manners which is also typical of the Native Son,

Touching the matter of their manners . . . A woman writer I know very
well once went to a boxing-match in San Francisco. Women are forbidden
to attend such events, so that a special permission had to be obtained
for her. She was warned beforehand that the audience might manifest its
disapproval in terms both audible and uncomplimentary. She entered the
arena in considerable trepidation of spirit. It was an important match -
for the lightweight championship of the world. She occupied a ring-side
box where, it is likely, everybody saw her. There were ten thousand men
in the arena and she was the only woman. But in all the two hours she
sat there, she was not once made conscious, by a word or glance in her
direction, that anybody had noticed her presence. That I think is a
perfect example of perfect mob-manners.

Perhaps that instinct, not only for fair but for chivalrous play, which
also characterizes the Native Son, comes from pioneer days. Certainly it
is deepened by a very active interest in all kinds of sports. I draw my
two examples of this from the boxing world. This is a story that Sam
Berger tells about Andrew Gallagher.

It happened in that period when both men were amateur lightweights and
Mr. Gallagher was champion of the Pacific Coast. Mr. Berger challenged
Mr. Gallagher and defeated him. The margin of victory was so narrow,
however, that Mr. Gallagher felt justified in as asking for another
match, and got it.

This time Mr. Berger's victory was complete. In a letter, Mr. Berger
said, "A woman cannot possibly understand what being a champion means to
a man. It isn't so much the championship itself but it's the slap on the