The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-23
FANNY CROSBY
 IS I9 AND NOT 9I~ SHE STATES
Venerable Hymn Writer Sends Message of Cheer on Eve of Her Birthday.

Untouched, in spirit by the long year. which have passed over her. Fanny Crosby, the blind poetess and hymn writer. tomorrow will celebrate her s1st birthday. We'll preserved in body. strong in mind and sunny in disposi lon. she will greet her friends and well-wishers with the enthusiasm of perennial youth.
 Indeed" she exclaimed in discuss ing her approaching birthday ''my years should not be written 91, but 1s."
 At the home of her niece, Mrs. H. D. Booth 22s Wells street, this city, Miss Crosby was seen by reporter for the Farmer and she asked him to express her well-wishes for the entire world
 T want you to tell your readers that am s1 years young" she said. "and that was never happier and my mind never clearer than at this moment.
 ''Why. do you know" she laughed. '-my spirits are bubbling over Old? feel full of mischief. My friends will have 10 watch sharp, I tell you. or I shall be playing pranks upon them"
 To life of undisturbed serenity Miss Crosby attributes the fountain of youth which enables her at 91 to be "a mental and physical marvel and ca pable of a routine of daily work at which many a far younger woman would quail. The author of over r. 900 hymns. hundreds of which are in daily use in the churches of this coun- try. her fertile pen is still busy with prose and verse and she is never hap pier than when hard at work.
 Though totally blind from earliest childhood, her mental vision is of the l-A rd sixth sense she is capable of appre- ciating the beauties of nature and the outdoor world Automobiling is one Of her favorite diversions. and she shyiy confesses that she has long cherished a secret longing for a trip in a balloon.
 Though I think that aeroplaning would be a trifie too f1ighty," she add cd with a laugh.
 T think that the sensation of auto rnobiling Is delightful" she said, "and I greatly enjoy watching the trees flash by. It's true that I can't see them. but I can feel their shadows pessing by.
 T can imagine what the sensations of q trip in the air would be, and believe 1t would prove a delightful experience"
 Miss Crosby has finished correcting the proofs of her autobiogra ply, Memories Of Eleh y Years. to which she has just added another chapter. bringing her history up to the pres ent time The completed work has just been put upon the market and may be obtained by writing to Miss Croebys address.
 My memory is extraordinarily keen" she said in discussing her book. ''and I can remember as if 1t were yes er- day many of the events of my earl jest childhood. attribute my mem- ory to the training it was given in my childhood. and I think that lack of memory training Is one of the great est faults of our educational system today We cram the memory but do not train 1t.
 When I was a child my parents would tell me something and then add Two weeks from today you must re- peat what you have just heard That would cause me to review it from time to time in my mind and I be- came 90 accustomed to the process that my faculty of recollection was greatly sharpened. It is an invalu- able system.
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