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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1922)
6 FHE SUNDAY OREGOJTCATf, PORTLAJST), FEBRUARY 19, 1923 i:;?;t-:s-:i::-;-:';!fli?:,-. I i ri i i Vera Smith Says "Midget" Will Win the World's Championship Within a Year, and Tells Her Rules of Training. "M IDGET" (William J.) Smith is on the road to the 'ban tam championship. Sports writers in all parts st the country have predicted it. When Johnny Buff returns to the ring after his Euro pean jaunt, the "Midget" is one of the men whom he must whip in order to retain his title. The boxing world was astonished when, beginning a year ago, this stocky lad rose suddenly from a second-rate preliminary fighter to the most formidable of the title hunters. There was much discussion. When inquiry was made and it was found that a woman had put the punch In the Midget's good right arm, the wonderment became greater. So the spotlight turned on the woman and discovered her as the Midget's 24-year-old sister, Vera. Not only, the public learned, does she train him. She takes up her position in his corner of the ring and watches him give and takes punishment with the critical eye of a Jim Corbett or a Kid McCoy. Big sister Vera towers over the Midget. He weighs 118. She tips the beam at 132. It is a case of "big eister" and "kid brother." So the neighborhood of their home In East One Hundred and Fifty-third street, New York city, knows them. The Midget, when first in the ring, amounted to little. He could take an awful beating. Many a night when he was the loser the crowd of sports cheered his gamenes's. But he just couldn't seem, to put over the wallop. At this poiat sister Vera stepped in. "I'll train you, said she. "Then, watch out!" The first thing she did was to knock pies off his menu. Then, to toughen him up, she put the gloves on with him every day and lambasted him with all the heft, behind 13J pounds of solid, healthy womanhood. If this training occurred in public someone would have mistaken it for a mother administering severe pun ishment to her son. For she is so much bigger than he that the mistake would be excusable. It really did look like action for the A. S. P. C. C. But it certainly did Midget a world of good. He got 60 used to stopping right jabs with Ms jaw that they made no more impres sion than a putty blower against an elephant's hide. But just as he was ready to become a sure enough contender for the ban tamweight championship that world old fighter, war, stepped in. "Aw, you won't do," said1 the. re cruiting sergeant, as the Midget stood. Just five feet and one-half an inch above the ground waiting for the O. K. on his application for army service. But the Midget wouldn't take the "no" of even a dozen sergeants. So he wrote to the secretary of war and Mr. Baker gave him special permis sion for joining. The Midget got into the 33d infanlry and was detailed for duty at Panama. Having no Germans to fight with he picked out some of his own mates and proceeded to put them to sleep with the kick, his big sister had packed into his punch. He caused such a furore at the canal that Gunner Hammer, bantamweight you want to enjoy meat cakes, lean, champion of the zone, challenged him. tasty cakes,you've got to put lean, The fight went the full 15 rounds. The tasty meat into the chopper. If you Midget won on a decision. Put in odd ends and fat, odd ends When he returned from the war his and fat will come out. But if you sister again took him in hand. She 'Put clean, lean meat into the chopper, proceeded to put him through a rig- tne calces will be of the best, orous regimen that soon proved its It'8 Just the same with a prize value in the result of his fights, fighter. In fact, the simile might be Fighter after fighter went down be- employed to cover all of life. Life is fore him and last December he finally a chopper and one gets out just what secured a match with Johnny Buff, one puts in. And this is the rule I In the third' round something snapped in the Midget's right hand. But he went right on and finished the fight and Biff, who won the close decision, did not know until days afterward that the man he had conquered had broken his dangerous right hand on the Buff head. Midget is a pal of Jack Dempsey. When they are together they look like the unabridged and the pocket edition. Once in a while they put on the gloves to amuse their friends, against. Midget had got into his But the little Midget one day jumped head the id,ea that the only things up and clouted the mighty man of necessary to win a fight are willing world championship on the nose in nega t0 fight and fearlessness. The such a smart manner that Dempsey history of the prize ring disproves forgot himself and failed to pull a these beliefs, yet both are attributes punch. So the Midget went out. When Cf the successful fighter. he was fanned to, he laughed at the alarmed1 Dempsey and said that acci dents will happen In the best of box ing exhibitions. The Midget has made $50,000 in a little over a year. Sister Vera says It has been safely invested, pis earnings take care of that little fam ily up on the sky end of the apart ment house. For Midget is the head . fvA .mnv Wart i he's th onlv l it Mother a Vera nJ Mar. man In it. Mother and Vera and Mar guerite, 16, and Frances, 13, comprise Its human members. But there's the parrot, Polly, who also eats, and a little fox terrier, who polishes plat ters, and the cutest little nursing puppy you ever saw. BY VERA" SMITH. Trainer of Midget Smith, Her Prize-Fighting Brother. Training a prize fighter Is like preparing chopped meat cake It 3 - A, f Ad'. T? have followed with my brother, the Midget, who, I believe, will be the champion bantam fighter before 1922 is finished. Midget used to put lots of pies into his stomach. And when he got into the rig he was pie for his opponents. The pie seemed to weigh down his feet, or something. So the first thing I did was to banish the pie man. Of course, 1 only use the pie as one example of the conditions I was up From as far back as I can remem ber the Midget he was alwayg scrap ping with me. I think I can truth fully take the credit for being the first one to arouse in him the fight ing Instinct. It was fun to box with him and it was more fun when he got mad and sailed into me and I was thereby permitted to land on him. It sort of gave me an idea of how I CUld Uk Care f myelf , shouIa oc- casion ever arise. Ask him if I am not good at It. I still do not hesitate to put on the gloves to give him a warming up. Well, when he began to sink into the role of human punching bag at local clubs I began to get a bit dlis gusted with his trainer. That was before he enlisted In the army. So I took hold of him and laid down the law. I told him it he didn't obey me and do wnat I eaidi I would glvo him J &4t&V. t Ml;1 1 TH PI a good beating up. He knew I meant it. In six months I had him as hard as nails and as agile as a panther. Then he went into the army. But what I had done for him was quickly shown at the Panama canal, where he cleaned, up everything that ran across his path. When he returned to civil life It was quite difficult at first to get him a good fight. The fight managers played all sorts of tricks on him. He went to the garden in a preliminary one night to fight a Canadian ban tamweight named Dick Atkins from Toronto. Atkins was supposed to weigh not more than 118. He weighed 124. And he was built like the obelisk at Central park. But, as freckled Bob Fitzsimmons used to say, "the 'igher they are the "arder they fall." And he did fall hard. Three times in the first, three times in the second, and out! This was one of the victories that began to attract attention. Then he started to wade right through them all and to make real money. But he never has departed from my regimen. He lives up to it, absolutely, and if he didn't, well (she made a signifi- cant gesture with her clenched fist). I do not feel that I am depriving my i . "-"i"' "'"6 when I tell just how I train him. For he has reached that stage now where it requires mere obedience to the " requires mere ODeonence to me rules I have laid down to put him on top. So, for the benefit of ambitious rignters, ana also lor the benefit or those who want a course of training to put them in good trim for any game or even for the world of busi ness, I'll reveal my secrets. Rising hour is 7 o'clock. Outdoors, immediately, for an hour's stiff road work. Mix walking with running. Never sprint too much lest you strain yourself. Then a good rub-down. Breakfast at 8 o'clock. Cereals n4 lamb chops. No milk with meat, ever. Once In a while, on a very cold morn ing, coffee. A little never hurts any one. And do not forget the fruit. One caution. If grapefruit or orange is on the table it should be eaten an hour after the meal. Otherwise the acid in the fruit interferes with the digestion of the starchy food. Toast, too, made from stale bread, heavily buttered, should be included. The morning should be spent in loafing. Readiflg the newspaper, a light novel. No physical action should detract from the effect of the before breakfast exercise and the process of digestion. The noon meal should be light. Plenty of green stuff. Lettuce and celery. Plenty of milk. No meat. Two hours after dinner the gym should be the order. Snappy work at the punching bag, shadow boxing, then several rounds of good rough mixing. After that the rub-down and a saight nap. At supper red meat should be the feature, broiled steak, roast beef, something with the real pep in It. Banish chicken and euch stuff. That's ood for ladle, not for liehters. Bed at 9 o'clock, between blankets jn coia weather, and not too many of them. , vera lj.lve uealtn Hints. There are many little tricks of the trade, one might term them, to Ob- " ..o..v tain the best that is In food. When I cook spinach or qther greens for the Midget I strain whatever grit there is out of the Juice and make him drink plentifully of it. The Iron is boiled out into the water. That's why one should drink the water. If he happens to have a fatty meat I always have a couple of chocolate candies to eat with it. The combina- tlon digests the fat. I see to It that he chews his potatoes more carefully than hl meat. The potato Ijegtn the process of digestion in the mouth, carries it into the stomach and com pletes it in the intestines. The diges tion of meat occurs wholly within the intestines. That's why a- dog bolts meat and masticates potato or a cracker. And, lately, the Midget never has anything fried to eat. Roast or broil, stew or bake, are the only proper ways of preparing food. Potatoes should always be baked in the winter and boiled when new. A fried spotato will do more harm to a fighter than his opponent's right to the chin. Any kind of fried stuff clutters up the wheels, so to speak, just as too much oil in machinery collects dust and finally becomes a clog. Bear in mind always in eating and in exercising that the human body is a machine run by chemical power. Treat it ac cordingly, and it will be a. powerful and efficient machine of the best en durance. Formation of Dew Mystery That Baffles Science. Magical Breathing of Ancient Gods Remain Unexplained. IN THE whole history of mankind no phenomenon of nature has given use to more quaint speculation than dew. Old writers looked upon it as the magical breathings of the gods, Eels and worms were supposed to c0me from them, and even today the ! .,,i ooriho one kind of these creatures. Certain wlrberrie with verv larirn seeds mai;.uoiiio s "-'" are still called dewberries, and are supposed to be poisonous! A century ago a fierce controversy raged on the subject of dew. One side held that it fell from the air, their opponents maintained that it rose from the earth; but no one could say for certain where dew really came from. Today scientists can not only an- swer the question with certainty, but they can make dew" at any time. The- air that unrounds the eartb, J ' 1'., f fSSI -1 ' ' &tfS Vxtil CjJ-Z Z&JTZ. g7S-J? JPbj f- mm v. mmmm mmm liti always charged with a certain amount of moisture; if it were not every thing would all be shriveled up by the heat of the mid-summer sun. This moisture remains in the air, unless it meets wun a lower temperature, which causes it to condense into drops of water. wmmmmmmmmimi LK. - O'.w Place a piece of ice in a glass of that he would amuse and divert his water and the outside of the tumbler host's guests. But from the be soon becomes covered with a moist inninS to the end of the dinner he cloud. This cloud consists or mlnut preserved a solemn and serious face. particles of moisture condensed from the surrounding air. On what are called "muggy days" the air is saturated with moisture, which settles upon the body to such an extent that it cannot find natural relief la healthy; perspiration. That j1s'S-2Gltr is why hot days are so unbearable just before a thunder storm breaks to relieve the oppression. Wit Gets His Opportunity. London Tit-Bits. A witty Irishman was once invited to a large dinner party in the hope The host thought this very strange. "Why, old fellow," he remarked, "I don't believe the biggest fool in America could make you laugh to- night." "Try," was th wit's cutting? r joindenj mmmmmmmmmsm A -!
