The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-12-27
TIE EVENING .yTOR z
His Aunt HANNAH.


came to her from her father. There /
was nothing eccentric about her
adopting Ray Wheeler, when he was
fifteen years old, because he was one
of her nephews.
At the age of nineteen he entered |
college, and three years later he
graduated as a lawyer. He was tax |
ing rest and looking around previous
to setting up for himself when Aunt
Hannah discovered something that
made her SILVER in horror She had
heard no complaints of the young
mans conduct while he was at col
lege, and no policeman had ever ap-
peared at the house to warn her that
Ray was whooping it up when away
from her motherly influence.
The young man had a caller one
evening in the person of an old class
mate. They smoked and talked. They
talked about straight jabs, upper
cuts, right hand swings. and others
things belonging to the Greek Ian
1 guage. The door of the room was
/ open and Aunt Hannah heard them.
Later they assembled to the garnet.
I She crept way up the narrow stairs
and saw and heard. She saw them
/ don boxing gloves and punch each
| other around the big room in fiercest
fashion, and also make use of terms
4
in connection with state prisons and
/ ward caucuses.
When the visitor had departed Ray
/ was summoned to the frozen presence
! OF Aunt Hannah, who began
I wish to ask you, sir, what an up
per-cut is p
! '.Why-why." he stammered in his sur
prise, AN upper-cut is when you bring
your fist up from beneath and land on
the other fellows chin
And what is straight iab?"
1t is meeting the other fellow full in
the face with your fist when he comes
at you"
And didn't I hear something about
right hand swings?" she continued, as
she sat in judgment like a member Of
! the supreme court.
You swing with your right, this way.
and sometimes knock the other fellows
head off"
And what were you and that young
man doing up in the garrett
we had the mitts on for a few
rounds, to keep in practice.
''Mitts? Mitts?"
Boxing gloves, you know
''Ahi You learned this at college, did
you? While supposed you were put
ting in all your time at your studies,
you were hard at work learning to be
a prize fighter, Ell? Instead of gradu
ating a lawyer, I have, it seems, added
to the number of loafers who pound each
other about for money"
Come, now, Aunt protested the
young man, but boxing is a part of
/ the gymnasium work at every college,
IF 1 had known that they trained
young men to be prize fighters you
would never have gone TO college
| Never invite that or any other young
man here again. I want those boxing
gloves burned up this very evening
Not a word, sir! If any one had
told me that you were a. thief I could
not feel worse. This prize fighting
| business must stop right here. If there
is any more of it shall alter my will
in favor of those nephews who are
| gentlemen, even if they don't know
any too much
The gloves were handed over to her
and sent down stairs to be cremated in
4 the furnace, and the visitor did not call
| again. What did happen was that Ray
| Wheeler attended the nearest gymna-
| SUM instead. 1t was an almost daily
thing with him to keep up his boxing
practice, and Aunt Hannah would have
/ been none the wiser but for a tale bear
err Her coachman wandered into the
| place one day and saw Ray hard at
work. and an hour later the spinster
| was in possession of the fact. She felt
that she had been defed and her wishes
! passed by, and she was very sober and
serious as she faced the young man
/ Didn't 1 tell you how Mortified
WASP" she demanded.
/ YES but
And that I wanted no prize fighters
in my family?"
YES, but you SEE
f'And that if there was any more of it
I should change my will? If you learn
ed this at college you must have learned
other Objectionable things. 1 haven't
heard you swear, and I don't know
whether YOU chew and drink or not but
/ I am ready to believe you do. I had
built up great hopes around you, and
/ to have them shattered in a moment is
something hard to bear"
But, Aunty, if only you would let me
explain" replied the young man. "One
needn't be a prize fighter or tough
| because he knows how to box. It is
taught one so that he can defend him
self if need be. You see"
"A gentleman always carries cane
to defend himself with.
But a cane may be forgotten. Sup
pose was going down the street and
was accosted by two or three
Il can't possibly suppose any such
thing. A loafer recognizes a gentleman |
when he sees one and lets him alone. |
Ray, you may go to a hotel for two or
three days. I want time to think things |
over. When have come to decision |
will send you word. No matter what |
else I decide on, you will get enough |
ready money to set you up in a saloon |
and as a prize fighter. I shall expect to |
see in the papers some morning that the |
Yale Kid has knocked some other fighter |
senseless and won purse
Ray Wheeler went without making !
further protest He had been at the /
hotel for two days when he took a |
walk through tough part of the
city. He was lodging children here /
and besotted men and women there |
and keeping as clear of. push carts as
he could when he came upon a |
broken-down carriage in the street.
He recognized the driver as the man /
who drove for his Aunt Burt. and a I
moment later saw the woman herself
standing in a doorway She was on /
one of her charity rounds. Half a /
dozen loafers had taken advantage of I
the accident to hem her in and I
menace her. She had given up her /