THE CHAMPION FATHER.

Taihape Daily Times, 19 February 1919, Page 7

THE CHAMPION FATHER.

If anyone should mention race sutcidc to John Ward, a negro of Goldsboro, N.C. (says the New York Herald) he would laugh right out loud—maybe. Perhaps he would weep, .but nobody has ever had the nerve to talk to him on that subject. Ward has thirty-five children. Thirteen of his eighteen sons are in the Ninth and Tenth United States cavalry, while his seventeen daughters arc busy with war worT?. Holding the record for quadruplets, Ward is expecting that his pirScnt wife may some day make him prouder than ever with another hatich. Twins are a matter of course in the Ward family; triplets are important, or course, but nothing to talk about, an* quartets are nothing so very astonishing. One of these days the world may learn that Mr. Ward has shattered his own .record and has become the father of a dusky, husky quintet. Who knows Who can say what a' man can do if ho but puts his whole mind to the matter? Practice makes perfect. «nd aftes all a sextet is only two more than quadruplets, and Ward is only 62 years old. The facts are vouched for by Sheriff R. H. Edwards, of Wayne county, of which Goldsboro is the county scat. Sheriff Edwards gives the record thus; Ward was born April 2.1, 1856 at Ooldonro, Hr was marri'd three times His first wife bore him fifteen children, four at one time twice, throe at a time once. His second wife boro him two at one time twice, three at a time once, and five one at a time. His present wife has borne him eight, one after the other. His first wife lived six years and three weeks after marriage, his second wife eight years and six months.