The Washington herald., 1919-06-25


We-Mr. Willard and If you
please. sat on the porch at his Toledo
house, and conyersed freely and ami
ably about his wife. his children. his
Kansas farm. and his preference for
lady spectators who did not ask him.
DO you like pickles?"
It's rather terrifying to be ordered
TO interview q worlds champion
and write him upi
One feels that one ought to do
something special about it-prepare
and memorize a QUESTIONABLE, or
think up clever remarks and leading
questions"
And then. one may have gathered
the impression that a boxing champion
is a vague sort OF bold. bad man
having to do with gambling. carous
ing and all sorts of indefinite ini-
quftiesi 1t seems a bit adventurous
and thrilling to seek out such a ro<
mantle figure and actually talk to
him!
Meets Champion.
So today it was something OF a re-
lief when the newspaper peoples taxi
drew in front of a big. comforta Bile
stone house in one OF Toledo's t1nesr
residence streets-and the sporting
editor said, This is Mr. Wizards
house-come on in, folks"-and we
fled into the Willard living room
and shook hands with this huge,
quiet giant-and began to have a
good timei
Mr.. willard had a very Sunday
morning air,
He put down the morning paper
to greet us-and looked very
freshly shaved and dressed up-and
hadn't yet put on that-stir collar!
His little gold collar-button shone
pleasantly and made us feel right
at home.
Did your wife ever see you
hght?'
NO. she never did. She never
could leave the children and the
house long enough-and she
doesn't care so much about il any
way. She's home now taking care
of the garden-we've got quite a
Csrden-and looking after the kids.
She hasn't really got time to come
away"
Wife some Cook.
Does Mrs. Willard still cook and
sew for you. Mr.. Willard?r
she does, and I'll say she's the
best cook IN Kansas. or course we
have help. And she used to make
my shirts for me. too. before 1
could AFFORD to let tailor do it."
He touched the tent-like ex-
psnse of striped silk that covered
his famous $4,000 arms-(each
of 'em insured for s5O.000)-and
gazing on the bulk of him one ad-
mitted that Mrs. willard must have
leen some seamstress,
Mr.. willard likes the women to
attend his boxing bouts. He says
so
You ought to see the ladies come
t. my last bout in New York
evening dress and everythins-and
walked in as quiet and polite as at
theater. / like it. There's no
reason in the world women
shouldn't enjoy IT as much as men.
It's a clean game. The women nat
urally like it,"
Poses for Picture.
Then he posed for his picture with
me on the front porch steps and fol-
lowed us out to the car-pointing out
the Episcopal church opposite
I'm going to church Sunday eve
ming" he remarked-and know that
would not mark the first time he had
sat in a church pew.
Then we went away and smiled
back at Mr.. Willard. the huge. sim
pie. kindly farmer man - champion
boxer and a gentleman.
Dempsey camp next said the
sports editor. and in a few minutes
we drove into the overland Club. on
Maumee Bay.
Meets Jnck Dempsey.
And AR Dempsey is also Just
folks"-a nice boy OF ga bit shy
big. muscular. graceful, tanned to a
deep golden brown-quiet, but conf
dent in the belief that he is about
TO attach the boxing title of the world
to the name of Dempsey.
He fights for the love OF II.
II was just six years old when I
began scrapping." he told me-"and
I've never quit. 1 love to fight. 10
fought for a quarter, or a dollar, Cf
anything. not caring much-just so it
was a fight"
Mr. Dempsey gets lighting mad"
Mr.. willard smiles. There will be
an interesting test of methods on
July Fourth-a test in which grin"
and "growl'' will measure their
comparative efficiency
Fight His Business.
He's not much of a talker-and
he tends to his business-which is
getting into hghting/ trim to scrap
for his ambition-the championship