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22 University Reporter. increased as he grew older; and when at about the age of eighteen he went to Atlanta to engage in business, he had the reputation of being the best speaker of his county. ’Tis said that no political gathering was considered complete without his presence; a.id as for Sunday School celebrations and picnics, such an occasion in Gwinnett county without “ Bunk ” Cooper to get in the hallelujah lick upon the assembled multitudes and to help empty the baskets brought thither by the thoughtful damsels, would have been another example of the time-worn incident of “ the play of Hamlet, un-Hamleted.” After teach ing school several years, and engaging in work in Atlanta for as many more, we see the subject of our sketch entering the University in the beginning of 1887. Entering behind his classes and after having had but few opportunities of gaining the fundamental training received by many, he settled down, with the determination characteristic of his nature, to hard work and it is needless to say that his scholarship through college has always been of a kind worthy of the high order of mind which he possesses. Mr. Cooper has not however, aspired to gain the distinctions to be found in the class room. It is in the two other departments of University life, athletics and oratory, that he has gained many of the honors of which he may well be proud. He has been a central figure in both of the field-day contests held by the University, and bears the honor of being the champion wrestler of the University as well as one of its best heavy weight boxers. In the fields of oratory, the honors which he has plucked have been even more noticeable. A Sophomore speaker, a Champion debater, selected from the whole society upon competition, and finally an Anniversarian— such are the slopes by which he has ascended to the loftiest heights to which Demosthenian ambition can aspire. Nor must we forget to chronicle a little incident which characterized the Demosthenian Spring Debate last spri :g. On that debate it was found at the last moment that one of the speakers was ab sent from the city. In order to fill out the number, many of tne best speakers in the society were appealed to in order to secure the full quota, but in vain. None were willing to risk their reputations on the issue of an extemporaneous effort. That night, however, about nine o’clock, when the debate was about to come to a close, and the debaters were in desperation the