The Portland daily press., 1899-07-01
SIRE AND son.
Alexis Jeffries, the Preacher, and jam
the Pugilist.

the PugiIist.
A writer In an exchange thus paints
the portraits of the champion slugger and
his preacher father:
Some critics might call 1t study of
antithssis. Others might fall back ON
the good old principles that ministers
sons are apt to be about the reverse In all
ways of their reverend fathers. Men
who know them both win probably asssrt
that the fighting spirit holds:good In both
SON and father, only that the :elder does
battle with the devil and the younger
uses his enormous strength ON mortal
man. Take any theory you like, study 1t
out as much as you desire, and IL all re-
wolves back and home to the primal fact:
That Alexis @. Jeffries Is minister Of
the gospel, and that James J.. Jeffrie's
list Of all the world.
Old Alexis Jefiiies Is O. man Of the good
American stock-the amen who peopled
the Atlantic coast, drove out the Indians,
and colonized the interior. Els ancestors
were men who penetrated the wilderness
with gun in hand, and their descendants
retains the rugged frame, the massive
strength. the fearless energy Of his fore
fathers. So does his son. The boy ID the
father, with all the added size and vigor
that long life In Califoruia's golden olime
oan give.
Alexis Jeffriss is an evangelist who
holds to no special church, who scorns to
accept o salary for his preaching. and who
has yet prospered In this worlds goods.
Back in the foothills Of Los Angeles he
has q ranch; down In the outskirts OF
the lovely town he has a home. Forty
thousand dollars they ratetthe preachers
wealth, and the average citizen would
believe that here. amid ease and luxury,
surrounded with all the life and beauty
that the Pacific coast can give. both
father and son would elect to pass their
days, ontented to be obscure as long as
they might be rich and happy. Not SO
with either Alexis Jefries or his boy.
The old preacher Is an indomitable eg.
FOUNDER Of his doctrines. Day or night
fair weather or foul, he sallies forth and
breaches on theScorners. Not for him the
life Of rest amid the orange blossoms
rather the toll Of teaching the word upon
the busy street. the tales OF gospel at the
campfire Of the soldier. During the re-
cent war old Alexis Jeffries hurried to the
front and raised his voice among tbs
soldiery thousands of miles from nome.
The life was hard. the discomforts many,
but the Senior Jeffries was happier In the
tents than he could ever be In listless
ease at home.
4 Every Kides Of the father, turned to
dfferent channels, but allowing through
the thin veneer like an electric light
flashing through a tinted globe, can be
seen in the son. Not for James Jeffries
the life of rest and comfort-no more than
for his sire. A mere. boy, he went to work
at the hard, iaborious task Of boiler:mak-
ing. and there, amid the olang OF the
great hammers, the uproar Of the nosiesb
trade on earth, were shaped the giant
muscles that won ..the championship Of
the astonished world. The youth was
too strong, too big, too senergetic. mot to
turn his power to some tremendous pur-
pose. The prize ring attracted him-hs
realized his gigantic strength, he knew
himelf illed with the latest quality Of
champion to be.
Before the senior Jeffries had fully
realized chat his son had broken from the
teachings OF the home the boy was in the
Corbett camp at Carson City, and the rest
is current history. kStep Thy step young
Jeffries rose. going upward at 9 speed
equalled by none since the days Of old
John u. Although. perhaps, the men he
conquered fell before him late m Life, no
longer what they were when their names
were a power in the land, the fast re-
mains that he, and he alone. brought
home the scalpslof the three great Aus
tralians jackson, Goddard, and Fitxsim.
mons-three men who, in their ..heyday
and their glory, have had few equals.
But few days ago the last and greatest
of the Australian fighters fell inssnsibls
before him, and the preachers boy became
the undisputed champion of the world.
And old Alexis Jeffries?
Like prophet of old he shakes his
wavy sable hair when they ask him OF
his boy. jun heart is right" says old
Alexis Jsffries. Through the prize ring
he will come TO the better road. ="
Young Jeffries, fighter though he has
chosen TO be. Is not the sort of fighter of
whom even a preacher father onght.to be
ashamed. The boy has borne himself in
every item like the best of citizens. He
stands to-day the cleanest as he ia the
greatest of the fighters, the finest repre-
sentative champion since the time of John
l.. Sullivan, and free from the habits that
proved the downfall OF the great John l..