut footstool
with music box inside it, so that when
the stately danes Of other days sat them
down to rest their slippered feet quaint
tunes and tnkling airs greeted their ears
as Well In one corner hung a curious old
scale, which came from the Sandwich
Islands Islands; a single oddly curved sheet of
weight. and a tiny dial attached to the
larger end of the brass disc
Upstairs, in the work room, are tattered
old bellows old newell posts. blue with the
film OF slong years Of hiding in damp cor
ners; odd inlaid boxes, and a thousand and
one queer "reminiscences of earlier DAYS.
The commercial spirit having no part in
him, and time consequently not entering
into his scheme of living, he spent a long
morning with me the other day, browsing
about In the shadowy corners of the little
shop showing me some of the old and
precious pieces Of mahogany which he has,
ana telling me manV Interesting
OF the old southern places from which they
have come, and the curious discoveries he
has made when they came to him, direct
from the attics where they have been lying
neglected
Love of Wood.
Now and then he would lean down and
rub his thumb lovingly along a piece of
mahogany clearing away the mist which
had crept over its surface and mutter
reverently:
Lord! that's a piece of wood
How did you happen to become inter-
ested in this sort of thing?" asked, as we
wandered through the dim recesses of the
shop.
Land he said, always bin interested
in it. My father wanted me to be a timer,
and started me out to learn the trade, but
was always itching to git my hand on
wood!'
Near us stood a small mahogany chair
which had just come up from an old home
in Georgia. "Fiddle-top," he said land
they's mighty few of EN- left in the coun-
try l kin tell you" He turned the chair
upside down and showed me a little in
scription written in pencil in Furnishing
hand:
God be thanked, for He has just sent us
a refreshing shower; May 10, $780, Very
often bits of writing are found on the under
side of old furniture sometimes verses and
now and then something in cipher. Often,
also, very rare and valuable newspapers are
found laid in the bottom of the drawers of
old bureaus and sideboards, and occasion
ally old letters are found in cracks or par
titons which clear up mysteries unsolved
for decades past
A Mysterious Box.
1t was when he was telling me of
these things that he turned suddenly to
an old box standing on a high dresser.
Then he told me the story Of one some-
thing like it which was brought to him
some years ago to be repaired and also to
be opened, for it was locked and the lock
was so cuningly hidden that it could not
be found. The box had been in the Carter
family of Loudoun county, Va, for more
years than any present member of the
family could even conjecture. 1t was
some three feet long by two feet wide,
and was made of a superb piece of cats
face maple-the most beautiful piece of
wood, he declared, that he has ever
worked upon. About the edges of the box
that it was impossible to see how it had
been done. Minute examination with
glass proved that they had been secured
by brass nails so small and so evenly set
and perfectly polished down that they
were not visible to the naked eye. A
brass nameplate was attached in the same
way to the top of the lid
For some days he worked doggedly
at the task of searching out the hidden
lock. Every inch of the surface was press
ed for the hidden spring, every smallest
Joining of the wood and the brass was
Investigated. At last, at a chance touch,
the nameplate slid easily aside, disclosing
the lock-a small spring, upon touching
which the great lid swung smoothly
open. The box proved to be a sort Of
secretary. It contained writing pad and
old writing utensils, resting upon cab
met of three compartments, each contain
ing six small drawers. making eighteen
In all. Below was a shelf which pulled
out, and here was a full equipment for
the old method of copying letters. a
dampened roller passing over the sheet.
A Second Secret Spring.
The work of repairing and refinishing
went on, then, suddenly, one day another
secret spring was touched, and from be-
meath the copying shelf slid a shallow
drawer, containing several yellowed pa
pers, a will, deed to some property and
some correspondence regarding them.