Cumberland University - Phoenix Yearbook (Lebanon, TN)

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Autobiography DITOIt : ■ IIA ' E BEEN ASKED to write something of ray history foi- your book. TiiK. Ph(I:nix. ami I jifladly respond. Let lue bejjin. lilie all other f reat writers, with my birth. But why mention my birth V Every one knows that I was born some time, and tliey know that I could not help it. eitlier. Hut I will tell you the dale, anyway, of my befjinninfjf. It was in 1842 that I bejran to e. ist. You see that I am quite old. Very few of my acquaintances in the South have lived as lonjjT as I. Several Yankees w ith their sturdj ' and aggressive policies have lived longer than I. Not only am I old, but there are other things at)out me which are stranger than that. The older I get the younger I become. Instead of growing weaker I am getting stronger. I can now feel the blood of youth surging through my veins like intoxicating wine. It makes me vigoi-ous. I long to do something reckless as in my younger days. A new sensation is stealing over me : I am ready for some new venture, such as 1 was wont to make in former times. I am of the Di ' . .lekyll and Mi-. Hyde tyi)e, except 1 am four [jersons instead of two. I liegan the experiment when quite young. I tii ' st ti-iod tin- two i-hai-- iicter act and succeeded beyond my expectations. I took the names of Hon. Mi Law and J ' ldf. Litei-ary. This proved such a marked success I thought that I would try a third person and be known as three different characters and bj- three different names. So I assumed the role of Dr. Theological. The venture was a trying one, but I succeeded. For many yeai-s I have been known bj- all thi ' ee of these names, and most people thought me three dilVercnt persons. Often- times have I laughed in my sleeve as I listened to discussions and wranglings as to which was the greatest, the Hon. Mr. Ljiw, Prof. Literary or Di ' . Theological, knowing all the while that I was all three of the persons of whom they were talking. As I have already .said, j-outh ' s V)lood is in my veins of late, and I 1ki i ' Imch up to my old tricks ag-aiii. Now, you would have expected me to lo somctliiiiL:- m-w tliis time liut I am cnn-

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The Phoenix Staff FLOYD POE CHAS. H. KIMBROUGH . . . .Editor-in-chibf. Business Managrr. Jas. R. Craig, David Brown, Jas. C. Orr, Chas. H. Moffat, R. C. Foster, Associates Dan B. Shields, ROBT W. Keeton, RoBT. R. Butler, J. M. ROBISON, Artists Florence Earle McKa L. B. Gray, W. S. Ellis, Leo. ti. ToTTEN, F. K. Farr. A. M. Williams.

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firmed in mj ' habits and had to do the same old thing. It looked like a hazai ' dous undertaking to try to be four people at the same time, but that is what I am now doing. In this last imper- sonation I am Herr Musik, and I am sure that I will succeed. Many people think that these are four different persons, but they are all one and the same, myself. Will I succeed? I think I will. I believe that God has given me this second youth and strength so that I might give to the world this Hon. Mr. Law, this Prof. Literary, this Dr. Theological and this Herr Musik. How much longer will I live ? If I keep on feeling as I now do I will never die. But I fear that I am taking up too much space in your publication. Thanking you for j ' our kindness in letting me tell this bit of my history, I remain, Yours respectfully, Cumberland University. • .