Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-10-16
sorrow, Of a swamp DOetor.
The following letter was lately received by the
editor of this paper from an old college ehum.

Prepinquity, or something else, has brought you
so frequently to my mind of late, that feel con
strained to review old associations little, By open
ing correspondence; and if the indigenous h0Hbres
about you are at all akin to my nsighbOrs; If your
neighborhoOd is as little iumined by the Light Of
the Gospel as mine. few lines from pious friend
of yore will be received with pleasure. You may
be surprised to learn that have exchanged Mime
sOts--shat land of golden visions and protested pa
per-for this country Of picked pork and corn
bread; but necessity knows no law, and a "buSted'
man often fnds himself drapped in very unexpected
localites ID. n L-s- l-N ~ ~ NJ.
The bursting Of the great bubble of land spScula
ton finished what several years Of fast living had
commented; and the spring Of So found me in tOl
erably INDECENT circumstances, and thoroughly con
WINGED Of the disagreeable fact, that the curse o.
our great progenitor was pretty much all that re-
manned of my inheritance This not being at the
moment transferable nor convertible, was not re-
munerative so l turned over new leaf, and began
TO work off the took partner, and set Seri
Ously to work at my long neglected profession. In
fortunately, my partner had family and nary red
and the weakness of my bowels (metaphorically)
would not allow to insist on strictly equitable
division of the spoils. They were never enormous
but I drew out so little, that after six months l
found myself actually paying for the privilege of
prscteing. This was not encouraging, and moved
to discontinue. s
An election to professorship in new medical
school seemed to offer a chance for a rise, so &C
cepted the proposition, and made preparations for
change Of quarters At this juncture, unfortunate
ly, (again) received $4,000 from some old stocks
which had been considered worthless, and the IN
expected good fortune was too much for ms. I
started Immediately for New York, ostensibly to
walk the hospitals and cram for my new vocation
but my sea4eing was mostly nocturnal, and my
examining was not of medical lore. Eheu, fugaces
labuntur deadriiy Twas not strange that the New
Year found me fifteen hundred miles from hsme,
with nary red" "ran short, but brilliant ca
reer," and when my funds gave out resigned my
state and went into retirement like an exiled king.
should state that the Medical College also collapsed
at about the same time, and for the same ridiculous
insufhciency of pecuniary stimulus. If you
have ever read LA FOUNTAINE you will remember
how
"a grssshopper gay, sang the summer away,
And found herself poor at winters first roar"
So did |! Then you will remember how She went
in distress to her neighbor the anti did the same
and with better success, for lived with my d,nts
and uncles, like prince, through the winter, and
until had succeeded in converting into currency a
piece of mos paper with my autograph annexed.
This latter is considered of such value, that the
President, Directors Co. Of Cat-amount Bank per
sist in retaining it to this day Having thus supplied
myself with the sinews of war, l moved up to
Vicksburg to sc elk my Fortunes but finding that it
was not there, except that portion which l carried
with me- which remains thar tharsbouts," &C
cepted an invitation to plant myself in the swamp,
and here am rioting on bacon and greens, practic-
ing on sick niggers and feeling much an integral
part of the civilized world, bear hibernat ting in
a hollow log. ! am living on place with over
seer and about two hundred and fifty diluted Ethio
plans, and have hardly seen human creature in
the three months that have been here. The neigh
bors are hardly worth cutivating, except in pro-
fessional point of view; but could not be very
neighborly if l would, as 1 am not able to buy a
horse; and the animal which the kindness of the
overseer occasionally puts at my disposal is mon
strum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen adj
emptum." / am trying to make arrangements
which will put me in possession of a quadruped;
and if succeed, the long expected spring will be
sprung, and Nicawbsr viii be himself againl G.