Grocer and Farmer

Horowhenua Chronicle, 9 March 1916, Page 3

Grocer and Farmer

—i ~ AF.lj«d< LIFE OF SOME WijLLivAU'UA BOAEIte. (,Uy W. F. CKJltJJlir'l'i in the tiydne, "Sun.") i'ro&a c callings indeed are chose o grocer mjk! iarmei - one much more si i.ian Lue uiner. V\ no would bliinl unit iwo oi tile strongest. actual UguL eis, as (.li.ii.iuct hum boxers only, tin Norm lias knoiwi could settle down ani content tiiemheJ.es iu sneli occupations: ait- ■jecuiuing tanners a# most every day all over Uiu world, an<J g.eai. miMiKis, too. \\ edo not need lo go a way from home for evidence o' t.e iratli of tiiis statement. JJiil Squires is still tilling the soli on tin. i'cel River, and producing inip.o.eu giA.ivths, lor which he lisa ali eady Laken two or more prises. Years .leiore Squires put a liandi to the plough Hi nis own interests Arthur Oiipps, '.'lie.' ntiddlL-'weight cliainp-ion oi' Aus•raiiit, w«s tuining up the rich soil oi nis -Nauaugo hum 111 Queensland, and as the yield had to be waited for he jj'.iKd iii spare"'time by running down to Sydney, or .Brisbane—»Syciney mostly a.:d .-;;.'jied up his wnack oi' big gat.-i-i »i iiic.i till., public icadily provided because they knew him woll for the determined, effective fighter he was. \\ ith the money so earned new machinery was purchased andi additional acres added to the area already nuclei cultivation.

V MJIiV /l UOJI. • i'>er.vbody has, of course, hcaid oi ow '1 iin Lam!, the Boudi dairyman II :i(xsiiniuiiited: cowfc nftcr each of the iiminy contests engagel in by him. and always gave one the name of his opI poiient. :I he thing which rugged Sam Langiord—the greatest combination of boxer and. lighter i have ever seen — recalled with pleasure 111 any speech he made ' If In-a id' Sam speak for an hour one night), or anv heart-to-heart chat he had here, was that at Boston. existed a fairly big plot of kndi—ins absolute property—where he pursued ot farming. "1 know of nothing that would please me better." said Sam during a long talk wo had up at Sutherland once. "lfs the most restful tinish possible, to my mind, and after the roughing and the tossing of the" ling, with its exacting and wearying associations, a tighter needs thn.t fiadly, and will enjoy if as well as any other man eonil. Yearn to get back to t'ue id are again- -no, sir! 'Die skire l>ul s upon one. Has John L. Sullivti'ii ever .yearned for tile wllite-light any more since he lumped hiniisell down with his wife on that line iarm lie owns:-' Was he ever hapier in ins litty-eight of .sixty years 01 life?" lhe.se memories ol mine were pru'tipted hy a partigrapn noticed a« 1 waded through our ia.test liles of the Denver Post "John l>. Sullivan sent a case ol eggs to the market the other J,ny which were pro.iounced as tlie finest ever, and sold at boom prices.'' What do you think ol that? The par would have been considerably improved had its author been aWe to say tuat the eggs aforesaid uere consigned to William I'apKe. grocer. Sullivan audi l'apue were two or tile strongest, actual fighters who settled down ,io pruda'- Millings I had in mind, when starting this little story. Billy's two lights with Dave Smith in Sydney in 1910 will easily be recalled. I'apke went to Paris iu 1912 ami knocked out Bernard oil' liand, in seven rounds. A month later Jeff Smith had difficulty in living twenty rounds with Bernard, and yet. -we were often told by people, badly misinformed regarding such things, that Smith beat the middle-i«-e''.'lit champion of France on that occasion. This, apart from other fairy r tales wlueli were spun to keep Jeff m [ ohc limelight.

Yes. Kniiiin;; P>ipke. of Spring; \ alv h\v "the Illinois Thnmierbolt," lie of ; tlie-san-ly complexion, also the hero ot y 'in' Illincis iiiinn-s. is a plain, ordin- >. jirv, evwvc'lay groceV. doing up tea and i- nidi sugar in packages small 'enough d- to suit, the poorest iff customers, •mil constantly worrying how he oan best Rtot) the flies and ants from robbing Mini. Though Papke is more interested in prunes thap punches, his pugii, listic prowess in his period of glory i. .k still treasured as a sacred memory by the men of Spring; Valley. The "I . Knew Him When' Club is said to have a large membership in that Tittle town," and many are the tales they tell of Kewanee Billy's youth. Pa.pke pere Ti marie his living; by digging coal dlown m the damp, dark earth. It was 1 not <1 luxurious living, for, according ® to the system which gives the 'east pay to the hardest and most hazardous papa Papke experienced h a difficult task in making both ends meet. Young Billy, however, is doing much better that T)nd Papke did. AVhen anybody KUggetets (promoting boxing contests nr having to do with things of that kind, this imn who fought those groat fights with never-to-be-for-gotten. Stanley Ketchell absolutely scowls and says "good-diay" rather abruptly, j