At last we are to part. Is it not hard to believe? There are tears in
my eyes, and tears in my voice; tears even in the trembling of my hand
as I write you.You will not feel hard toward me; you will forgive me,
you will not forget me? Let me ask to retain your friendship. Heaven
knows I never felt more in need of it than I do at this moment.
Can a man be associated for five successive seasons with Grand Old
Auburn, toiling for her, befriended by her, striving with her, and yet
not love her? No. Where on earth’s surface have I found better friends,
manlier sportsmen, truer gentlemen than among the sons of the deservedly
popular A.P.I.
The many fresh evidences I have lately received of your unwavering
respect and esteem for yo me have touched me to my heart’s center. It is
true that “prosperity brings friends and adversity tries them” Our
friendship has more than once been thoroughly tried and never yet found
wanting.
You believe in me—you trust me. Let me ask for a continuance of that
faith. It shall be my life’s endeavor to prove myself worthy of it.
I hope this is not the end. I hope that we shall meet again. The
recollection of these years of mutual endeavor, of mutual joy over all
that was good for Auburn, of intermingled sorrow over all that was bad
for Auburn, shall never fade. To you, to your faculty, to your friends,
who have all been so kind, so just, so unfailingly true to me that I
doubt I deserve it, I say “Farewell and yet I say “Aufs Wideuschen.”
May God bless you, everyone!
Devotedly yours,
Heisman
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"I think it is safe to say that while the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted." "All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful." — Flannery O'Connor
