Cumberland University - Phoenix Yearbook (Lebanon, TN)

Page 11 text:

THE PRESIDENT DR. L. L. RICE Yout grandfathers learned the horror of fratri- cidal strife in the War Between the States; your fathers experienced a cruel baptism by tire in 1917- 18; now you of the younger generation shortly must undergo an ordeal of battle ten-fold more devastating because world-wide in its sweep. Yours is the privilege of being young in the most heroic era of history, and yours also the privilege of pre- serving for mankind freedom of speech and of con- science, but noblest of all your privilege of keeping a tottering world from reeling back into the beast. The memories that link you to the heroic souls of distant yesterdays are precious beyond words. See to it then when your country calls and you face a ruthless foe in some faraway land that you live up to the great traditions which immortalized the sol- diers of Lee and Jackson and Grant. Please God. you come through your ordeal safe: but remember that to die in a battle for one ' s fatherland when the cause is just bestows an accolade of glory that (he centuries can not tarnish.