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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33930-8.txt b/33930-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e3443f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/33930-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5214 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Home Life of Poe, by Susan Archer Weiss + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Home Life of Poe + +Author: Susan Archer Weiss + +Release Date: October 13, 2010 [EBook #33930] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOME LIFE OF POE *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Turgut Dincer, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: EDGAR ALLAN POE + + [REPRODUCED FROM A PHOTO GIVEN TO MRS. WEISS BY POE THREE DAYS BEFORE + HE LEFT RICHMOND]] + + + + + THE HOME LIFE OF POE + + BY SUSAN ARCHER WEISS + + BROADWAY PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK 1907 + + _Title Page by Wm. Lincoln Hudson · Cover by Stephen G. Clow_ + + + Copyright, 1907, + BY + SUSAN ARCHER WEISS. + + All rights reserved. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I. PAGE. + First Glimpse of Edgar Poe 1 + + CHAPTER II. + Poe's First Home 9 + + CHAPTER III. + The Allan Home 13 + + CHAPTER IV. + Poe's Boyhood 20 + + CHAPTER V. + Schoolboy Love Affairs 36 + + CHAPTER VI. + Rosalie Poe 41 + + CHAPTER VII. + The Unrest of Youth 44 + + CHAPTER VIII. + In Barracks 52 + + CHAPTER IX. + Poe and Mrs. Allan 57 + + CHAPTER X. + The Closing of the Gate 61 + + CHAPTER XI. + Mrs. Clemm 64 + + CHAPTER XII. + A Pretty Girl with Auburn Hair Whom Poe Loved 70 + + CHAPTER XIII. + Poe's Double Marriage 74 + + CHAPTER XIV. + The Poes in Richmond 82 + + CHAPTER XV. + In New York 88 + + CHAPTER XVI. + The Real Virginia 90 + + CHAPTER XVII. + Poe's Philadelphia Home 94 + + CHAPTER XVIII. + Virginia's Illness 102 + + CHAPTER XIX. + Back to New York 108 + + CHAPTER XX. + Poe and Mrs. Osgood 119 + + CHAPTER XXI. + At Fordham 127 + + CHAPTER XXII. + The Shadow at the Door 137 + + CHAPTER XXIII. + Mrs. Shew 145 + + CHAPTER XXIV. + Quiet Life at Fordham 148 + + CHAPTER XXV. + With Old Friends 154 + + CHAPTER XXVI. + Mrs. Whitman 169 + + CHAPTER XXVII. + Again in Richmond 179 + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + A Morning with Poe--"The Raven" 184 + + CHAPTER XXIX. + Mrs. Shelton 194 + + CHAPTER XXX. + The Mystery of Fate 203 + + CHAPTER XXXI. + After the War 212 + + CHAPTER XXXII. + Poe's Character 219 + + Appendix 227 + + + + +TO THE READER. + + +In considering this book, will the reader especially note that it is not +a "Life" or a "Biography" of Poe, of which too many already exist and to +which nothing can be added after the exhaustive works of Woodbury and +Prof. Harrison. I have not treated Poe in his character of poet or +author, but confined myself to his private home-life, domestic and +social, as I have heard it described by Poe's most intimate friends who +knew him from infancy--some of them my own relatives--and from my own +brief knowledge of him in the last three months of his life. The book +may therefore be considered as a _supplement_ to the more complete +"Lives and Biographies," showing Poe in a character as yet wholly +unknown to the public, but which should be known in order to enable us +to form a correct judgment of his character. I have corrected various +misstatements of writers which, repeated by one from another, have come +to be received as truth. + +I have made no attempt at producing an artistic work, but have treated +the subject as it demands, in a plain and practical manner with regard +to facts apart from idealism of any kind. + + THE AUTHOR. + + + + +HOME LIFE OF POE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +FIRST GLIMPSE OF EDGAR POE. + + +It may be regarded as a somewhat curious coincidence that the first +glimpse afforded us of Edgar Poe is on the authority of my own mother. + +This is the story, as she told it to me: + +"In the summer of 1811 there was a fine company of players in Norfolk, +and we children were as a special treat taken to see them. I remember +the names of Mr. Placide, Mr. Green, Mr. Young and Mr. Poe, with their +wives. I can recall Mrs. Young as a large, fair woman with golden hair; +but my most distinct recollection is of Mrs. Poe. She was rather small, +with a round, rosy, laughing face, short dark curls and beautiful large +blue eyes. Her manner was gay and saucy, and the audience was +continually applauding her. She appeared to me a young girl, but was +past thirty, and had been twice married. + +"At this time," continued my mother, "we were living on Main street, and +my uncle, Dr. Robert Butt, of the House of Burgesses, lived close by, on +Burmuda street. The large, bright garret-room of his house was used by +our little cousins as a play-room, and was separated from that of the +adjoining house by only a wooden partition. One day, when we were +playing here, we heard voices on the other side of the partition, and, +peeping through a small knothole, saw two pretty children, with whom we +soon made acquaintance. Mr. and Mrs. Poe had taken lodgings in this +garret with a little boy and girl and an old Welsh nurse. Sometimes this +woman would say to us, 'Hush, hush, dumplings, don't make a noise,' and +we knew that some one was sick in that room. Most of the time she had +the children out of doors, and in the evenings we would play with them +on the sidewalk. The boy was a merry, romping little fellow, but hard to +manage. One day, when he would persist in playing in the middle of the +street, a runaway horse came dashing around a corner, and I remember how +the nurse rushed toward him, screaming: 'Ho! Hedgar! Hedgar!' snatching +him away at the risk of her own life. + +"This nurse was a very nice old woman, plump, rosy and good-natured. She +wore a huge white cap with flaring frills, and pronounced her words in a +way that amused us. She was devoted to the children, who were spoiled +and wilful. The little girl was running all about, and the boy appeared +about three years old." + +Of this old lady it may be here said that she was really the mother of +Mrs. Poe, whom she called "Betty." As an actress of the name of Arnold, +she had played in various companies in both this country and Europe, +taking parts in which comic songs were sung. Her pretty daughter, +Elizabeth, she had brought up to her own profession, and had married her +early to an actor named Hopkins, who died in October, 1805. Two months +after his death his widow married David Poe, who was at that time a +member of their company; and mean while her mother, Mrs. Arnold, had +bestowed her own hand upon a musician of the romantic name of Tubbs, who +soon left her a widow. Thenceforth she devoted herself to her daughter's +family, remaining with the company and occasionally appearing in some +unimportant part. + +When in the summer of that year of 1811 Mr. Placide's company left +Norfolk to open a season in Richmond, Mr. David Poe was too ill with +consumption to accompany them, and his family remained in Norfolk. He +must undoubtedly have died there; for from that time in all the affairs +of his family his name is not once mentioned, nor is the remotest +allusion made to him. He was probably buried by the city in one of the +obscure suburban cemeteries. By his death the widow was left penniless, +and Mr. Placide, to whose company she still belonged, and who was +anxious to have her services in his Richmond campaign, sent one of his +employees to bring the family to Richmond at his own expense. A room and +board had been engaged for them "at the house of a milliner named Fipps +on Main street," in the low-lying district between Fifteenth and +Seventeenth streets, still known as "_Bird-in-hand_." This room was not +by any means the wretched apartment which it has been described by some +of Poe's biographers. It was not a "cellar," not even a basement room, +but one back of the shop, the family residing above, and must have been +comfortably furnished, for this neighborhood was at this time the +shopping district of the ladies of Richmond, and Mrs. Fipps was probably +a fashionable shopkeeper. Damp Mrs. Poe's room must have been, since +this locality was the lowest point in the city, where, when the river +overflowed its banks, as was frequently the case, the water would rise +to the back doors of the Main street buildings and at times flood the +ground floors. In this room Mrs. Poe contracted the malarial fever then +known as "ague-and-fever," which proved fatal to her. + +Owing to her illness Mrs. Poe, though her appearance was constantly +advertised, did not appear on the stage more than a half dozen times, if +as often. Mr. Placide wrote to her husband's relatives in Baltimore in +behalf of herself and children, but received no satisfactory answer, and +the company kindly gave her a benefit performance. Also, one of the +Richmond papers, the "_Enquirer_," of November 25th, made an appeal "to +the kind-hearted of the city" in behalf of the sick actress and her +little children. This brought to their aid among others Mr. John Allan +and his friend, Mr. Mackenzie. + +Both these gentlemen were engaged in the tobacco business, and being of +Scotch nationality, the feeling of clanship led them to take a special +interest in this family, whom they discovered to be of good Scotch +stock. Everything possible was done for their comfort, and Mrs. Allan +herself came to minister to the sick woman. On her first visit she found +Mrs. Tubbs feeding the children with bread soaked in sweetened gin and +water, which she called "gin-tea," and explained that it was her custom, +in order to "make them strong and healthy." This was little Edgar's +initiation into the habit which became the bane and ruin of his life. + +It soon became evident that Mrs. Poe was very near her end. Pneumonia +set in; and on the 8th of December, 1811, she died. + +The question now was, what was to be done with the children? After a +consultation among all parties, it was agreed that Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. +Allan should take charge of them at their own homes until they should be +claimed by their Baltimore relatives. + +It was a sad scene when the little ones were lifted up to look their +last upon the face of their dead mother, and then to be separated +forever from the grandmother who had so loved and cared for them. In +parting she gave to each a memento of their mother; to the boy a small +water-color portrait of the latter, inscribed, "For my dear little son, +Edgar, from his mother," and to the girl a jewel case, the contents of +which had long since been disposed of. It was all that she had had to +leave them, and with this slender inheritance in their hands the little +waifs were taken away to the homes of strangers. + +On the day following a small funeral procession wended its way up the +steep ascent of Church Hill to the graveyard of St. John's church,[1] +crowning its summit. At that day it was no easy matter to get one whose +profession had been that of an actor buried in consecrated ground; yet +Mr. Mackenzie succeeded in effecting this. The grave was in a then +obscure part of the cemetery, "close against the eastern wall," and +here, after the brief service, the mother of Edgar Poe was laid to rest. + + [1] In this historical church it was that Patrick Henry + thrilled the hearts of his hearers with the memorable words, + "Give me liberty or give me death!" and sent them forever + "ringing down the grooves of time." + +Mrs. Tubbs remained with Mr. Placide's company, and doubtless returned +with them to England and to her own family. + +Six weeks after the death of Mrs. Poe occurred that awful tragedy and +holocaust of the burning of the Richmond theatre, which shrouded the +whole country in gloom. On that night a large and fashionable audience +attended the performance of "_The Bleeding Nun_," eighty of whom +perished in the flames. Mrs. Allen had expressed a wish to attend, with +her sister and little Edgar, but her husband objected and instead took +them on a Christmas visit to the country; so they escaped the tragedy, +as did also the members of Placide's company. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +POE'S FIRST HOME. + + +Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie, on taking charge of the Poe children, entered +into a correspondence with their grandfather, Mr. David Poe, of +Baltimore, in regard to them. He was by no means anxious to claim them. +He represented that he and his wife were old and poor, and that already +having the eldest child, William Henry, upon his hands, he could not +afford to burden himself with the others. Finally he proposed that the +children should be placed in an orphan asylum, where they would be +properly cared for, on hearing of which Mrs. Mackenzie declared that she +would never turn the baby, Rosalie, out of her home, but would bring her +up with her own children; while Mrs. Allan, who was childless and had +become much attached to Edgar, proposed to her husband to adopt him. + +Mr. Allan demurred. His chief objection was that the boy was the child +of actors, and that to have him brought up as his son would not be +advisable for him or creditable to themselves. It required some special +pleading on the part of the lady, and she so far prevailed as that her +husband consented to keep and care for the boy as for a son, but refused +to be bound by any terms of legal responsibility as either guardian or +adoptive parent, preferring to remain free to act in the future as he +might think proper. Mr. Mackenzie pursued the same course with regard to +Rosalie, though each bestowed on his protege his own family name in +baptism. + +There has been much useless discussion among Poe's biographers in regard +to the ages of the children at this time. Woodbury "_calculates_," +according to certain data obtained from a Boston newspaper regarding the +appearance of Mrs. Poe on the stage. "At this time," he says, speaking +of her prolonged absence in 1807, "William Henry _may have_ been born;" +and accordingly fixes Edgar's birth as having occurred two years later, +in 1809. + +Wishing to satisfy myself on this point, I some time since decided to go +to the fountain-head for information, and wrote to Mrs. Byrd, a +daughter of Mrs. Mackenzie, who had been brought up with Rosalie Poe. +Her answer I have carefully preserved and here give _verbatim_: + +"Dear S----.--You ask the ages of Rose and Edgar. He was born in 1808, +Rose in 1810. A remark of his (in answer to an invitation to her +wedding) was that if I had put off my marriage one week it would have +been on his birthday. I was married on the 5th of October.... Their +mother died on the 8th Dec., 1811; and on the 9th the children were +taken to Mr. Allan's and our house.... Their mother was boarding at Mrs. +Fipps', a milliner on Main street. She was Scotch and of good family; +and my father and Mr. Allan had her put away decently at the old Church +on the Hill.... Mr. Poe died first." + +This account of the children's ages is entitled to more weight than +those of his biographers, based upon mere calculation and +"_probabilities_." When the children were baptized as Edgar Allan and +Rosalie Mackenzie, their ages were also recorded, though whether in +church or family records is not known; and it is not likely that Mrs. +Byrd, who was brought up with Rosalie Poe, could be mistaken on this +point. + +Were Woodbury correct in assuming that William Henry, the eldest child, +"_may have_ been born" in October, 1807, and Edgar, January 19, 1809, +it would follow that the latter, when taken charge of by the Allans in +December, 1811, was less than two years old; an impossibility, +considering that his sister was then over one year old and running about +playing with other children. As to Mr. Poe's claim to October 12 as his +birthday, it is not likely that, howsoever often he may have given a +false date to others, he would have ventured upon it to the daughter of +Mrs. Mackenzie, the latter of whom would have detected the error. + +It must be accepted as a final conclusion that, as Mrs. Byrd states, +Edgar was born in 1808 and Rosalie in 1810.[2] Her positive assertion is +proof sufficient against all mere calculation and conjecture; and in +this book I shall hold to these dates as authentic. + + [2] The official date of Rosalie Poe's death, on June 14, 1874, + represents her as 64 years of age. This would make her a year + and a half old when adopted by the Mackenzies, in December, + 1811. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ALLAN HOME. + + +Mr. Allan was at this time thirty-one years of age--a plain, practical +business man, or, as some one has described him, "an honest, hard-headed +Scotchman, kindly, but stubborn and irascible." His wife, some years +younger than himself, was a beautiful woman, warm-hearted, impulsive and +fond of company and amusement. Both were charitable, and though not at +this time in what is called "society," were in comfortable circumstances +and fond of entertaining their friends. + +There was yet another member of the family, Miss Ann Valentine, an elder +sister of Mrs. Allan; a lady of a lovely disposition and almost as fond +of Edgar as was his so-called "mother." She was always his "Aunt Nancy." + +The Allans were at this time living in the business part of the town, +occupying one of a row of dingy three-story brick houses still standing +on Fourteenth street, between Main and Franklin. Mr. Allan had his +store on the ground floor, the family apartments being above. This was +at that time and until long afterward a usual mode of living with some +of the down-town merchants; though a few had already built handsome +residences on Shocko Hill. + +Little Edgar, bright, gay and beautiful, soon became the pet and pride +of the household. Even Mr. Allan grew fond of him, and his wife +delighted in taking him about and showing him off among her +acquaintances. In his baggy little trousers of yellow Nankin or silk +pongee, with his dark ringlets flowing over an immense "tucker," red +silk stockings and peaked purple velvet cap, with its heavy gold tassel +falling gracefully on one shoulder, he was the admiration of all +beholders. His disposition was affectionate and his temper sweet, though +having been hitherto allowed to have his own way, he was self-willed and +sometimes difficult to manage. To correct his faults and as a counter +balance to his wife's undue indulgence, Mr. Allan conscientiously set +about training the boy according to his own ideas of what was best. When +Edgar was "good" he was petted and indulged, but an act of disobedience +or wrong-doing was punished, as some said, with undue severity. To +shield him from this was the aim of the family, even of the servants; +and the boy soon learned to resort to various little tricks and +artifices on his own account. An amusing instance of this was told by +Mrs. Allan herself. Edgar one day would persist in running out in the +rain, when Mr. Allan peremptorily called him in, with the threat of a +whipping. He presently entered and, meekly walking up to his guardian, +looked him in the face with his large, solemn gray eyes and held out a +bunch of switches. "What are these for?" inquired the latter. "To whip +me with," answered the little diplomat; and Mr. Allan had to turn aside +to hide a smile, for the "switches" had been selected with a purpose, +being only the long, tough leaf-stems of the alanthus tree. + +Another anecdote I recall illustrative of the strict discipline to which +Edgar was subject. + +My uncle, Mr. Edward Valentine, who was a cousin of Mrs. Allan, and +often a visitor at her house, was very fond of Edgar; and liking fun +almost as much as did the child, taught him many amusing little tricks. +One of these was to snatch away a chair from some big boy about to seat +himself; but Edgar, too young to discriminate, on one occasion made a +portly and dignified old lady the subject of this performance. Mr. +Allan, who in his anger was always impulsive, immediately led away the +culprit, and his wife took the earliest opportunity of going to console +her pet. As the child was little over three years old, it may be doubted +whether the punishment administered was the wisest course, but it was +Mr. Allan's way, who apparently believed in the moral suasion of the +rod. + +Edgar had no dogs and no pony, and did not ride out with a groom to +attend him, "like a little prince," as a biographer has represented. At +this time the Allans' circumstances were not such as to admit of such +luxuries. As to his appearance in this style at the famous White Sulphur +Springs, that is equally mythical.[3] + + [3] Lest my mention of these little anecdotes and certain other + matters should lead the reader to conclude that I am quoting + from Gill, I would refer them to Appendix No. 1 of this volume. + +There was, however, at least one summer when Edgar was six years of age +in which the Allans were at one of the lesser Virginia springs, and in +returning paid a visit to Mr. Valentine's family, near Staunton. This +gentleman often took Edgar out with him, either driving or seated behind +him on horseback; and on receiving his paper from the country +post-office would make the boy read the news to the mountain rustics, +who regarded him as a prodigy of learning. Thus far he had been taught +by an old Scotch dame who kept an "infant-school," and who then and for +years afterward called him "her ain wee laddie," and to whom as long as +she lived he was accustomed to carry offerings of choice smoking +tobacco. He also learned from her to speak in the broad Scottish +dialect, which greatly amused and pleased Mr. Allan. The boy was at even +this age remarkably quick in learning anything. + +Mr. Valentine also delighted in getting up wrestling matches between +Edgar and the little pickaninnies with whom he played, rewarding the +victor with gifts of money. But there was one thing which no money or +other reward could induce the boy to undertake, and this was to go near +the country churchyard after sunset, even in company with these same +little darkies. Once, in riding home late, Edgar being seated behind Mr. +Valentine, they passed a deserted log-cabin, near which were several +graves, when the boy's nervous terror became so great that he attempted +to get in front of his companion, who took him on the saddle before +him. "They would run after us and pull me off," he said, betraying at +even this early age the weird imagination of his maturer years. + +This incident led to his being questioned, when it was discovered that +he had been accustomed to go with his colored "mammy" to the servants' +rooms in the evenings, and there listen to the horrible stories of +ghosts and graveyard apparitions such as this ignorant and superstitious +race delight in. It is not improbable that the gruesome sketch of the +"_Tempest_" family, one of his earliest published, whose ghosts are +represented as seated in coffins around a table in an undertaker's shop, +and thence flying back to their near-by graves, was not inspired by some +such story heard in Mr. Allan's kitchen. + +Undoubtedly, these ghostly narratives, heard at this early and +impressionable age, served in part to produce those weird and ghoulish +imaginings which characterize some of Poe's writings, and to create that +tinge of superstition which was well known to his friends. He always +avoided cemeteries, hated the sight of coffins and skeletons, and would +never walk alone at night even on the street; believing that evil +spirits haunted the darkness and walked beside the lonely wayfarer, +watching to do him a mischief. Death he loathed and feared, and a corpse +he would not look upon. And yet, as bound by a weird fascination, he +wrote continually of death. + +Edgar Poe, like every other Southern child, had his negro "mammy" to +attend to him until he went to England, to whom and the other servants +he was as much attached as they to him. Indeed, a marked trait of his +character was his liking for negroes, the effect of early association, +and to the end of his life he delighted in talking with them and in +their quaint and kindly humor and odd modes of thought and expression. + +Edgar had been about three years with the Allans when he was again +deprived of a home and sent among strangers. Mr. Allan went on a +business trip to England and Scotland, accompanied by his wife, Miss +Valentine and Edgar; the latter of whom was put to school in London, +where he must have felt his loneliness and isolation. Still, he came to +the Allans in holiday times, and was with them in Scotland for some +months previous to their return to Virginia. Little is known of them +during this absence of five years. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +POE'S BOYHOOD. + + +The Allans returned to Richmond in June, 1820, Edgar being then twelve +years old. Having no house ready for their reception they were invited +by Mr. Ellis, Mr. Allan's business partner, to his home on Franklin, +then as now the fashionable street of the city. + +Mr. Allan at once put Edgar to Professor Clarke's classical school, +where he was in intimate association with boys of the best city +families. + +At the end of this year the Allans removed to a plain cottage-like +dwelling at the corner of Clay and Fifth streets, in a quiet and +out-of-the-way neighborhood. It consisted of but five rooms on the +ground floor and a half story above; and here for some years they +resided. + +Of Poe as a schoolboy various accounts have been given by former +schoolmates, with most of whom he was very popular, while others +represent him as reserved and not generally liked. All, however, agree +that he was a remarkably bright pupil, with, in the higher classes, but +one rival, and that he was high-spirited and the leader in all sorts of +fun and frolic. + +Mrs. Mackenzie's eldest son, John, or "Jack," two years older than +Edgar, though not mentioned by any of Poe's biographers, was the most +intimate and trusted of all his lifelong friends. The two were playmates +in childhood, and schoolmates and companions up to the time of Poe's +departure for the University. Poe always called Mrs. Mackenzie "Ma," and +was almost as much at home in her house as was his sister. + +I remember Mr. John Mackenzie as a portly, jolly, middle-aged gentleman +with a florid face and a hearty laugh. This is what he said of Poe after +the latter's death: + +"I never saw in him as boy or man a sign of morbidness or melancholy; +unless," he added, "it was when Mrs. Stanard died, when he appeared for +some time grieving and depressed. At all other times he was bright and +full of fun and high spirits. He delighted in playing practical jokes, +masquerading, and making raids on orchards and turnip-patches. Oh, yes; +every schoolboy liked a sweet, tender, juicy turnip; and many a time +after the apple crop had been gathered in, we might have been seen, a +half dozen of us, seated on a rail-fence like so many crows, munching +turnips. We didn't object to a raw sweet potato at times--anything that +had the relish of being stolen. On Saturdays we had fish-fries by the +river, or tramped into the woods for wild grapes and chinquepins. It was +not always that Mr. Allan would allow Edgar to go on these excursions, +and more than once he would steal off and join us, though knowing that +he would be punished for it." + +"Mr. Allan was a good man in his way," added Mr. Mackenzie, "but Edgar +was not fond of him. He was sharp and exacting, and with his long, +hooked nose and small keen eyes looking from under his shaggy eyebrows, +always reminded me of a hawk. I know that often, when angry with Edgar, +he would threaten to turn him adrift, and that he never allowed him to +lose sight of his dependence on his charity." + +Edgar, he said, was allowed a liberal weekly supply of pocket money, but +being of a generous disposition and giving treats of taffy and hot +gingerbread to his schoolmates at recess, besides being generally +extravagant, this supply was always exhausted before the week was out, +when he would borrow, and so be kept constantly in debt. He was, +however, very prompt in paying off his debts. + +Mr. Robert Sully, nephew of the distinguished artist, Thomas Sully, and +himself an artist, was through life one of Poe's firmest friends. A boy +of delicate physique and a disposition so sensitive and irritable that +few could keep on good terms with him, he was always in difficulties. "I +was a dull boy at school," he said to me; "and Edgar, when he knew that +I had an unusually hard lesson, would help me out with it. He would +never allow the big boys to teaze me, and was kind to me in every way. I +used to admire and in a way envy him, he was so bright, clever and +handsome. + +"He lived not far from me, just around the corner; and one Saturday he +came running up to our house, calling out, "Come along, Rob! We are +going to the Hermitage woods for chinquepins, and you must come too. +Uncle Billy is going for a load of pine-needles, and we can ride in his +wagon." Now, that showed his consideration; he knowing that I could not +walk the long distances that most boys could, and therefore seldom went +on one of their excursions." + +In one of Poe's biographies is an absurd story to the effect that Mr. +Clarke, his first teacher, once on detecting him robbing a neighbor's +turnip-patch, tied one of the vegetables about his neck as a token of +disgrace, which the boy purposely wore home, when Mr. Allan, in a fury +at this insult to his adopted son, called on the teacher and threatened +him with personal chastisement. It is scarcely necessary at this day to +deny the truth of that story; but the following is what Mr. Clarke +himself says about it in an interview with a reporter in Baltimore some +years after Poe's death, he being at that time nearly eighty years +old.[4] + + [4] This account, clipped from a Baltimore paper, was given by + Professor Clarke's son to a Richmond reporter in 1894. + +"Edgar had a very sweet disposition. He was always cheerful, brimful of +mirth and a very great favorite with his schoolmates. I never had +occasion to speak a harsh word to him, much less to make him do penance. +He had a great ambition to excel." + +He spoke with pride of Edgar as a student, especially in the classics. +He and Nat Howard on one vacation each wrote him a complimentary letter +in Latin, both equally excellent in point of scholarship; but Edgar's +was in verse, which Nat could not write. + +"Whenever Poe came to Baltimore he would not forget to come and see me, +and I would offer him wine. It was the custom, you know. When he became +editor of Graham's Magazine and could afford it, he sent wine to me, +gratis.... I think that as boy and man Edgar loved me dearly. I am sure +I loved him.... Yes; he was a dear, open-hearted, cheerful and good boy; +and as a man he was a loving and affectionate friend to me. I went to +his funeral." + +The old Professor said that Poe's sister, Rosalie, he had seen when her +brother was a pupil of his. "She was at that time about ten years old, +was pretty and a very sweet child." + +Poe, after leaving Professor Clarke's, entered Dr. Burke's classical +school in 1832, where he remained until he went to the University. Here +one of his classmates was Dr. Creed Thomas, a noted Richmond physician, +who died so late as in 1890. In his reminiscences of Poe, published in a +Richmond paper not long before his own death, he says: + +"Poe was one of our brightest pupils. He read and scanned the Latin +poets with ease when scarcely thirteen years of age. He was an apt +student and always recited well, with a great ambition to excel in +everything. + +"Despite his retiring disposition he was never lacking in courage. There +was not a pluckier boy in school. He never provoked a quarrel, but would +always stand up for his rights.... It was a noticeable fact that he +never asked any of his schoolmates to go home with him after school. The +boys would frequently on Fridays take dinner or spend the night with +each other at their homes, but Poe was never known to enter in this +social intercourse. After he left the school ground we saw no more of +him until next day." + +Dr. Thomas spoke of Poe's fondness for the stage. He and several other +of the brightest boys held amateur theatricals in an old building rented +for the purpose. Poe was one of the best actors; but Mr. Allan, upon +learning of it, forbade his having anything to do with these +theatricals, a great grievance to the boy. + +"A singular fact," proceeds Dr. Thomas, "is that Poe never got a +whipping while at Burke's. I remember that the boys used to come in for +a flogging quite frequently--I got my share. Poe was quiet and dignified +during school hours, attending strictly to his studies; and we all used +to wonder at his escaping the rod so successfully." + +He adds that Poe was not popular with most of his schoolmates; that his +manners were retiring and distant. Doubtless there were boys with whom +he did not care to associate, feeling the lack of a congeniality between +himself and them. Then there were the prim and priggish class who looked +with virtuous disapproval on the robber of apple orchards and +turnip-patches, and who in after years never had a good word to say of +Poe, whether as boy or man. + +It will be observed from Dr. Davis' account that the "quiet and +dignified" manner which distinguished Poe in manhood was natural to him +even as a boy. + +As regards his never inviting his schoolmates to accompany him home to +dinner or to spend the night, this would not have been agreeable to +Edgar, who would have preferred having his time to himself for reading +or writing his verses, a volume of which he now began to make up. But he +was by no means deprived of company at home. The Allans, as has been +said, were fond of entertaining their friends, and at their "sociables" +and "tea parties" Edgar was generally required to be present, with one +or two young friends to keep him company, and often he was treated to a +"party" of his own--boys and girls--where a rigid etiquette was +required, though dancing and charades were indulged in. This was Mrs. +Allan's idea of affording him enjoyment and cultivating in him elegant +and graceful manners; but to him it was most distasteful. Throughout his +life he detested social companies. Mrs. Mackenzie, in speaking of the +social restraint under which the Allans at this time sought to keep +Edgar, said that it was very distasteful to the boy, who liked to choose +his companions, and who now, at the age of fifteen, began to be +dissatisfied and to think that he was subject to undue restraint at +home. She often heard him express the wish that he had been adopted by +Mr. Mackenzie instead of by Mr. Allan; and she would talk to him in her +motherly way, endeavoring to impress him with a sense of what he owed to +the latter. His disposition, she said, was very sweet and affectionate, +and he was grateful for any kindness, and always happy to be at her +house as much as he was allowed to be from home. Her son John could +never be persuaded to visit Edgar at his home, so strict was the +etiquette observed at table and in general behavior. She believed that +Mr. Allan, in taking charge of Edgar, had been influenced more by a +desire to please his wife than any real interest in the child, though he +had conscientiously endeavored to do his duty by him. She had once heard +him say that Edgar did not know the meaning of the word _gratitude_; to +which she replied that it could not be expected of children, who were +not able to understand their obligations; and that she did not at +present look for gratitude from Rose, but for affection and obedience. +Mrs. Allan was devoted to Edgar and he was very fond of her. It was she, +Mrs. Mackenzie thought, rather than her husband, who so extravagantly +supplied him with money, seeming to take a pride in his having more than +his schoolmates. She was a good and amiable woman, fond of pleasure +generally, and less domestic in her tastes than either her husband or +sister. + +Mr. John Mackenzie, in speaking of Edgar, bore witness to his high +spirit and pluckiness in occasional schoolboy encounters, and also to +his timidity in regard to being alone at night and his belief in and +fear of the supernatural. He had heard Poe say, when grown, that the +most horrible thing he could imagine as a boy was to feel an ice-cold +hand laid upon his face in a pitch-dark room when alone at night; or to +awaken in semi-darkness and see an evil face gazing close into his own; +and that these fancies had so haunted him that he would often keep his +head under the bed-covering until nearly suffocated. + +The restrictions sought to be placed upon Poe's associations and +amusements served only to render him more democratic. He, with two or +three of his young friends of congenial tastes, were fond of stealing +off for a bath in the river near _Rocketts_ or below _the Falls_, in +company with the hardy, adventurous boys of those localities, who were +known as "river rats." It was from them that he learned to swim, to row +and, when the river was low, to wade across its rocky bed to the willowy +islands and set fish-traps. When in Richmond in after years, he told how +he had met with some of these former companions, and how much he had +enjoyed talking with them about "old times" on the river. + +As regards religious influences and teachings in the Allan home, it does +not appear that Edgar was especially subject to these. Mr. and Mrs. +Allan were members of St. John's Episcopal church and punctilious in all +church observances, and they required of Edgar a strict attendance at +Sunday school and his presence in the family pew during divine service. +But in those days it was not thought necessary for professed Christians +to deny themselves social pleasures. On Sundays luxurious dinners were +provided, to which friends were invited from church, and rides and +drives were indulged in. Edgar was sent to dancing school, and Mrs. +Allan had her dancing entertainments and her husband his card parties, +which were attended by some of the most prominent professional men of +the city; amusements which, as is well known, exposed Episcopalians to +the charge of worldliness by other denominations. At all these +entertainments wine flowed freely. + +I have an impression, too vague to be asserted as fact, that Edgar Poe +was confirmed at the same time with his sister and Mary Mackenzie, at +St. John's church, and by the clergyman who had baptized them. To any +inquiry as to his religious denomination, he always answered, "I am an +Episcopalian." But it was often remarked upon by their friends in +Richmond that neither he nor Rosalie had ever been known to manifest a +sign of religious feeling or of interest in religious things. It was +noticeable in both that, phrenologically considered, the organ of +_veneration_ was so undeveloped as to give a depressed or flat +appearance to the top of the head when seen in profile. And it was known +to Poe's intimate friends that, while he believed in a Supreme Power, he +had no faith in the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ. Hence he was as +a bark at sea with a guiding star in view but no rudder to direct its +course. His eager seeking for truth was ever but a groping in darkness, +with now and then a faint, far-away ray of the light of Truth flashing +upon his sight--as we see in _Eureka_. + +Yet Poe was careful to offer no disrespect to religion, and he was a +frequent attendant at church and a great lover of church music. + +Great injustice has been done the Allans by Poe's biographers in +representing them as responsible for his early dissipation. By all the +story has been repeated of how the child of three or four years was +accustomed to be given a glass of wine at dinner parties and required to +drink the health of the company. + +It was no unusual thing for little children to be taught this trick for +the amusement of company, as from my own recollections I can myself +aver. But the liquor given them was simply a little sweetened wine and +water. As Edgar grew older he was, like other boys in his position--as +the Mackenzies--allowed his glass of wine at table; but no word was ever +heard of his being fond of wine until his return from the University. + +I have heard a Richmond gentleman who was Poe's chum at the University +speak of the latter's peculiar manner of drinking. He was no +_connoisseur_, they said, in either wine or other liquors, and seemed to +care little for their mere taste or flavor. "You never saw him +critically discussing his wine or smacking his lips over its excellence; +but he would generally swallow his glass at a draught, as though it had +been water--especially when he was in any way worried." In this way he +would soon become intoxicated, while his companions remained sober. "He +had the weakest head of any one that I ever knew," said this gentleman, +who attributed his dissipation while at the University, not to a natural +inclination, but to a weakness of will which allowed himself to be +easily influenced by his companions. + +Hitherto we have seen in Poe, the schoolboy, only what was amiable and +lovable; but now, in his sixteenth year, he began to show that beneath +this were springs of bitterness which, when disturbed, could arouse him +to a passion and a power hitherto unsuspected. + +I never heard of but one authentic instance of his being subject to +slight or "snubbing" while a boy on account of his parentage or his +dependent position in Mr. Allan's family, although several writers have +taken it for granted that such was the case. What effect such treatment +would have had upon him is evinced in the instance in question, in which +a young man, a sprig of an aristocratic family, chose to object to +association with the son of actors, and not only made a point of +ignoring him on all occasions, but made offensive allusions to him as a +"charity boy." This last being reported to Edgar, aroused in him a +resentment which found expression in a rhyming lampoon upon "_Don +Pompiosa_," so brimfull of wit, sarcasm and keenest ridicule that it was +circulated throughout the city for some time, though none knew who was +the author. The young man in question could not make his appearance upon +the street without being pointed out and laughed at, with audible +allusions to "_Don Pompiosa_," and was, it was said, at length actually +driven from the town, leaving Poe triumphant. This was the forerunner +of those keen literary onslaughts which in after years made Poe as a +critic the terror of his enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SCHOOLBOY LOVE AFFAIRS. + + +That Poe was, both as boy and man, unusually susceptible to the +influence of feminine charms has been the testimony of all who best knew +him. "I never knew the time," said Mr. Mackenzie, "that Edgar was not in +love with some one." + +Nor was it unusual for me, when a girl, to meet with some comely matron +who would laughingly admit that she had been "one of Edgar Poe's +sweethearts." Neither did he confine his boyish gallantries to girls of +his own age, but admired grown-up belles and young married ladies as +well; though this was probably in a great measure owing to the playful +petting with which they treated the handsome and chivalrous boy-lover. + +But this was a trait which did not meet with the approval of Miss Jane +Mackenzie, sister of the gentleman who adopted Rosalie Poe. This lady, +noted for her elegant manners and accomplishments, kept a fashionable +"Young Ladies' Boarding-School," patronized by the best families of the +State; and many a brilliant belle and admired Virginia matron boasted of +having received her education at "Miss Jane's." As I remember her, she +was tall and stately, prim and precise, and was attired generally in +black silk and elaborate cap and frizette, a very _Lady-Prioress_ sort +of a person. She had the reputation of being exceedingly "strict" in +regard to the manners and conduct of her pupils, and was a contrast to +the rest of her family, all of whom were remarkably genial. + +When Edgar was about fifteen or sixteen he began to make trouble for +Miss Jane. Repeatedly she would detect him in secret correspondence with +some one of her fair pupils, supplemented on his part by offerings of +candy and "original poetry," his sister Rosalie being the medium of +communication. The verses were sometimes compared by the fair recipients +and found to be alike, with the exception of slight changes appropriate +to each; a practice which he kept up in after years. He possessed some +skill in drawing, and it was his habit to make pencil-sketches of his +girl friends, with locks of their hair attached to the cards. + +Poe himself has told of his boyish devotion to Mrs. Stanard, which made +so deep an impression upon the mind and heart of the embryo poet. The +story is well known of how he once accompanied little Robert Stanard +home from school (to see his pet pigeons and rabbits), and how his heart +was won by the gentle and gracious reception given him by the boy's +lovely mother, and the tenderness of tone and manner with which she +talked to him; she knowing his pathetic history. In his heart a chord of +feeling was stirred which had never before been touched; and thenceforth +he regarded her with a passionate and reverential devotion such as we +may imagine the religious devotee to feel for the Madonna. He calls this +"the first pure and ideal love of his soul," and possibly it may in time +have been increased by the knowledge of the doom which hung above and +overtook her at the last--the partial shrouding of the bright intellect, +the effect of a hereditary taint. Indeed, it is probable that on this +account Poe saw very little if anything of Mrs. Stanard in the two +succeeding years, in which time she led a secluded life with her family, +dying in April, 1824, at the age of thirty-one. But the impression had +been made, and remained with him during his lifetime, forming the one +solitary _Ideal_ which pervaded nearly all his poems--the death of the +young, lovely and beloved. This experience was probably the beginning of +those occasional dreamy and melancholy moods about this time noticed by +some of his companions. The living friend of his boyhood's dream became +the "lost Lenore" of his maturer years. + +But though Poe deeply felt the loss of this beloved friend, the story is +not to be accepted that he was accustomed to go at night to the cemetery +where she was buried "and there, prostrate on her grave, weep away the +long hours of cold and darkness." No one who knew Poe in his boyhood, +with his horror of cemeteries, of darkness, and of being alone at night, +would believe this story, first told by Poe himself to Mrs. Whitman, and +by her poetic fancy further embellished. Besides this is the practical +refutation afforded by the high brick wall and locked gates of the +cemetery, with the strict discipline of the Allan home, which would have +made such midnight excursions impossible. + +Another account connected with Mrs. Stanard, and repeated by Poe's +biographers until it has become an article of faith with the public, is +that the exquisite lines "To Helen" were inspired by and addressed to +that lady. If written at ten years of age, as Poe asserts, it will be +remembered that he was at this time at school in London, and it was not +until two years after his return, and when he was thirteen years of age, +that he ever saw Mrs. Stanard. He might have altered the lines to suit +her--his "Psyche," with the pale and "classic face"--and I recall that +the "folded scroll" of the first version was afterward changed to "the +agate lamp within thy hand," as more appropriate to Psyche. Poe never +made an alteration in his poems that was not an improvement. + +Those who knew Mrs. Stanard describe her as slender and graceful, with +regular delicate features, a complexion of marble pallor and dark, +pensive eyes. A portrait of her which was in possession of her son, +Judge Robert Stanard, represented her as a young girl wearing--perhaps +in respect to her Scottish descent--a _snood_ in her dark, curling +hair. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ROSALIE POE. + + +Of Edgar Poe's sister, Rosalie, it may be said that all accounts +represent her as having been, up to the age of ten years, a pretty +child, with blue eyes and rosy cheeks, and of a sweet disposition. +Though evincing nothing of Edgar's talent and quickness at learning, she +was yet a rather better pupil than the average; and it had been Miss +Mackenzie's intention to give her every advantage of education afforded +by her own school, so as to fit her for becoming a teacher. + +But when Rosalie Poe was in her eleventh or twelfth year, a strange +change came over her, for which her friends could never account. Without +having ever been ill, a sudden blight seemed to fall upon her, as frost +upon a flower, and she drooped, as it were, mentally and physically. She +lost all energy and ambition, and thenceforth made little or no progress +in her studies, growing up into a languid and uninteresting girlhood. +Still, she was amiable, generous and devoted to her friends, who were +generally chosen for their personal beauty, and for this reason my +sister was a great favorite with her. To Mrs. Mackenzie she was always +dutiful and affectionate, but her great pride and affection centered in +her brother. She felt painfully, and would often allude to, the +difference between them. Once she said to me, "Of course, I can't expect +Edgar to love me as I do him, he is so far above me." + +A peculiarity of Miss Poe is worth mentioning, because it is one shared +by her brother, and must have been hereditary. She could not taste wine +without its having an immediate effect upon her. She would, after +venturing to take a glass of wine at dinner, sleep for hours, and awaken +either with a headache or in an irritable and despondent mood. As is +well known, the same effect was produced upon Edgar by a moderate +indulgence in drink, such as would not affect another man; and this +hereditary weakness should go far in accounting for and excusing those +excesses of which all the world is unfortunately aware. + +Of the elder brother of Edgar, William Henry, I have heard scarcely any +mention until after Poe's death, and few seemed to know that there was +such a person. It seems, however, that in the summer, when Edgar was +preparing for the University, this brother came to Richmond on a visit +to himself and Rose. Edgar took him around to introduce to his young +lady acquaintances, by one of whom he has been described as handsome, +gentlemanly and agreeable. He died a year or two afterward, leaving some +poems which show him to have been possessed of unusual poetic talent. +Had he lived, he might have rivaled his brother as a poet. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE UNREST OF YOUTH. + + +In the summer of 1825, Mr. Allan, having come into possession of a large +fortune left him by an uncle, purchased and removed to the handsome +brick residence at the corner of Main and Fifth streets, built by Mr. +Gallego, a wealthy Spanish gentleman, and which became known as the +Allan House. + +To own such a residence had long been the desire of Mrs. Allan, and upon +taking possession of the house she furnished it handsomely and commenced +entertaining in a style which rendered them conspicuous in Richmond +society. It was even said that they lived extravagantly; and Edgar, with +abundance of pocket-money, became the envy of his companions. + +But he was not happy. The impatience of restraint of which the +Mackenzies spoke, and the dissatisfaction of which was to him, despite +its luxuries, an uncongenial home, rendered him discontented. The heart +of the boy of fifteen began to pulse with the restlessness of the bird +when it feels the first nervous twitchings of its wings, and his great +desire now was to get away from home and enjoy greater freedom. He would +often, when particularly dissatisfied, speak to the Mackenzies of going +to sea or enlisting in the army. At present, however, he contented +himself with requesting Mr. Allan to send him to the University. + +Mr. Allan did not see the use of a higher education for one whom he +destined for a commercial business, but finally yielded; and Edgar left +Mr. Burke's school and, under a private tutorage, commenced fitting +himself for the University. This period, from June to February 14, 1825, +was the only time, with the exception of two brief intervals, that he +resided in the Allan House. + +On another point, however, he did not so easily have his way. He was +very anxious that his youthful poems should be published in book form, +and importuned Mr. Allan to that effect, but this was a thing with which +the latter had no sympathy. He did consent to go with the boy to hear +what Mr. Clarke's judgment of the verses would be; but finally concluded +that Edgar was too young to publish a book; and so the latter's eager +and ambitious hopes were for the time frustrated. + +Still, this must have been a pleasant summer for him, in the enjoyment +of his new home, with its fine lawn and garden, in place of the cramped +cottage on Clay street, and especially in the knowledge that he was +breaking away from his schoolboy days and assuming something of the +independence of youth. It was at this time that he made the famous swim +of seven miles on James river, from Warwick Park to Richmond, which has +been so much commented upon--showing with what fine athletic powers he +was gifted. + +It was on the 14th of February, 1825, that Poe entered the University; +inscribing on the matriculation book the date of his birth as January +19, 1809, making him sixteen years of age, when he was really seventeen +(born in 1808). This date, it will be observed, agrees with no other +that he has given. + +Of his course at the University his biographers have informed us, on the +authority of professors and students, some of whom credit him with +almost every vice of dissipation, while others defend him from such +imputation. But when he returned home, at the end of the first year, +with a brilliant scholastic record, it became known that Mr. Allan had +been called upon to pay his gambling and other debts, amounting on the +whole to over two thousand dollars. Mr. Allan went on to Charlottesville +to investigate the matter, and scrupulously paid all that he considered +honest debts, refusing to notice the gambling debts. + +Poe, having paid little attention to his personal affairs, was almost as +much surprised as was Mr. Allan at the amount of his indebtedness. He +appeared truly penitent, and frankly so expressed himself to Mr. Allan, +offering to repay the latter by his services in his counting-house. It +was agreed that after the Christmas holidays he should take his place in +the office as clerk. + +This was the beginning of the declension of Poe's social and personal +reputation. By his elders he was severely condemned, while the good +little boys who had formerly looked doubtfully upon the robber of +orchards and turnip-patches now passed him by with sidelong glances and +pursed-up lips. And yet, good cause though Mr. Allan had to be angry--as +he was--we have the following account of Edgar's reception at home when +he returned from the University for the Christmas holidays, a reception +for which he was doubtless indebted to his devoted foster-mother: + +A former schoolmate of his, Charles Bolling, writes to the editor of a +Richmond paper that Mr. Allan, when on a visit to the country, having +given him a cordial invitation to call on him when in Richmond, he, one +evening, near Christmas, went to his house, where he was kindly +received. After sitting awhile, he perceived certain signs as of +preparation for the entertainment of company, and at once rose to leave, +but his host insisted upon his remaining, saying that Edgar had just +come home from the University, and some of his young friends had been +invited to meet him. Bolling replied that he was not in a suitable dress +for company, when Mr. Allan said: "Go up to Edgar's room. He will supply +you with one of his own suits." He found Edgar lying on a lounge +reading, who welcomed him cordially, and, throwing open his wardrobe +doors, placed the contents at his disposal. + +This was a room which, on their removal to their new home, Mrs. Allan +had chosen for Edgar's occupation, furnishing it handsomely, with his +books and pictures arranged in bookcases and on the wall. He took great +pleasure in this apartment, and had always passed much of his time +there. + +When the two youths had attired themselves to their satisfaction, they +repaired to the drawing-room, where Poe did his duty in welcoming his +guests. But after awhile he took Bolling aside and proposed that they +should go down the street and have a spree of their own. To this the +latter very properly objected, saying: "Oh, no; that would never do." +But being urged, finally consented; and they stole away from the company +together. + +This was an assertion of independence which one year previous he would +not have ventured upon. But he was now no longer a schoolboy, but a +University student and, as he claimed, nearly eighteen years of age. +This past year had wrought a great change in him; and he was already in +his heart prepared to break away from the restraint and authority which +he had found so irksome and assert his independence. + +In due time Poe was installed in Mr. Allan's counting-house as clerk, +but had occupied that position but a short time when it became +intolerable to him. He begged Mr. Allan to give him some other +employment, saying that he would rather earn his living in any other +way. Mr. Allan, still angry about the University debts, told him that +he was his own master, and could choose what employment he pleased, but +that henceforth he was not to look to him for assistance. After an angry +scene between the two, Poe packed his traveling bag and, leaving the +Allan house, did not return to it for the space of two years. + +It will be observed that this was no runaway act on Poe's part, as +asserted by biographers. He took an affectionate leave of Mrs. Allan and +Miss Valentine--who supplied him with money--and neither of whom +believed but that he would be back in a few weeks. + +He went to take leave of the Mackenzies, who, all but his friend "Jack," +advised him to return and submit himself to Mr. Allan; but this he would +not, could not, do. He claimed that Mr. Allan had spoken insultingly to +him, and declared that he would no longer be dependent on him. And so he +went forth, as he said, to seek his fortune. + +He made his way to Boston, where the first use to which he put his money +was in publishing a cheap edition of his poems. They were not of a kind +to attract attention, and he never realized a dollar from them. +Ambitious to have them known, he sent a number to his friends in +Richmond and other places South, and the rest turned over to his +publisher, an obscure young man of the name of Thomas, in part payment +of the expense of publishing. + +Then followed a season of wandering in search of employment until, his +money all gone, he had no resource but to enlist in the army, which he +did on May 2, 1827, being then, as he claimed, eighteen (really +nineteen) years of age, but representing himself as twenty-two. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +IN BARRACKS. + + +In the year 1829, my uncle, Dr. Archer, then Post Surgeon at Fortress +Monroe, was one day called to the hospital to attend a private soldier +known as Edgar A. Perry. Finding him a young man of superior manners and +education, his interest was aroused, and his patient, won by his +sympathy, finally confessed that his real name was Edgar A. Poe, and +that he was the adopted son of Mr. John Allan, of Richmond; and also +expressed an earnest desire to leave the army, in which he had now been +for two years, the term of enlistment being five years. + +Dr. Archer informed the commanding officer of these revelations, and as +Perry, _alias_ Poe, had proven himself in all respects a model soldier, +interest in his case was at once aroused. It was suggested that, with +his education and the social position which he had enjoyed, a cadetship +at West Point would be more suited to him than the place of a private +at Fortress Monroe. Poe, in his anxiety to be rid of the army, was +willing enough to accept this proposal, and by the advice of his new +friends wrote to Mr. Allan, informing him of his wishes and asking his +assistance. + +For some time he received no answer; but at length there came a letter +which must have caused his heart a pang of real sorrow. It was from Mr. +Allan, informing him of the death of his wife, and directing him to +apply for a furlough and come on at once to Richmond, where he arrived +two days after her burial. + +Woodbury is mistaken in saying that in all this time Mr. Allan had not +known of Edgar's whereabouts. According to Miss Valentine, Poe never at +any time ceased entirely to correspond with Mrs. Allan, who never, to +her dying day, lost her interest in the boy whom she had loved as a son, +and neither ceased her endeavors to reconcile himself and her husband, +urging Edgar to return and Mr. Allan to receive him. In anticipation of +such result, she kept his room as he had left it, ready for his +occupation at any time that it might suit his wayward fancy to return. + +Mr. Allan talked to Poe seriously, and, finding that his great desire +was to get a discharge from the army, promised to assist him; but only +upon condition of his entering West Point, by which there would be +secured to him an honorable and independent position for life, and Allan +himself be relieved from all responsibility concerning him. But that he +had not entirely forgiven Edgar was evident from a letter to the +latter's commanding officer, wherein he exposes, unnecessarily, perhaps, +the youth's gambling habits at the University, declaring that "he is no +relation of mine whatever, and no more to me than many others who, being +in need, I have regarded as being my care." Poe must have felt this +latter as a humiliation; and it was certainly not calculated to increase +his regard for the writer. + +Poe's career at West Point is well known. At first all went well. One of +his Virginia comrades, Col. Allan Magruder, describes him as of a simple +and kindly nature, but, by reason of his distance and reserve, not +popular with the cadets, and that he at length confined his association +exclusively to Virginians. But the old discontent and impatience of +restraint returned upon him, and after some months he wrote to Mr. Allan +that he wished to leave West Point--a step to which the latter +positively refused his assistance. + +Finding nobody inclined to help him, he resolved to force his discharge. +He purposely neglected his studies and military duties, deliberately +violated the rules, engaged--it was said by some--in all sorts of +disgraceful pranks; and finally was tried by court-martial and, on March +7, 1831, dismissed from the institute. + +It has been naturally inferred that Poe's object in this voluntary +self-sacrifice was simply to free himself from the irksomeness of +military duties which, on trial, he found so opposed to his taste and +inclination. But perhaps the real motive was one which has never yet +been suspected. + +Some time after Poe's death I was informed by a lady that, being in +company where the conversation turned upon the poet and his writings, +one who did not admire the latter remarked that Edgar Poe could have +been of more use to both himself and others by remaining at West Point +and adopting the army as a profession. To this an old army officer, +Capt. Patrick Galt, replied that he had been informed by one who had +been a classmate of Poe that the latter had been driven away from West +Point by the slights and snubs of the cadets on account of his parentage +and his bringing up as an object of charity. West Point, this officer +declared, had in Poe's time been a very hotbed of aristocratic prejudice +and pretension, and, Poe's history being known, these young aristocrats +held themselves aloof, while the more snobbish among them, probably by +reason of his reserve and acknowledged superiority in some respects, did +not hesitate to attempt to humiliate him on occasion. Poe, he said, +probably knew that this odium would in a measure attach to him +throughout his whole military career, and he acted wisely in declining +to expose himself to it. + +Hence the shyness and reserve of which some of his fellow-cadets speak, +and his exclusive association with Virginians, who generally stand by +each other. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +POE AND MRS. ALLAN. + + +In the meantime Mr. Allan had contracted a second marriage, the lady +being a Miss Louisa Patterson, of New Jersey. She was thirty years of +age; not handsome, but of dignified and courteous manners, with large, +strongly-marked features, indicative of decision of character and, as +was said, of a will of her own. Nevertheless, she was amiably inclined, +and as a society leader very tactful and diplomatic. One marked +characteristic of hers was that she never forgave the least slight or +disrespect to herself, though the offender were but a child; and of this +I remember some curious instances in my own acquaintance with her, many +years after the time of which I speak. + +It does not appear how Poe received the news of this marriage; but one +thing seems certain--that, strangely enough, the idea never occurred to +him that it in any way affected his own position in Mr. Allan's house. +He had never received from the latter any word to that effect; Miss +Valentine (his "Aunt Nancy"), with the old servants, who had known, and +served, and loved him from his babyhood, were still there, and doubtless +his room was still being kept, as ever before, ready for his occupation. + +It was therefore with perfect confidence that, upon being dismissed from +West Point, he proceeded to Richmond, having barely enough money to pay +his way, and, sounding the brazen knocker of Mr. Allan's door, greeted +the old servant pleasantly, handing him his traveling bag to be carried +to his room, at the same time asking for Miss Valentine. + +The answer of the servant astonished him. His old room had been taken by +Mrs. Allan as a guest-chamber and his personal effects removed to "the +end-room." This was the last of several small apartments opening upon a +narrow corridor extending on one side of the house above the kitchen and +the servants' apartments. It had at one time been occupied by Mrs. +Allan's maid. + +On receiving this information, Poe was extremely indignant, and, +refusing to have his carpet-bag carried to that room, requested to see +Mrs. Allan. + +The lady came down to the parlor in all her dignity, and answered to his +inquiry that she had arranged her house to suit herself; that she had +not been informed that Mr. Poe had any present claim to that room or +that he was expected again to occupy it. Warm words ensued, and she +reminded him that he was a pensioner on her husband's charity, which +provoked him to more than hint that she had married Mr. Allan from +mercenary motives. This was enough for the lady. She sent for her +husband, who was at his place of business, and who, upon hearing her +account of the interview, coupled with the assertion that "Edgar Poe and +herself could not remain a day under the same roof," without seeing Poe, +sent to him an imperative order to leave the house at once, which he +immediately did. It was told by himself that as he crossed the hall Mr. +Allan hastily entered it from a side-door and called harshly to him, at +the same time drawing out his purse, but that he, without pause or +notice, continued on his way. + +This account of the rupture between Poe and the Allans I heard from the +Mackenzies and Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell, wife of Poe's schoolboy friend, +Dr. Robert G. Cabell, to whom Poe himself related it. The friends of the +Allens gave a much more sensational account of the affair, which was +much discussed, and went the rounds of the city, with such additions and +exaggerations as gossip could invent, until it culminated at length in +the dark picture with which Griswold horrified the world. + +It was to this incident that Poe alluded when he told Mrs. Whitman that +"his pride had led him to deliberately throw away a large fortune rather +than submit to a trivial wrong." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE CLOSING OF THE GATE. + + +When Poe, after leaving Mr. Allan's door, crossed the lawn and passed +out of the gate, can any one realize how momentous was the instant of +time in which the gate closed after him, or what a woeful human tragedy +was in that instant inaugurated? The closing of the gate meant the +shutting out forever of his past life; the clang of the iron latch was +the knell of all that had been bright and pleasant and prosperous in +that life, now lost to him forever. There he stood, homeless, penniless, +friendless, utterly alone in the world, with a pathless future before +him, shadowy, dim, no hand to point him onward and no star to guiden. +From this moment commences the true history of Edgar A. Poe. + + * * * * * + +On leaving the Allan house, Poe went directly to the Mackenzies, the +only place to which he could turn, and spent several days with these +kind friends, discussing what would be best for him to do, now that he +had his own way to make in the world. They advised him to begin by +teaching, until he could see his way more clearly; but Richmond was at +present no place for him, and he decided to go to Baltimore, where his +relatives, knowing the city so well, might be able to assist him. The +Mackenzies gave him what money they could spare, and Miss Valentine, on +hearing where he was, sent more. + +But in Baltimore Poe found himself coldly received by his relatives. +Since his miserable failure at West Point, when his prospects had seemed +so bright and all conspiring for his good, they had lost all faith in +him, and did not propose to trouble themselves on his account. On his +last visit, Neilson Poe, at whose house he was staying, had obtained for +him a place in an editor's office, which after a brief trial Poe threw +up. He now again applied for that place, but failed; as also in his +application for the position of assistant teacher in some academy. And +now commenced that wretched life of wandering, and penury, and, +according to Mr. Kennedy, of actual starvation, which is as sad as any +other such history in literature, with the exception of that of poor +Chatterton. His days were passed in roaming about the streets in search +of employment--anything by which he could obtain food and at night a +miserable place where to rest his weary limbs. He wrote a few stories +which he endeavored to dispose of to editors, but met with no success. + +Many stories have been told in regard to this unhappy period of Poe's +life. One, related by a Richmond man, stated that, being in Baltimore +about the time in question, he one day had occasion to visit a +brick-yard, when there passed him by a line of men bearing the freshly +moulded bricks to the kiln. Glancing at them casually, he was amazed to +recognize among them Edgar Poe. He could not be mistaken, having been +for years familiar with his appearance. Whether Poe recognized him, he +could not say; but when he returned next day he was not there, nor did +any one know of the name of Poe among the laborers. It was the opinion +of this man that he had merely picked up a day's job for a day's need. + +He was said to have been recognized in other equally uncongenial +occupations, but relief was at hand in the time of his sorest need. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MRS. CLEMM. + + +His father's sister, Mrs. Maria Clemm, who had for some years been +living in a New York country town, supporting herself and little +daughter by dressmaking, about this time returned to Baltimore, and +hearing from the Poes of the presence of her brother's son in the city, +commenced a search for him. She found him, at length, ill--really ill; +and at once took him to her own humble home, installing him in a room +which had been furnished for a lodger, and from that hour attended and +cared for him with a true motherly devotion. + +Those who believe in the spirit of the old adage, "Blood is thicker than +water," may imagine what a blessed relief this was to the weary and +almost despairing wanderer. Here he had what he needed almost as much as +he did food--rest; rest for the weak and exhausted body and for the +anxious mind as well. Here, in the quiet little room, he could lie and +dream, in the blissful consciousness that near him were the watchful +eyes and careful hands of his own father's sister, ready to attend to +his slightest want. And from the day on which he first entered her +humble abode Poe was never more to be a homeless wanderer. To him it +proved ever a safe little harbor, a sure haven of refuge and repose in +all storms and troubles that assailed, even to his life's end. + +Mrs. Clemm was at this time a strong, vigorous woman, somewhat past +middle age, and of large frame and masculine features. Her manner was +dignified and well-bred, and she was possessed of abundant +self-reliance, ready resource, and, as must be said, of clever artifice +as well, where artifice was necessary to the accomplishment of a +purpose. Her abode, though plainly and cheaply furnished, was a picture +of neatness and such comfort as she could afford to give it; but her +means were only what could be derived from dressmaking, taking a lodger +or two, and at times teaching a few small children. + +This state of affairs dawned upon Poe as he slowly recovered from his +fever-dreams; and he again became aware of the strong necessity of +further exertion on his part. Mrs. Clemm would not allow him to go to a +hospital. Probably she feared to lose him. In some degree, isolated from +her other kindred, she had in her loneliness found a son, and the +pertinacity with which she thenceforth clung to him was something +remarkable. + +Poe soon resumed his weary search for employment, but for some time +without success. In his hours of enforced idleness at home he found +employment in teaching his little cousin, Virginia, a pretty and +affectionate child of ten years, who, however, was fonder of a walk or a +romp with him than of her lessons. She was devoted to her handsome +cousin, and having hitherto lived with her mother and with few or no +playmates or companions, soon learned to depend upon him for all +pleasure or amusement. They called each other both then and ever after, +"Buddie" and "Sissy," while Mrs. Clemm was "Muddie" to both. + +Of this period of Poe's life in Baltimore, Dr. Snodgrass, a literary +Bohemian of the time, has given us glimpses: + +"In Baltimore, his chief resort was the Widow Meagher's place, an +inexpensive but respectable eating-house, with a bar attached and a room +where the customers could indulge in a smoke or a social game of cards. +This was frequented chiefly by printers and employees of shipping +offices. Poe was a great favorite with the Widow Meagher, a kindly old +Irish woman. On entering there you would generally find him seated +behind her oyster counter, at which she presided; himself as silent as +an oyster, grave and retiring. Knowing him to be a poet, she addressed +him always by the old Irish title of _Bard_, and by this name he was +here known. It was, "Bard, have a nip;" "Bard, take a hand." Whenever +anything particularly pleased the old woman's fancy, she would request +Poe to put it in "poethry," and I have seen many of these little pieces +which appeared to me more worthy of preservation than some included in +his published works. + +It happened that Poe one evening, in his wanderings about the streets, +stopped to read a copy of _The Evening Visitor_ exposed for sale, and +had his attention attracted by the offer of a purse of one hundred +dollars for the best original story to be submitted to that journal +anonymously. Remembering his rejected manuscripts, he at once hastened +home and, making them into a neat parcel, dispatched them to the office +of the _Visitor_, though with little or no hope of their meeting with +acceptance. + +His feelings may therefore be imagined when he shortly received a letter +informing him that the prize of one hundred dollars had been awarded to +his story of "The Gold Bug," and desiring him to come to the office of +the _Visitor_ and receive the money. + +It was on this occasion that Poe made the acquaintance of Mr. J. P. +Kennedy, author of "_Swallow Barn_," who proved such a true friend to +him in time of need. Mr. Kennedy says he recognized in the thin, pale, +shabbily dressed but neatly groomed young man a gentleman, and also that +he was starving. He invited him frequently to his table, presented him +with a suit of clothes and, seeing how feeble he was, gave him the use +of a horse for the exercise which he so much needed. He also obtained +for him some employment in the office of the _Evening Visitor_, whose +editor, Mr. Wilmer, accepted several stories from his pen; and it was +now, evidently, that Poe decided upon literature as a profession. + +Under these favoring conditions Poe rapidly recovered his health and +spirits. Mr. Wilmer, who saw a good deal of him at this time, says that +when their office work was done they would often walk out together into +the suburbs, generally accompanied by Virginia, who would never be left +behind. At the office he was punctual, industrious and his work +satisfactory. In all his association with him he never saw him under the +influence of intoxicants or knew him to drink except once, moderately, +when he opened a bottle of wine for a visitor. + +I once clipped from a Baltimore paper the following article by a +reporter to whom the story was related by "a lively and comely old +lady," herself its heroine. I give it as an illustration of the easy +confidence with which Poe, even in his youth, sought the acquaintance of +women who attracted his attention: + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"A PRETTY GIRL WITH AUBURN HAIR WHOM POE LOVED." + + +"The old lady commenced by saying that she had known Poe quite +intimately when she and her mother were residents of Baltimore, about +1832. She was then seventeen years of age and attending a finishing +school in that city. She confided to me, laughingly, that she was +considered a very pretty girl, with dark eyes and curling auburn hair. + +"The first time she noticed Poe, she said, was once when she was +studying her lesson at the window of her room, which was in the rear of +the house. Looking up, she saw a very handsome young man standing at an +opposite back window on the next street looking directly at her. She +pretended to take no notice, but on the following evening the same thing +occurred. He appeared to be writing at his window, and each time that he +laid aside a sheet he would look over at her, and at length bowed. This +time a school friend was with her, who, in a spirit of fun, returned the +bow. That evening, as the two were seated on the veranda together, this +young man sauntered past and, deliberately ascending the steps of the +adjoining house, spoke to them, addressing them by name. He sat for some +time on the dividing rail of the two verandas, making himself very +agreeable, and the acquaintance thus commenced in a mere spirit of +school-girl fun, was kept up for several weeks, some story being +invented to satisfy the mother. + +"'Of course, it was all wrong,' said the old lady, 'but it was fun, +nevertheless; and we girls could see no harm in it. But one evening, +when Mr. Poe and myself had been strolling up and down in the moonlight +until quite late, my mother desired him not to come again, as I was only +a school girl and the neighbors would talk. So our acquaintance ended +abruptly.' She added that, although they never again met, she always +felt the deepest interest in hearing of him, and had never forgotten her +fascinating boy-lover. + +"Asked if she had ever seen Virginia, she replied: 'Yes, several times, +when she was with her cousin;' that 'she was a pretty child, but her +chalky-white complexion spoiled her.'" + +Mr. Allan died in March, 1834, leaving three fine little boys to inherit +his fortune. + +Some time before his death an absurd story was circulated, which we find +related in the Richmond _Standard_, of April, 1881, thirty-one years +after Poe's death, on the authority of Mr. T. H. Ellis, of Richmond. It +appears that a friend of Poe wrote to the latter that Mr. Allan had +spoken kindly of him, seeming to regret his harshness, and advising him +to come on to Richmond and call on him in his illness. Acting upon this +advice, he, one evening in February, presented himself at Mr. Allan's +door. The rest, as told by Ellis, is as follows: + +"He was met at the door by Mrs. Allan, who, not recognizing him, said +that her husband had been forbidden by his physician to see visitors. +Thrusting her rudely aside, he rapidly made his way upstairs and into +the chamber where Mr. Allan sat in an arm-chair, who, on seeing him, +raised his cane, threatening to strike him if he approached nearer, and +ordered him to leave the house, which he did." + +Woodbury asserts the truth of this story, because, as he says, "Mr. +Ellis had the very best means of knowing the truth." But Ellis was at +this time only a youth of 18 or 20, and had no more opportunity of +knowing the truth than the numerous acquaintances of the Allans' to whom +they related their version of the incident, with never a mention of the +cane. Poe, they said, accused the servant of having delivered his +message to Mrs. Allan and, creating some disturbance, the latter called +to the servant to "drive that drunken man away." Mr. Ellis should have +remembered that Mrs. Allan, to the day of her death, asserted that she +had never but once seen Poe; consequently, this story of the second +meeting between them and of Poe's "rudely thrusting her aside," and +being threatened with the cane, is simply a specimen of the gossip which +was continually being circulated concerning Poe by his enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +POE'S DOUBLE MARRIAGE. + + +How it was that Poe, when a mature man of twenty-seven, came to marry +his little cousin of twelve or thirteen has ever appeared something of a +mystery. + +As understood by his Richmond friends, it appeared that when, in July of +1835, he left Baltimore to assume the duties of assistant editor to Mr. +White of the _Southern Literary Messenger_, Virginia, deprived of her +constant companion, so missed him and grieved over his absence that her +mother became alarmed for her health, and wrote to Poe concerning it; +and that in May of the following year the two came to Richmond, where +Poe and Virginia were married, she being at that time not fourteen years +of age. For this marriage Mrs. Clemm was severely criticised, the +universal belief being that she had "made the match." + +Of any other marriage than this these friends never heard; since it was +only from a letter found among Poe's papers after his death, and the +reluctant admission of Mrs. Clemm, that it became known that a previous +marriage had taken place. + +The marriage records of Baltimore show that on September 22, 1835, Edgar +A. Poe took out a license to marry Virginia E. Clemm. Mrs. Clemm, when +interviewed by one of Poe's biographers, admitted that there had been +such a marriage, and stated that the ceremony had been performed by +Bishop John Johns in Old Christ Church; though of this there is no +mention in the church records. Immediately after the ceremony, she said, +Poe returned to Richmond and to his editorial duties on the _Messenger_. +She vouchsafed no explanation, except that the two were engaged previous +to Poe's departure for Richmond. + +A possible explanation of the mystery may be that Mrs. Clemm, having set +her heart upon keeping her nephew in the family, could think of no surer +means than that of a match between himself and her daughter. When he +left Baltimore for Richmond, in July, she doubtless had her fears; and +then came reports of his notorious love affairs, one of which came near +ending in an elopement and marriage. It was probably then that she +wrote to him about Virginia's grieving for him; following up this letter +with another saying that Neilson Poe had offered to take Virginia into +his family and care for her until she should be eighteen years of age. +This brought a prompt reply from Poe, begging that she would not consent +to this plan and take "Sissy" away from him. + +This last letter is dated August 29. What other correspondence followed +we do not know; but two weeks later, on September 11, 1835, we find Poe +writing to his friend, Mr. Kennedy, the following extraordinary letter, +in which he clearly hints at suicide: + +"I am wretched. I know not why. Console me--for you can. But let +it be quickly, or it will be too late. Convince me that it is worth +one's while to live.... Oh, pity me, for I feel that my words are +incoherent.... Urge me to do what is right. Fail not, as you value +your peace of mind hereafter. + + "EDGAR A. POE." + +This production, which, in whatever light it is viewed, cannot but be +regarded as an evidence of pitiable weakness. Some writer has chosen to +attribute Poe's anguish to the prospect of losing Virginia. But it does +not at all appear that such is the case; for, even if Neilson Poe did +make such an offer, Poe knew well enough that neither Mrs. Clemm nor her +daughter would ever consent to accept it. The whole thing appears to +have been simply a plan of Mrs. Clemm to bring matters to the +satisfactory conclusion which she desired. She possessed over her nephew +then and always the influence and authority of a strong and determined +will over a very weak one; and we here see that in less than two months +after Poe's leaving her house she had carried her point and married him +to her daughter. Having thus secured him, she was content to wait a more +propitious time for making the marriage public. + +There is yet a little episode which may have influenced this affair and +may serve further to explain it. + +When Poe first went to Richmond, Mr. White, as a safeguard from the +temptation to evil habits, received him as an inmate of his own home, +where he immediately fell in love with the editor's youngest daughter, +"little Eliza," a lovely girl of eighteen. It was said that the father, +who idolized his daughter, and was also very fond of Poe, did not forbid +the match, but made his consent conditional upon the young man's +remaining perfectly sober for a certain length of time. All was going +well, and the couple were looked upon as engaged, when Mrs. Clemm, who +kept a watchful eye upon her nephew, may have received information of +the affair, and we have seen the result. + +Does this throw any light upon Poe's pitiful appeal, "Urge me to do what +is right"? Was this why the marriage was kept secret--to give time for a +proper breaking off of the match with Elizabeth White? And it is +certain, from all accounts, that Poe now, at once, plunged into the +dissipation which was, according to general report, the occasion of Mr. +White's prohibition of his attentions to his daughter. It was she to +whom the lines, "_To Eliza_," now included in Poe's poems, were +addressed. + +When I was a girl I more than once heard of Eliza White and her love +affair with Edgar Poe. "She was the sweetest girl that I ever knew," +said a lady who had been her schoolmate; "a slender, graceful blonde, +with deep blue eyes, who reminded you of the Watteau Shepherdesses upon +fans. She was a great student, and very bright and intelligent. She was +said to be engaged to Poe, but they never appeared anywhere together. It +was soon broken off on account of his dissipation. I don't think she +ever got over it. She had many admirers, but is still unmarried." + +Recently I read an article written by Mrs. Holmes Cumming, of +Louisville, Kentucky, in which she spoke of persons and places that she +had seen in Richmond associated with Poe. Among others, she met with a +niece of Eliza White, who, when a child, had often seen Poe at the +latter's home. She remembered having at a party seen him dancing with +Eliza, and how every one remarked what a handsome couple they were. She +had never seen any one enjoy dancing more than Poe did; not but that he +was very dignified, but you could see in his whole manner and expression +how he enjoyed it." Perhaps it was because he had "little Eliza" for a +partner. + +Previous to Poe's first marriage, he had boarded with a Mrs. Poore on +Bank street, facing the Capitol square, and with whose son-in-law, Mr. +Thomas W. Cleland, he held friendly relations. A few weeks after his +first marriage (which was still kept secret) he removed to the +establishment of a Mrs. Yarrington, in the same neighborhood, where, +being joined by Mrs. Clemm and Virginia, they lived together as +formerly, he--as he informed Mr. George Poe--paying out of his slender +salary nine dollars a week for their joint board. This continued until +May of the next year, when the public marriage of Poe and Virginia took +place. + +On this occasion Mr. Thomas Cleland was obliging enough to consent to +act as Poe's surety, and he also secured the services of his own pastor, +the Rev. Amasa Converse, a noted Presbyterian minister. Late on the +evening of May 16, Mr. Cleland, with Mrs. Clemm, Poe and Virginia, left +Mrs. Yarrington's and, walking quietly up Main street to the corner of +Seventh, were married in Mr. Converse's own parlor and in the presence +of his family, Mrs. Clemm giving her full and free consent. The +clergyman remarked afterward that Mrs. Clemm struck him as being +"polished, dignified, and agreeable in her bearing," while the bride +"looked very young." The party then returned to their boarding-house, +where Mrs. Clemm invited the lady boarders to her room to partake of +wine and cake, when it was discovered that it was a wedding +celebration.[5] + + [5] A letter to Mrs. Holmes Cumming, from a son of the Rev. + Amasa Converse, 1905. + +It will be observed that, according to the marriage bond, Virginia was +married under her maiden name of Clemm, thus ignoring the former +ceremony; and that Poe subscribed to the oath of Thomas Cleland that she +was "of the full age of twenty-one years," when in reality she was but +thirteen, having been born August 16, 1822. Thus is shown how pliable +was Poe in the hands of his mother-in-law; and as regards Mr. Cleland, +who was a very pious Presbyterian, it can only be hoped that he never +discovered in what manner he had been imposed upon. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE POES IN RICHMOND. + + +When Poe went to Richmond as assistant editor to Mr. White, it had been +with the expectation of resuming his old place among his former friends +and associates--a prospect which, as he himself stated in a letter to +that gentleman, had afforded him very great pleasure. He had no idea of +the altered estimate in which he was held by some of these, and of the +general prejudice existing against him in consequence of the exaggerated +reports concerning his rupture with the Allans and the later story of +his attempt to force himself into Mr. Allan's presence. It is true that +the Mackenzies, the Sullys, Dr. Robert G. Cabell and his wife, with some +others of the best people, remained his firm friends; but he found +himself without social standing and with but few associates among his +former acquaintances. It was even said that when a leading society lady, +enjoying a literary reputation--the mother of Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell +and Mrs. General Winfield Scott--gave an entertainment to which she +invited the talented young editor of the _Messenger_, two of the most +priggish of these gentlemen declined to attend rather than meet their +former schoolmate, Edgar Poe. + +This state of things must undoubtedly have served to irritate and +embitter one of Poe's proud and sensitive nature, and may have partly +led to the dissipated habits in which he now for the first time began to +indulge--besides, in some measure, influencing the extreme bitterness +and severity, or, as it has been called, _venom_ of the criticism for +which the _Messenger_ began to be noted. Never before had he been +accused of unamiability of disposition, but his temper seems suddenly to +have changed, and he was called "haughty, overbearing and quarrelsome." + +A great and, it is to be feared, irreparable obloquy has attached to +Poe's name through the utterance of a single individual--a Mr. Ferguson, +who was employed as a printer's assistant in the office of the +_Messenger_ at the time of Poe's editorship of that magazine. Not many +years ago, Mr. Ferguson, who is still living, said, in answer to some +inquiry concerning the poet: "There never was a more perfect gentleman +than Mr. Poe when he was sober," but that at other times "he would just +as soon lie down in the gutter as anywhere else." And this assertion has +been taken up by one and another writer until it appears now to be +received as a fixed fact. + +I have often heard this statement indignantly denied by persons who knew +Poe at this time. Howsoever much under the influence of drink he might +be, he was, they say, never at any time or by any person seen staggering +through the streets or lying in a gutter. On the contrary, he was +extremely sensitive about being seen by his friends, and especially +ladies, under the influence of drink. + +Poe himself, long after this time, while denying the charge of general +dissipation, confessed that while in Richmond he at long intervals +yielded to temptation, and after each excess was invariably for some +days confined to his bed. And now, in addition to other charges against +him, was that of neglecting his wife and being frequently seen in +attendance on other women; a point on which his motherly friend, Mrs. +Mackenzie, more than once felt herself called upon to remonstrate with +him. He would be, for a week at a time, away from his home, putting up +at various hotels and boarding-houses, and spending his money freely, +instead of, as formerly, committing it to the keeping of his +mother-in-law. Mrs. Clemm, descending from the dignity of a boarder, +tried to open a boarding-house of her own, but failed; and she now +rented a cheap tenement on Seventh street and went back to her +dressmaking, letting out rooms, and probably taking one or two boarders. +But it was seldom that her son-in-law was to be found here; though +always, after one of his excesses, he would seek its seclusion until fit +to again appear in public. + +Mr. Hewitt, who was about this time in Richmond, says that he heard a +great deal of gossip about Poe's love affairs; and describes him as, at +this time, of remarkable personal beauty--"graceful, and with dark, +curling hair and magnificent eyes, wearing a Byron collar and looking +every inch a poet." An old gentleman, a distinguished lawyer, once +undertook his defence, saying: "Poe is one of the kind whom men envy and +calumniate and women adore. How many could resist the temptation?" + +The Mackenzies spoke of Virginia at this time--now fourteen years of +age--as being small for her age, but very _plump_; pretty, but not +especially so, with sweet and gentle manners and the simplicity of a +child. Rose Poe, now twenty-six years of age, would sometimes take her +young sister-in-law to spend an afternoon at the Mackenzies, where she +appeared as much of a child as any of the pupils, joining in their +sports of swinging and skipping rope. On one occasion her +husband--"Buddy"--came unexpectedly to bring her home, when she +scandalized Miss Jane Mackenzie by rushing into the street and greeting +him with the _abandon_ of a child. + +Nearly twenty years after this time there were persons living on Main +street who remembered having almost daily seen about the Old Market, in +business hours, a tall, dignified looking woman, with a market basket +on one arm, while on the other hung a little girl with a round, +ever-smiling face, who was addressed as "Mrs. Poe"! She, too, carried a +basket. + +Whatsoever was the cause of Poe's discontent, he never appeared happy or +satisfied while in Richmond. His dissipated habits grew upon him, with a +consequent neglect of editorial duties, which sorely tried the patience +of his good and kind friend, Mr. White, to whom, it must be admitted, +Poe never appeared sufficiently grateful. Whether Mr. White was +compelled at length to reluctantly discharge him, or whether, as Mr. +Kennedy says, Poe himself gave up his place as editor of the +_Messenger_, thinking that with his now established literary reputation +he could do better in the North, is not clear; but in the summer of 1838 +he left Richmond and, with his family, removed to New York. + +Mrs. Clemm, at least, could not have been averse to the move; for it +seems certain that there was a general prejudice against her on account +of her having made or consented to the match between her little daughter +and a man of Poe's age and dissipated habits. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +IN NEW YORK. + + +Of Poe's business and literary affairs in New York, and subsequently in +Philadelphia, his biographers have fully informed us, but with little or +no mention of his home life or his family. All that we can gather +concerning the latter is that never at any time were their circumstances +such as would enable them to dispense with the utmost economy of living, +and that, as regarded the practical everyday business affairs of life, +Poe was almost as helpless and dependent upon his mother-in-law as was +his child-wife. But for this devoted mother, what could they have +done?--those two, whom she rightly called her "children." + +Poe was sadly disappointed in his hopes of obtaining literary employment +in New York, and but for Mrs. Clemm's opening a boarding-house on +Carmine street, an obscure locality, the family might have starved. +Here, however, he seems to have turned over a new leaf, for one of the +boarders, a Mr. Gowans, a book-seller on the next street, declares that +in the eight months of his residence at Mrs. Clemm's, and a daily +intercourse with Poe, he never saw him otherwise than "sober, courteous, +and a perfect gentleman." Being a stranger in New York, he was removed +from the temptations which had assailed him in Richmond, and this fact +should be noted as a proof that, when left to himself, he showed no +inclination to indulge in dissipation. Of Virginia, Poe's wife, then +fifteen years of age, this gallant old bachelor says, in the exaggerated +style of flattery common in those days: "Her eyes outshone those of any +houri, and her features would defy the genius of a Canova to imitate. +Poe delighted in her round, childlike face and plump little figure." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE REAL VIRGINIA. + + +As regards the nature of Poe's affection for his wife, I have often +recalled an expression of Mr. John Mackenzie when, after the poet's +death, a group of his friends were familiarly discussing his character. +One doubted whether Poe had ever really loved his wife; to which Mr. +Mackenzie replied: "I believe that Edgar loved his wife, but not that he +was ever in love with her--which accounts for his constancy." + +I have heard other men say that it was impossible that Poe, at the age +of twenty-seven, could have felt for the child of twelve, with whom he +had played and romped in the familiar association of home life and the +free intercourse of brother and sister, aught of the absorbing and +idealizing passion of love. At most, said they, there could have been +but the tender and protective affection of an elder brother or cousin; +which, as Mr. Mackenzie remarked, was in one of Poe's temperament the +best guarantee for its continuance. + +Apart from the disparity of age, there was no congeniality of mind or +character to draw these two into sympathy. Virginia was not mentally +gifted, and Poe once, after her death, remarked to Mrs. Mackenzie that +she had never read half of his poems. When writing, he would go to Mrs. +Clemm to explain his ideas or to ask her opinion, but never to Virginia. +She was his pet, his plaything, his little "Sissy," whose sunny temper +and affectionate disposition brightened and cheered his home. + +"She was always a child," said a lady who knew her well. "Even in person +smaller and younger looking than her real age, she retained to the last +the shy sweetness and simplicity of childhood." + +It would certainly appear that Poe's child-wife never attained to the +full completeness of the nature and affections of a mature woman. She +was never known to manifest jealousy of the women whom he so notoriously +admired; neither did scandals disturb nor his neglect estrange her. Mrs. +Clemm would sometimes, as in duty bound, take him to task for his +irregularities, but no word of reproach ever escaped Virginia. She +regarded him with the most implicit and childlike trust; and certainly +it seems that Poe, of all men, knew how, by endearing epithets and +eloquent protestations, to win a woman's confidence--as will presently +appear. + +But, naturally, this was not the kind of affection to satisfy one of +Poe's impassioned and poetic nature. He craved a woman's love, and the +sympathetic appreciation of talented women, in whose companionship, as +Mrs. Whitman assures us, he delighted. What he did not find in Virginia +he sought elsewhere. In special he missed in her that understanding and +appreciation of his genius which he found in some other women. She loved +and admired her handsome and fascinating husband, but never appeared to +take pride in his genius or his fame as a poet. + +The accounts of Virginia's beauty, say those who knew her personally, +have been greatly exaggerated by Poe's biographers, who, taking their +impressions from the description of Mr. Gowans already mentioned, have +painted the poet's child-wife in the most glowing colors. The general +idea of her is like that which Mr. Woodbury expresses: "A sylph-like +creature, of such delicate and ethereal beauty that we almost expect to +see it vanish away, like one of Poe's own creations." + +But the real Virginia was neither delicate nor ethereal. She is +described by those who knew her at the age of twenty-two as looking more +like a girl of fifteen than a woman grown, with, notwithstanding her +frail health, a round, full face and figure, full, pouting lips, a +forehead too high and broad for beauty, and bright black eyes and +raven-black hair, contrasting almost startlingly with a white and +colorless complexion. Her manner and expression were soft and shy, with +something childlike and appealing. "She was liked by every one," says +Mr. Graham. A decided _lisp_ added to her child-likeness. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +POE'S PHILADELPHIA HOME. + + +Poe, disappointed in his hopes of success in New York, left that city +and, in the summer of 1839, removed to Philadelphia, then the literary +center of the United States. + +Of his business experiences while here--his successes and +disappointments--his quarrels with certain editors and literary men and +his friendly relations with others, his biographers have informed us. +But it is in his home and private life that we are interested. + +Their financial circumstances at this time must have been deplorable, +for they had to borrow money to enable them to remove to Philadelphia. +Under the circumstances, to take board was impracticable; and it appears +from the reminiscences of certain neighbors, that they for some time +occupied very poor lodgings in an obscure street in the vicinity of a +market. But Poe was much more successful here than in New York, and we +find them in the following spring established in a home of their own in +a locality known as _Spring Garden_, a quiet suburb far from the dust +and noise of the city. + +Some one has recently taken pains to hunt out with infinite patience and +perseverance this house, which the Poes occupied for nearly five years. +It was an ordinary framed Dutch-roofed building, with but three rooms on +the ground floor, and under the eaves little horizontal strips of +windows on a level with the floor, which could scarcely have admitted +light and air. But there was, when they took possession, a bit of grassy +side yard which had once been part of a garden, and a porch over which +grew a straggling rose-bush. This latter Mrs. Clemm's skillful hands +carefully pruned and trained, thus winning for the humble abode the +title still applied to it of "The poet's rose-embowered cottage," to +which some enthusiast has added, "Where Poe and his idolized Virginia +dreamed their divine dream of love." + +To a lady who was at this time a resident of Spring Garden we are +indebted for a glimpse of the Poes in this their quiet and half-rural +abode. + +"Twice a day, on my way to and from school," she said, "I had to pass +their house, and in summer time often saw them. In the mornings Mrs. +Clemm and her daughter would be generally watering the flowers, which +they had in a bed under the windows. They seemed always cheerful and +happy, and I could hear Mrs. Poe's laugh before I turned the corner. +Mrs. Clemm was always busy. I have seen her of mornings clearing the +front yard, washing the windows and the stoop, and even white-washing +the palings. You would notice how clean and orderly everything looked. +She rented out her front room to lodgers, and used the middle room, next +to the kitchen, for their own living room or parlor. They must have +slept under the roof. We never heard that they were poor, and they kept +pretty much to themselves in the two years we lived near them. I don't +think that in that time I saw Mr. Poe half a dozen times. We heard he +was dissipated, but he always appeared like a gentleman, though thin and +sickly looking. His wife was the picture of health. It was after we +moved away that she became an invalid." + +Mrs. Clemm, she added, was a dress and cloak maker; and she thinks that +Mrs. Poe assisted her, as she would sometimes see the latter seated on +the stoop engaged in sewing. "She was pretty, but not noticeably so. She +was too fleshy." + +This account refers to a time when Poe was assistant editor of _The +Gentleman's Magazine_, and the family were enjoying a degree of peace +and prosperity such as they never subsequently knew. + +Poe lost this position, according to Mr. Burton, the editor-in-chief, by +indulgence in dissipated habits. In replying to this charge, he wrote to +a friend, Mr. Snodgrass, that "on the honor of a gentleman" he had not, +since leaving Richmond, tasted anything stronger than cider, and that +upon one occasion only. In this he was borne out by the testimony of +Mrs. Clemm, who asserted, "I know that for years he never tasted even a +glass of wine." Mr. Burton, in making the charge, adds: "I believe that +for eighteen months previous to this time he had not drank." Still, the +severity and, one might say, almost cruelty of his personal criticisms +continued, and nothing could exceed the bitterness of his vituperation +against those by whom, as he conceived, he had been wronged or unjustly +treated. Mr. Burton, in replying, in a forbearing and even kindly +manner, to a very abusive letter from him, advised him to "lay aside +his ill-feeling against his fellow-writers, and to cultivate a more +tolerant and kindly spirit." He even proposed that Poe should resume his +place upon the magazine, but this he proudly declined, and continued to +contribute his brilliant stories to other periodicals. These attracted +the attention of Mr. Graham, who had just established the magazine which +bore his name, and who offered him the editorship, which Poe accepted, +and gave to it his best work. Under his management it prospered +wonderfully, and soon became the leading periodical of the country. + +Still, with a good salary and a brilliant literary reputation, Poe was +dissatisfied. The old restlessness and discontent returned. What he +desired was a magazine of his own, for which he might be at liberty to +write according to his own will. His independent and ambitious spirit +revolted at being limited to certain bounds and controlled by what he +considered the narrow views of editors. We find him as early as June 26, +1841, writing to Mr. Snodgrass: "Notwithstanding Graham's unceasing +civility and real kindness, I am more and more disgusted with my +situation." It ended at length in his resigning the editorship of +_Graham's_ and devoting himself to writing for other publications, a +step which was the beginning of a long period of financial and other +troubles. + +From Col. Du Solle, editor of "_Noah's New York Sunday Times_," who as a +resident of Philadelphia about that time knew Poe well, I gained some +information concerning him. His dissipation, the Colonel said, was too +notorious to be denied; and that for days, and even weeks at a time, he +would be sharing the bachelor life and quarters of his associates, who +were not aware that he was a married man. He would, on some evenings +when sober, come to the rooms occupied by himself and some other writers +for the press and, producing the manuscript of _The Raven_, read to them +the last additions to it, asking their opinion and suggestions. He +seemed to be having difficulty with it, said Col. Du Solle, and to be +very doubtful as to its merits as a poem. The general opinion of these +critics was against it. + +The irregular habits of this summer resulted in the fall (1839) in a +severe illness, the first of the peculiar attacks to which Poe during +the rest of his life was at intervals subject. On recovering, he devoted +himself to the realization of a plan for establishing a magazine of his +own, to be called "_The Penn Magazine_," and wrote to Mr. Snodgrass that +his "prospects were glorious," and that he intended to give it the +reputation of using no article except from the best writers, and that in +criticism it was to be sternly, absolutely just with both friends and +foe, independent of the medium of a publisher's will." In these last +words we read the whole secret of his past dissatisfaction and of his +future aspiration as an editor. + +The _Penn Magazine_ was advertised to appear on January 1, 1841, but +this scheme was balked by a financial depression which at that time +occurred throughout the country. + +But who will not sympathize with Poe and admit that, considering the +disappointments to which he was continually subject, and the constant +humiliation and drawback of the poverty which met him on every hand, +balking each movement and design--together with the ill-health from +which he was now destined to be a constant sufferer--his faults and +failures should not be treated with every possible allowance? If he were +naturally weak, and lacking in the strength and firmness of will to +determinately resist obstacles and discouragements, we see in it the +effect of the heredity, apparent in his sister; and consequently so much +greater is his claim to be leniently judged. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +VIRGINIA's ILLNESS. + + +In all this time of which we have spoken, embracing a period of several +years, Mrs. Clemm and her daughter continued their quiet life at the +cottage, the former doing what she could toward the support and comfort +of the family. But a great affliction was to befall them, in the +dangerous illness of Virginia, now in her twenty-first year, who had the +misfortune, while singing, to break a small blood-vessel. She had +already developed signs of consumption, and from this time forth +remained more or less an invalid, subject to occasional hemorrhages, +but, from all accounts, losing none of her characteristic cheerfulness +and light-heartedness. + +Poe was at this time still engaged in the editorship _of Graham's +Magazine_, and it is now that we begin to hear of him in the character +of "a devoted husband, watching beside the sick bed of an idolized +wife," with which the world is familiar. Certainly the condition of the +helpless creature who so clung to him, and the real danger which +threatened her, was calculated to awaken all the tenderness of his +nature. + +"She could not bear the slightest exposure," wrote Mr. Harris in _Hearth +and Home_, "all needed the utmost care and all those conveniences as to +apartment and surroundings which are so important in the case of an +invalid. And yet the room where she lay for weeks, hardly able to +breathe except as she was fanned, was a little place with the ceiling so +low over the narrow bed that her head almost touched it." + +Mr. Graham tells how he saw Poe "hovering around his wife's couch with +fond fear and tender anxiety, _shuddering visibly_ at her slightest +cough;" and mentions his driving out with them one summer day, and of +the husband's "watchful eyes eagerly bent on the slightest change in +that beloved face." + +Another literary friend of Poe's who visited the family in this time of +trial, Mr. Clarke, tells of his once taking his little daughter with +him, knowing Virginia to be fond of the companionship of children; and +as a proof of the latter's light-heartedness relates how the little girl +was induced to sing a comic song, which Virginia received with "peal +after peal of merry laughter." + +The reminiscences of these kindly gentlemen who, at Poe's own request, +called upon him, regarding the poet and his family, are of the most +flattering character. Poe in his own home was the perfection of graceful +courtesy, and Mrs. Clemm amiably dignified, with a countenance when +speaking of "her children" almost "saint-like in its expression of +patience and motherly devotion." Of Virginia, Mr. Harris says, "She +looked hardly more than fourteen, was soft, fair and girlish." He says, +furthermore, that Mrs. Poe, whom he had not known previous to her +misfortune, had up to that time "possessed a voice of marvelous +sweetness and a harp and piano," which leads an English writer to +represent the poet's wife as "an accomplished musician, with the voice +of a St. Cecilia." This is a specimen of the exaggeration to which +"biographers" sometimes lend themselves, to be taken up by those who +follow and received by the public as fact. + +Poe now again interested himself in getting up a magazine, to which he +gave the name of "_The Stylus_" and there seemed an even more brilliant +prospect than before of its success. He wrote a prospectus, and went to +Washington to obtain subscriptions from President Tyler and the +Cabinet, but was taken ill, the result, it was said, of his meeting with +a convivial acquaintance; and Mrs. Clemm being notified thereof, on his +return to Philadelphia met him at the railroad station and took him home +in safety from further possible temptation. Owing partly to this +indiscretion, _The Stylus_ was again a failure; and the matter being +known throughout the city, did not add to Poe's personal reputation. + +Now, also, just as for the first time, Poe began to be mentioned in the +character of a devoted husband, there arose a widespread scandal +concerning a handsome and wealthy lady whom, it was said, he accompanied +to Saratoga, and who was paying his expenses there. But while the story +appears to have been so far true, it certainly admits of a different +construction from that given by the gossips. Poe was at this time in +wretched health, hardly able to attend to his literary work, and in +consequence the financial condition of himself and family was +deplorable. What more probable than that some kind friend of his, seeing +the absolute necessity to him of a change, should have invited him to be +her guest at the quiet summer resort near Saratoga to which she was +going? It was a more delicate and, for him, a safer way than to have +supplied him with money on his own account. The lady, it was said, had +her own little turn-out, in which they daily drove into Saratoga; and +this exercise, with the mineral waters, the nourishing food and other +advantages of the place, doubtless secured to him the benefits which his +friend desired. + +It is impossible to believe that Poe could so have defied public opinion +as to have voluntarily given cause for a scandal of this nature, for +which the gossip of a public watering place should alone be held +responsible. + +Poe now again applied himself to his writing, but, for some reason, with +but little success. In desperation he hastily finished the manuscript of +_The Raven_ and offered it to Graham, who, not satisfied as to its +merits as a poem, declined it, but expressed a willingness to abide by +the decision of a number of the office employees, clerks and others, +who, being called in, sat solemnly attentive and critical while Poe read +to them the poem. Their decision was against it, but on learning of the +poet's penniless condition and that, as he confessed, he had not money +to buy medicine for his sick wife, they made up a subscription of +fifteen dollars, which was given, not to Poe himself, but to Mrs. Clemm, +"for the use of the sick lady." + +This account, given in a New York paper by one of the office committee +many years after the poet's death, has been denied by a Mr. William +Johnston, who was at that time an office-boy in Graham's employ. He says +that he was present at the reading of the poem, and that no subscription +was taken up. This may have been done subsequently, without his +knowledge. Of Poe, he spoke in the most enthusiastic terms of admiration +and affection, as the kindest and most courteous gentleman that he had +ever met with; prompt and industrious at his work, and having always a +pleasant word and smile for himself. He never, in the course of Poe's +engagement with Graham, saw him otherwise than perfectly sober. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +BACK TO NEW YORK. + + +Poe, discouraged, and with the old restlessness upon him, suddenly +resolved to leave Philadelphia. On the 6th of April, 1844, he started +with Virginia for New York, leaving Mrs. Clemm to settle their affairs +in general. + +Most fortunately for Poe's memory, there remains to us a letter written +by him to Mrs. Clemm, in which he gives her an account of their journey. +It is of so private and confidential a nature, and speaks so frankly and +freely of such small domestic matters as most persons do not care to +have exposed to strangers, that in reading it one feels almost as if +violating the sacredness of domestic privacy. But I here refer to it as +showing Poe's domestic character in a most attractive light: + + "NEW YORK, Sunday morning, April 7, + just after breakfast. + +"MY DEAR MUDDIE: We have just this moment done breakfast, and I now sit +down to write you about everything.... In the first place, we arrived +safe at Walnut street wharf. The driver wanted me to pay him a dollar, +but I wouldn't. Then I had to pay a boy a levy to put the trunks in the +baggage car. In the meantime I took Sis into the Depot Hotel. It was +only a quarter-past six, and we had to wait until seven.... We started +in good spirits, but did not get here until nearly three o'clock. Sissy +coughed none at all. When we got to the wharf it was raining hard. I +left her on board the boat, after putting the trunks in the ladies' +cabin, and set off to buy an umbrella and look for a boarding-house. I +met a man selling umbrellas, and bought one for twenty-five cents. Then +I went up Greenwich street and soon found a boarding-house.... It has +brown-stone steps and a porch with brown pillars. "Morrison" is the name +on the door. I made a bargain in a few minutes and then got a hack and +went for Sis. I was not gone more than half an hour, and she was quite +astonished to see me back so soon. She didn't expect me for an hour. +There were two other ladies on board, so she wasn't very lonely. When we +got to the house we had to wait about half an hour till the room was +ready. The cheapest board that I ever knew, taking into consideration +the central situation and the _living_. I wish Kate (Virginia's pet cat, +'Catalina') could see it. She would faint. Last night for supper we had +the nicest tea you ever drank, strong and hot; wheat bread and rye +bread, cheese, tea-cakes (elegant), a good dish (two dishes) of elegant +ham and two of cold veal, piled up like a mountain and large slices; +three dishes of the cakes, and everything in the greatest profusion. No +fear of our starving here. The land-lady seemed as if she could not +press us enough, and we were at home directly. Her husband is living +with her, a fat, good-natured old soul. There are eight or ten boarders, +two or three of them ladies--two servants. For breakfast we had +excellent flavored coffee, hot and strong, not too clear and no great +deal of cream; veal cutlets, elegant ham-and-eggs and nice bread and +butter. I never sat down to a more plentiful or a nicer breakfast. I +wish you could have seen the eggs, and the great dishes of meat. I ate +the first hearty breakfast I have eaten since we left our little home. +Sis is delighted, and we are both in excellent spirits. She has coughed +hardly any and had no night-sweat. She is now mending my pants, which I +tore against a nail. I went out last night and bought a skein of silk, +a skein of thread, two buttons and a tin pan for the stove. The fire +kept in all night. We have now got four dollars and a half left. +To-morrow I am going to try and borrow three dollars, so that I may have +a fortnight to go upon. I feel in excellent spirits and have not drank a +drop, so that I hope soon to get out of trouble. The very instant that I +scrape together enough money I will send it on. You can't imagine how +much we both miss you. Sissy had a hearty cry last night because you and +Catalina weren't here. We are resolved to get two rooms the first moment +we can. In the meantime it is impossible that we can be more comfortable +or more at home than we are. Be sure to go to the P. O. and have my +letters forwarded. It looks as if it were going to clear up now. As soon +as I can write the article for Lowell, I will send it to you and get you +to get the money from Graham. Give our best love to Catalina." + + (Signature cut out here.) + +In this letter, written as simply and as unreservedly as that of a child +to its mother, we see Poe himself--Poe in his real nature. Not the poet, +with his studied affectation of gloom and sadness; not the critic, +severe in his judgment of all that did not agree with his standard of +literary excellence, and not even the society man, wearing the mask of +cold and proud reserve--but Poe himself; Poe the man, shut in from the +eyes of the world in the privacy of his home life and the companionship +of his own family. Who could recognize in this gentle, kindly and tender +man, with his playful mood and his affectionate consideration for those +whom he loved--even for _Catalina_--the "morbid and enigmatical" being +that the world chooses to imagine him--the gloomy wanderer amid "the +ghoul-haunted regions of Weir," the despairing soul forever brooding +over the memory of his lost Lenore? And how readily he yields himself to +the enjoyment of the moment; how cheerful he is in a situation which +would depress any other man--a stranger in a strange city, just making a +new start in life, with "four dollars and a half" to begin with! Surely +there is something most pathetic in all this as we see it from Poe's own +unconscious pen; with the purchase of the twenty-five-cent umbrella to +shield "Sissy" from the rain, the two buttons and the skein of thread, +and, ever mindful of Sissy's comfort, the tin pan for the stove. The +picture is invaluable as enabling us to understand the true characters +of Poe and his wife and the peculiar relations existing between +them--Virginia, trustful, loving and happy, and Poe, all kindness and +protective tenderness for his little "Sissy." We look upon it as a +life-like photograph, clear and distinct in every line; Poe with the +traces of care and anxiety for the time swept away from his face, and +Virginia--as she is described at this time--a woman grown, but "looking +not more than fourteen," plump and smiling, with her bright, black eyes +and full pouting lips. It is Poe himself who reveals her character as no +other has done, when he says that, though "delighted" with her new +experience and situation, she yet "had a hearty cry," childlike, missing +her mother and her cat. + +It would have been well for them could they have remained at this model +"cheap" boarding-house, where they were so well provided for. But it was +beyond their means, with board for three persons; and so they look about +for "two rooms," and when ready send for Mrs. Clemm and Catalina. Two +rooms for the three; in one of which Mrs. Clemm must perform all her +domestic operations of cooking and laundering, for, as we afterwards +learn, Poe was indebted to his mother-in-law for that "immaculate linen" +in which, howsoever shabby the outer garments, he invariably appeared. +And despite the threadbare suit, he was always, it was said, as well +groomed and scrupulously neat as the most fastidious gentleman could be. + +That in New York Poe did not at first succeed according to his +expectations is rendered evident by the fact that in the following +October, he being ill, Mrs. Clemm applied to N. P. Willis for some +employment for him, who gave him a place in his office as assistant +editor. Willis says that Mrs. Clemm's countenance as she pleaded for her +son-in-law was "beautiful and saintly by reason of an evident complete +giving up of her life to privation and sorrowful tenderness" for those +whom she loved. Of Poe, he says that he was "a quiet, patient, +industrious and most gentlemanly person, commanding the utmost respect +and good feeling of every one." He also says, in speaking of a lecture +which he delivered about this time before the _New York Lyceum_, and +which was attended by several hundred persons: "He becomes a desk; his +beautiful head showing like a statuary embodiment of Discrimination--his +accent like a knife through water." + +It was now--in January, 1845--that _The Raven_ was published in the +_Evening Mirror_, taking the world by storm. Probably no one was more +surprised at its immediate success than was Poe himself, who, as he +afterwards stated to a friend, had never had much opinion of the poem. +He now found himself elevated to the highest rank of American literary +fame, and with this his worldly fortune should also have risen, yet we +find him going on in the same rut as before, writing but little for the +magazine and for that little being poorly paid--too poorly to enable the +family to live in any degree of comfort. From one cheap lodging to +another they removed, with such frequency as to suggest to us the +suspicion that their rent was not always ready when due. + +But after some time the old discontent returned upon Poe. Willis and the +_Mirror_ were too narrow for him; and he sought and was fortunate enough +to obtain a place on the _Broadway Journal_, at that time the leading +journal of the day, and of which he was soon appointed assistant editor. + +With a good salary, the family were now enabled to live in more comfort. +They rented a front and back room on the third story of an old house on +East Broadway, which had once been the residence of a prosperous +merchant, but had long ago been given over to the use of poor but +respectable tenants. It was musty and mouldy, but here they were +elevated somewhat above the noise and dust of the street, and had +sunlight and a good view from the narrow windows. + +It was here that, late one evening, Mr. R. H. Stoddard, whose sarcastic +pen is so well known, called on Poe instead of at his office, to inquire +the fate of a certain "_Ode_" which he had sent to the _Broadway +Journal_ for publication. Necessarily he was received in the front room, +which was Virginia's. The following is his account of the visit: + +"Poe received me with the courtesy habitual with him when he was +himself, and gave me to understand that my _Ode_ would be published in +the next number of his paper.... What did he look like?... He was +dressed in black from head to foot, except, of course, that his linen +was spotlessly white.... The most noticeable things about him were his +high forehead, dark hair and sharp, black eye. His cousin-wife, always +an invalid, was lying on a bed between himself and me. She never +stirred, but her mother came out of the back parlor and was introduced +to me by her courtly nephew." + +Stoddard is here mistaken in his description of Poe's eyes. They were +neither sharp nor black, but large, soft, dreamy eyes, of a fine +steel-gray, clear as crystal, and with a jet-black pupil, which would in +certain lights expand until the eyes appeared to be all black. Stoddard +continues: + +"I saw Poe once again, and for the last time. It was a rainy afternoon, +such as we have in our November, and he was standing under an awning +waiting for the shower to pass over. My conviction was that I ought to +offer him my umbrella and go home with him, but I left him standing +there, and there I see him still, and shall always, poor and penniless, +but proud, reliant, dominant. May the gods forgive me! I never can +forgive myself." + +In April, five months after this time, Poe's old habits unfortunately +returned upon him. Mr. Lowell one day, in passing through New York, +called to see him, when Mrs. Clemm excused his "strange actions" by +frankly stating that "Edgar was not himself that day." She afterward +made the same statement to Mr. Briggs, whose assistant editor Poe was, +and who writes, June, 1845, to Lowell: "I believe he had not drank +anything for more than eighteen months until the last three months, and +concludes that he would have to dispense with his services. The matter +was settled, however, by Poe's proposing to buy the _Broadway Journal_, +hoping to make of it in a measure what he had desired for the _Stylus_. +The prospect seemed to promise fair enough for its success, and Mr. +Greeley and Mr. Griswold each generously contributed a sum of fifty +dollars; but the plan finally failed for want of sufficient funds, +George Poe, to whom Edgar applied, remembering his former unpaid loan, +making no response to his appeal. This was another great disappointment +to Poe, just as on former occasions his hopes seemed on the point of +realization. Thus, in whatsoever direction he turned, grim poverty faced +and frowned him down. Surely, it was enough to discourage him; and yet +to the end of his life he eagerly followed this illusive hope. + +Mrs. Clemm, too, who had in this time been trying to support the family +by keeping a boarding-house, also met with her disappointments. For some +reason her boarders never remained long with her, and the family, who +had removed to obscure lodgings on Amity street, now found themselves in +one of their frequent seasons of poverty and distress. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +POE AND MRS. OSGOOD. + + +It was a fortunate day when Mrs. Clemm, hunting about the suburbs of the +great city for a cheap place of abode, discovered the little cottage at +Fordham, a country railroad station some miles from New York. + +It was but an humble place at best, an old cottage of four rooms, in +ill-repair; but the rent was low, the situation--on the summit of a +rocky knoll--pleasant, affording fine views of the Harlem river; and +there was pure air, plenty of outdoor space, and that famous cherry +tree, now, in the month of May, in full and fragrant bloom. A few +repairs were made, and Mrs. Clemm's vigorous hands, with the assistance +of soap and water and whitewash, soon transformed the neglected abode +into a miracle of neatness and order. Checked matting hid the worn +parlor floor, and the cheap furniture which they had brought with them +looked better here than ever it had done in the cramped and stuffy +rooms of the city. Outside a neglected rose-bush was trained against the +wall, supplying Virginia with roses in its season. Her room was above +the parlor, at the head of a narrow staircase; a low-ceiled apartment, +with sloping walls and small, square windows; and it was here at a desk +or table near his wife's sick bed that most of Poe's writing was now +done. + +In the preceding winter Virginia's health had apparently greatly +improved, and her illness was not of so serious a nature as to confine +her entirely to the house or to interfere with the social or literary +engagements of her husband, who was, as poet, lecturer, editor and +critic, at the zenith of his fame. In this time he had attended the +_soirees_ of Miss Lynch and others of the literary class, once or twice +accompanied by his wife. At these he made the acquaintance of Mrs. +Hewitt, Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith and Mrs. E. F. Ellet, with others of +the "starry sisterhood of poetesses," as they were called by some +poetaster of the day, with each of whom he in succession formed one of +the sentimental platonic friendships to which he was given. All these, +however, were destined to yield to the superior attractions of a sister +poetess, Mrs. Frances Sergeant Osgood, wife of the artist of that name. + +Mrs. Osgood, at this time about thirty-years of age, is described by R. +H. Stoddard as "A paragon--not only loved by men, but liked by women as +well." Attractive in person, bright, witty and sweet-natured, she won +even the splenatic Thomas Dunn English and the stoical Greeley, whose +approval of her was as frankly expressed as was his denunciation of the +"ugliness, self-conceit and disagreeableness" of her friend, the +transcendentalist, Margaret Fuller. + +Poe, who had written a very flattering notice of Mrs. Osgood's poems--in +return for which she addressed him some lines in the character of +_Israefel_--obtained an introduction and visited her frequently. Also, +at his request, she called upon his wife, and friendly relations were +soon established between them. To her, after Poe's death, we are +indebted for a characteristic picture of the poet and his wife in their +home in Amity street; and which, though almost too well known for +repetition, I will here give as a specimen of his home life: + +"It was in his own simple yet poetical home that the character of Edgar +Poe appeared to me in its most beautiful light. Playful, affectionate, +witty, alternately docile and wayward as a petted child, for his young, +gentle and idolized wife and for all who came, he had, even in the midst +of the most harassing literary duties, a kind word, a pleasant smile, a +graceful and courteous attention. At his desk, beneath the romantic +picture of his loved and lost Lenore'[6] patient, assiduous, +uncomplaining, tracing in an exquisitely clear chirography and with +almost superhuman swiftness the lightning thoughts, the rare and radiant +fancies as they flowed through his wonderful brain. For hours I have +listened entranced to his strains of almost celestial eloquence. + + [6] A pencil sketch of Mrs. Stanard by Poe himself. + +"I recollect one morning toward the close of his residence in this city, +when he seemed unusually gay and light-hearted, Virginia, his sweet +wife, had written me a pressing invitation to come to them, and I, who +never could resist her affectionate summons, and who enjoyed his society +far more in his own home than elsewhere, hastened to Amity street. I +found him just completing his series of papers called "_The Literati of +New York_." 'Now,' said he, displaying in laughing triumph several +little rolls of narrow paper (he always wrote thus for the press), 'I am +going to show you by the difference of length in these the different +degrees of estimation in which I hold all you literary people. In each +of these one of you is rolled up and fully discussed. Come, Virginia, +and help me.' And one by one they unfolded them. At last they came to +one which seemed interminable. Virginia laughingly ran to one corner of +the room with one end and her husband went to the opposite with the +other. 'And whose linked sweetness long drawn out is that?' said I. +'Hear her,' he cried; 'just as if her little vain heart didn't tell her +it's herself.'" + +From this account--the exaggerated phrases of which will be noted--it +would appear that a great degree of intimacy existed between Poe and his +fair visitor, when he could in his own home--the two tiny rooms in Amity +street--write "hour after hour" undisturbed by her presence. Virginia +was delighted with her new friend, but Mrs. Clemm, noting these frequent +and lengthy visits, regarded her with a suspicious eye. Too well she +knew of the platonic friendships of her Eddie; but there appeared +something in this affair beyond what was usual, and, in fact, gossip +had already begun to link together their names. Mrs. Osgood herself +seems to have relied upon Mrs. Poe's frequent invitations and fondness +for her society as a shield against meddlesome tongues, but in vain--for +not only were the jealous and vigilant eyes of Poe's mother-in-law bent +upon her, but those of the "starry sisterhood" as well. There was a +flutter and a chatter in the literary dovecote, and at length one of the +starry ones--Mrs. Ellet--concluded it to be her bounden duty to inquire +into the matter. Calling at Fordham one day, in Poe's absence, she and +Mrs. Clemm, who had probably never before met, engaged in a confidential +discussion, in the course of which the irate mother-in-law showed the +visitor a letter from Mrs. Osgood to Poe (one wonders how she got +possession of that letter), the contents of which were so opposed to all +the latter's ideas of propriety that it was clear that something would +have to be done. Eventually two of the starry ones--of whom one was +Margaret Fuller--waited upon Mrs. Osgood, whom they advised to +commission them to demand of Poe the return of her letters, which, +strangely enough, she did, though probably only as a conciliatory +measure. Poe, in his exasperation at this unwarrantable intermeddling, +remarked significantly that "Mrs. Ellet had better come and look after +her own letters;" upon which she sent to demand them. But he meantime +had cut her acquaintance by leaving them at her own door without either +written word or message; very much, we may imagine, as Dean Swift strode +into Vanessa's presence and threw at her feet her letter to Stella. + +This was either in May or early June, shortly after their removal to +Fordham. Poe had no idea of allowing this episode to interfere with his +visits to Mrs. Osgood, and the gossip continued, until, to avoid further +annoyance, she left New York and went to Albany on a visit to her +brother-in-law, Dr. Harrington. + +On the 12th of June we find Poe writing an affectionate note to his +wife, explaining why he stays away from her that night, and concluding +with: + +"Sleep well, and God grant you a peaceful summer with your devoted + + "EDGAR." + +A few days after this, toward the end of June, he was in Albany, making +passionate love to Mrs. Osgood. In dismay she left that city and went to +Boston, whither he followed her; and again to Lowell and Providence, +giving rise to a widespread scandal, which caused the lady infinite +trouble and distress. But Mrs. Osgood, brilliant, talented and virtuous, +was also kind-hearted to a fault, and where her feelings and sympathies +were appealed to, amiably weak. Instead of indignantly and determinately +rejecting Poe's impassioned love-making, she says she pitied him, argued +with him, appealed to his reason and better feelings, and, in special, +reminded him of his sick wife, who lay dying at home and longing for his +presence. Finally, she returned to Albany; and Poe, ill at a hotel, +wrote urgently to Mrs. Clemm for money to pay his board bill and take +him back to Fordham. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +AT FORDHAM. + + +It was at this time, in the summer of 1845, that Poe's sister, Miss +Rosalie Poe, went on a visit to her brother, whom she had not seen in +ten years. On her return home, and for years thereafter, she was +accustomed to speak of this visit; and it was a curious picture which +she gave of the life of the poet and his family in the humble little +cottage on Fordham Hill. + +Poe was away when she arrived--presumably in his insane pursuit of Mrs. +Osgood. Miss Poe told of "Aunt Clemm's" distress and anxiety on his +account, and of how she "scraped together every penny" and borrowed +money from herself to send to Edgar, who, she said, had been taken ill +while on a business trip. There were no provisions in the house +scarcely, and she herself, both then and at various other times, would +purchase supplies from the market and grocers' wagons which passed; for +there were no stores at the little country station of Fordham. + +Miss Poe told of her brother's arrival at home, and of how she overheard +Mrs. Clemm administering to him a severe "scolding." He was so ill that +he had to be put to bed by Mrs. Clemm, who sat up with him all night +while he "talked out of his head" and begged for morphine. After some +days he was better, and walked about the house and sat under the pine +trees crowning a rocky knoll within calling distance of the house--ever +a constant and favorite retreat of his, affording fine views of the +river and neighboring country. + +One day, still weak and ill, he sat at his desk and looked over his +papers. Mrs. Clemm then took his place, and wrote at his dictation. Aunt +Clemm, said Rosalie, could exactly imitate Edgar's writing. On the +following day she filled her satchel with some of these papers and went +to the city, whence she returned late in the evening, quite after dark, +with a hamper of provisions and medicines to Virginia's great delight, +who had feared some mishap to her mother and cried accordingly. Miss Poe +believed that this hamper was a present from some one, but Aunt Clemm +was very reserved toward her in regard to her affairs. She knew, she +said, that Mrs. Clemm had never liked her, but Edgar and Virginia were +kind. + +From this time Poe wrote industriously, seldom going to town, but +sending his mother-in-law instead. Several times Mrs. Clemm gave her +niece some "copying" to do, but this was not to her a very gratifying +task, and when, on her return home, she was asked what it was about, had +not the least idea! She always insisted that _Anabel Lee_ was written at +this time, as she repeatedly heard Edgar read it to Mrs. Clemm and also +to himself, and recognized it when it was published two years afterward. +A curious picture was that which she gave of the poet's reading his +manuscript to his mother-in-law while the latter sat beside his desk +inking the worn seams of his and her own garments; or of Poe, seated on +a "settle" outside the kitchen door, also reading to her some of his +"rare and radiant fancies," while she presided over the family laundry. +He seems to have been constantly appealing to her sympathy with his +writing, but never to Virginia. + +According to Miss Poe, Mrs. Clemm was at this time dependent for her own +earnings on her sewing and fancy knitting, with pretty knick-knacks, +which she disposed of at a certain "notion store." Virginia, too, when +well enough, liked this kind of work. They had few visitors, for Mrs. +Clemm, too busy for gossip, made a point of discouraging calls from the +neighbors, with the exception of two or three families of better class +than most of those surrounding them. These latter were a half-rural +people, keeping dairies and cultivating market gardens. + +Miss Poe spoke of Virginia's cheerfulness. Nothing ever disturbed her. +"She was always laughing." She liked to have children about her; and +they came every day, bringing their dolls and playthings, with little +offerings of fruit and flowers from their home gardens. She taught them +to cut out and make their dolls' dresses, and would sometimes be very +merry with them. She did not appear to suffer, said Miss Poe--did not +lose flesh, and had always a hearty appetite, eating what the others +ate, though very fond of nice things, especially candy. Her mother and +Edgar petted her like a baby. "Aunt Clemm and Virginia," declared Miss +Poe with conviction, "cared for nobody but themselves and Edgar." +Virginia was at this time twenty-four years of age. + +It was not to be wondered at that, as Miss Poe said, her brother, +immediately after his return, remained at home, seldom going into town, +but sending his mother to dispose of his manuscripts. It has been said +that when he did make his appearance in the city and among his usual +business haunts, he found himself everywhere coldly received, in +consequence of the notorious episode with Mrs. Osgood, for whom it was +known he had left his sick wife. His literary enemies, of whom he had +made many by his keen criticisms, made the most of this charge against +him, in addition to that of dissipated habits, to which he now gave +himself up with a recklessness which he had never before shown. + +Poe afterward attempted to defend himself against this reproach and the +whole scandal of this season by attributing its excesses to his grief +and anxiety on account of his wife, whom, he says, he "loved as man +never loved before," a phrase the extravagance of which betrays its +insincerity. He describes how through the years of her illness he "loved +her more and more dearly and clung to her with the most desperate +pertinacity, until he became insane, with intervals of horrible +sanity.... During these fits of absolute unconsciousness I drank." And +thus he endeavors to explain away his pursuit of Mrs. Osgood! + +It cannot but be noted that in all Poe's accounts of himself, and +especially of his feelings, is a palpable affectation and exaggeration, +with an extravagance of expression bordering on the tragic and +melo-dramatic; a style which is exemplified in some of his writings, and +may be equally imaginative in both cases. + +Mrs. Osgood also, in her "_Reminiscences_," after Poe's death, sought to +clear both him and herself from the scandal of that summer by writing of +the affection and confidence existing between himself and his wife--"his +idolized Virginia"--as she saw them in their home, and declares her +belief that his wife was the only woman whom he had ever really loved. +In this we do not feel disposed to question her sincerity. Touching the +slander against herself, she wrote to a friend: + +"You have proof in Mrs. Poe's letters to me and Poe's to Mrs. Ellet, +either of which would fully establish my innocence.... Neither of them, +as you know, were persons likely to take much trouble to prove a woman's +innocence, and it was only because she felt that I had been cruelly +wronged by _her mother_ and Mrs. Ellet that she impulsively rendered me +this justice." + +Of course, the letter of Mrs. Poe here referred to was written at the +suggestion of her husband, but it is curious to observe how frankly and +_naively_ Mrs. Osgood--not now writing for the public--expresses her +real opinion of Poe and his wife. + +Mrs. Osgood goes on to say: "Oh, it is too cruel that I, the only one of +all those women who did _not_ seek his acquaintance, should be sought +out after his death as the only victim to suffer from the slanders of +his mother." + +From this it would appear that _after Poe's death_ the old scandal was +revived, and by Mrs. Clemm herself. About this time she was having +frequent interviews with Dr. Griswold in regard to Poe's papers, which +she had handed over to him for use in the _Memoirs_ upon which he was +engaged. Naturally, Mrs. Clemm, who seems never to have forgiven Mrs. +Osgood for the troubles of that unfortunate first summer at Fordham, +would express herself freely to Griswold, who was a warm friend and +admirer of Mrs. Osgood. Was it on account of such utterances that +Griswold wrote to Mrs. Whitman: + +"Be very careful what you say to Mrs. Clemm. She is not your friend or +anybody's friend, and has no element of goodness or kindness in her +nature, but whose heart is full of wickedness and malice." + +Mrs. Osgood was a lovely and estimable woman, and if she did allow her +admiration of Poe and her warm-hearted sympathy with one of a kindred +poetic nature to impulsively carry her beyond the bounds of a strictly +platonic friendship, it was in all innocence on her part, and did not +lose her the good opinion of those who knew her. The blame was all for +Poe and the feeling against him intense. + +Undoubtedly the impression which she made on Poe was something beyond +what he ordinarily experienced toward women. In my own acquaintance with +him he several times spoke of her, and always with a sort of grave and +reverential tenderness--as one may speak of the dead, or as he might +have spoken of the lost friend of his boyhood, Mrs. Stanard. Although, +as Mrs. Osgood says, Poe and herself never met in the few remaining +years of their lives, yet several of his poems, without any real attempt +at disguise, express his remembrance of her. It was to her that the +lines "_To F----_" were addressed, after their parting: + + "Beloved, amid the earnest woes + That crowd around my earthly path-- + (Dear path, alas! where grows + Not e'en one thornless rose)-- + My soul at last a solace hath + In dreams of thee--and therein knows + An Eden of calm repose. + + "And thus thy memory is to me + Like some enchanted far-off isle + In some tumultuous sea; + Some ocean throbbing far and free + With storms--but where meanwhile + Serenest skies continually + Just o'er that one bright island smile." + +In "_A Dream_" he thus again alludes to her: + + "That holy dream, that holy dream, + When all the world was chiding, + Hath cheered me like a lovely beam + A lonely spirit guiding. + + "What though that light through storm and night + Still trembles from afar? + What could there be more purely bright + Than truth's day-star?" + +About the same time he wrote the lines, "_To My Mother_," the only one +of his poems in which he alluded to his wife, concluding with the +couplet: + + "By that infinitude which made my wife + Dearer unto my soul than its own life." + +It will be observed that the sentimental things, in both prose and +verse, which Poe has written concerning his love for his wife--and they +are but two or three at most--were written immediately after his affair +with Mrs. Osgood and the universal charge against him that he had +deserted a dying wife for her sake. It is impossible that at this remote +period of time it could be understood how seriously--from all +contemporaneous accounts--Poe's reputation was affected by this +unfortunate episode; especially at the North, where it was best known. + +When Miss Poe left Fordham, in July, she carried with her a letter from +Mrs. Clemm to Mr. John Mackenzie, soliciting pecuniary aid for Edgar on +plea of his wretched health. Mr. Mackenzie was at this time married and +with a family of his own, but he never lost his interest in his old +friend or ceased to assist him so far as was in his power. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE SHADOW AT THE DOOR. + + +During the winter and succeeding summer matters did not improve at the +cottage. Poe, with health completely shattered and spirits horribly +depressed, remained at home with his sick wife for the most part, only +occasionally arousing himself to write. A lady, who was at this time a +little girl and one of Virginia's visitors, afterward told a reporter of +how she would sometimes see Mr. Poe writing at his table in the upstairs +room, and how as each sheet was finished he would paste it on to the +last one, until it was long enough to reach across the floor. Then she +would venture to roll it up for him in a neat cylinder, taking care not +to disturb him. Sometimes, when he was not employed, he would tell the +children blood-curdling stories of ghouls and goblins, when his eyes +would light up in a wonderful manner. "I lost my heart to those +beautiful eyes," she said. + +Mrs. Clemm continued to make the rounds of the editors' offices with +these manuscripts, but met with little success. Poe's mind was not at +its brightest. He was not in a writing mood; and, as has been since +observed, he was reduced to the expedient of rewriting and altering +certain smaller articles and offering them to the more obscure papers +and journals. Mrs. Clemm, in the midst of her manifold duties, could do +but little with her sewing in the way of support for the family. So her +furniture went, piece by piece, the furniture which Miss Poe had so +often described--the parlor box-lounge upon which she slept; the +dining-table, which stood in the midst of the room, ready for the meal +which was so seldom placed upon it; the large engraving above the +mantelpiece, and the collection of sea-shells--all disappeared, until +the once cosey little apartment presented a bare and poverty-stricken +appearance. Mrs. Gove, one of the literary women of the day, described +it as being furnished with only a checked matting, a small corner-stand, +a hanging-shelf of books and four chairs. + +Years afterward, when strangers would visit the cottage at Fordham, they +would hear from the neighbors pathetic accounts of the family during +this summer of 1846. + +"We knew that they were poor," said one, "but they tried to keep it to +themselves. Many a time I have wanted to send them things from my +garden, but was afraid to do so." + +One old dame said to a New York reporter: "I've known when they were out +of provisions, for then Mrs. Clemm, who always seemed cheerful, would +come out with a basket and a shining case-knife and go 'round digging +greens (dandelions). Once I said to her, says I, 'Greens may be took too +frequent.' 'Oh, no,' says she, smiling, 'they cool the blood, and Eddie +likes them.'" + +Thus poor Mrs. Clemm, with her assumed cheerfulness, would seek to +produce the impression that their dinner of wild herbs was a matter of +choice instead of necessity. + +Another neighbor said to a visitor: "I never saw checked matting last as +theirs did. There was nothing upstairs but an old cot in a little +hall-room or closet, where Mrs. Clemm slept, and an old table and chair +and bed in the next room, where Mr. Poe wrote. But you could eat your +dinner off the two floors." + +The testimony of still another was: "In the kitchen she had only a +little stove, a pine table and a chair; but the floor was as white as +the table, and the tins as bright as silver. I don't think that she had +more than a dozen pieces of crockery, all on a little shelf in the +kitchen. The only meat I've ever known them to have was a five-cent bone +for soup or a few butcher's trimmings for a stew; but it seemed Mrs. +Clemm could make a little of anything go twice as far as other people +could." + +In the early part of this summer Virginia's health appeared better than +usual. A neighbor who lived nearest them said to a visitor to Poe's old +home: "In fine weather that summer--the summer before she died--we could +sometimes see her sitting at her front door, wrapped up, with her +husband or mother beside her, Mr. Poe reading a paper and Mrs. Clemm +knitting. Most times there would be one or two children along, and Mr. +Poe would play ball with them while his wife laughingly looked on. She +looked like a child herself, hardly taller than they were. Well--no; she +wasn't exactly pretty. She looked _too spooky_, with her white face and +big, black eyes; but she was interesting looking, and we felt sorry for +her--and for them all, for that matter. You could see they had known +better days." + +As the summer wore on, and the first autumn breezes shook the leaves +from the cherry tree, a change came over Virginia. Mrs. Clemm wrote to +Miss Poe that unless she could go to her relations at the South--a thing +not to be thought of--she would not live through the winter. Eddie's +health was completely broken, and unless she herself remained strong +enough to take care of them both, all would have to go to the +poor-house. These letters were generally indirect appeals for pecuniary +aid. Through similar pathetic accounts given by Mrs. Clemm to editors to +whom she offered manuscripts, the condition of the poet and his family +became known and was commented upon by the public papers, to Poe's great +indignation, who took occasion in an anonymous communication to deny its +truth. But that it was no time for pride to stand in the way of dire +necessity is evident from the account of Mrs. Gove on her first visit to +the cottage late in that fall. One can hardly realize a condition of +things such as she described--the bare and fireless room, the bed with +its thin, white covering and the military cloak--a relic of the West +Point days--spread over it, and the sick woman, "whose only means of +warmth was as her husband held her hands and her mother her feet, while +she herself hugged a large tortoise-shell cat to her bosom." And the +thin, haggard man, suffering like his wife from cold and the lack of +nourishing food, but who yet received his visitor with such courtly +elegance of manner, was the author of _The Raven_, with which the world +was even then being thrilled! + +It was a blessed day for the distressed family that on which, about the +last of October, Mrs. Shew came to the now bleak little cottage on the +hill and, like a ministering angel, devoted herself to caring for and +comforting them--not only as regarded their material wants but with kind +and encouraging words as well. With a sufficient competence and the +medical education given her by her father, she was enabled thus to +devote herself to the service of those who could not afford the +attendance of a regular physician. + +Not only did she supply them with medicine, but with careful nursing and +proper food prepared by her own hands in Mrs. Clemm's little kitchen. +Mrs. Gove collected sixty dollars, with which their other wants were +supplied; so that during the months of November and December the family +were more comfortably situated than was usual with them. But meantime +Virginia rapidly declined, until it became evident that her frail life +was very near its close. + +On the day before her death Poe, in mortal dread of that awful _shadow_ +which had been so long in its approach and now stood upon their +threshold, wrote urgently to Mrs. Shew to come and pass the night with +them. "My poor Virginia still lives, though failing fast." She came, in +time to take leave of the dying wife. + +One of Poe's biographers[7] has stated that on the day previous to Mrs. +Poe's death she requested Mrs. Shew to read two letters from the second +Mrs. Allen exonerating Poe from having ever caused a difficulty in her +house. To those who knew Mrs. Allan and had heard from herself and her +family the frequent accounts of that occurrence--accounts never +retracted by her to her dying day--this statement is not worth a +moment's consideration. The only question is, Who wrote those letters, +and how is it that they were never made public or again heard of? And +who could have imposed upon the dying woman a task such as this, instead +of themselves taking the responsibility? + + [7] Ingraham. + +From this incident, if the account be true, it would appear that +Virginia was gentle, obedient and submissive to the last. On the day +following--January 3, 1847--her innocent, childlike spirit passed away +from earth. + +She was in the twenty-sixth year of her age. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +MRS. SHEW. + + +With the death of his wife a great horror and gloom fell upon Poe. The +blow which he had for years dreaded had at length fallen. That which he +had feared and loathed above all things--the monster, Death--had entered +his home and made it desolate. As a poet, he could delight in writing +about the death of the young and lovely, but from the dread reality he +shrank with an almost superstitious horror and loathing. It was said, on +Mrs. Clemm's authority, that he refused to look upon the face of his +dead wife. He desired to have no remembrance of the features touched by +the transforming fingers of death. + +Mrs. Shew still kindly ministered to him, endeavoring also to arouse him +from his gloom and encourage him to renewed effort. But it seemed at +first useless. He had no hope or cheering beyond the grave, and it was +at this time that he might appropriately have written: + + "A voice from out of the future cries + 'On! on!' but o'er the past-- + Dim gulf--my spirit hovering lies, + Mute, motionless, aghast." + +Mrs. Shew, a thoroughly practical woman of sound, good sense and +judgment, and with so little of the æsthetic that she confessed to Poe +that she had never read his poems, nevertheless took a friendly interest +in him and felt for him in his loneliness. To afford him the benefit of +a change, she took him as her patient to her own home and commissioned +him to furnish her dining-room and library according to his own taste. +She also encouraged him to write, placing pen and paper before him and +bidding him to try; and in this way, it is claimed by one account, "_The +Bells_" came to be written, or at least begun. Under the influence of +cheerful society, comfort and good cheer, Poe's health and spirits +improved, and on his return home he again commenced writing. Soon, +however, a relapse occurred, and his kind friend and physician found it +necessary to resume her visits to Fordham. For all this Poe was +grateful, but, unfortunately, he was more; and at length on a certain +day he so far betrayed his feelings that Mrs. Shew then and there +informed him that her visits to him must cease. On the day following she +wrote a farewell letter, in which she gave him advice and directions in +regard to his health, warning him of its precarious state, and of the +necessity of his abandoning the habits which were making a wreck of him +mentally and physically. She advised him as the only thing that could +save him to marry some good woman possessed of sufficient means to +support him in comfort, and who would love him well enough to spare him +the necessity of mental overwork, for which he was not now fitted. + +It may be here remarked that of all the women that we know of to whom +Poe offered his platonic devotion, Mrs. Shew was the only one by whom it +was promptly and decidedly rejected. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +QUIET LIFE AT FORDHAM. + + +The beginning of this year was a dreary time at the cottage at Fordham. +The resources of the family, which had been generously contributed to, +mostly by strangers and anonymously, were now exhausted, and Poe, still +ill and in wretched spirits, was not capable of the exertion necessary +to replenish them. In the preceding summer he had by a severe criticism +of Thomas Dunn English aroused the ire of that gentleman, who revenged +himself in an article for which Poe brought a suit of libel, recovering +damages to the amount of two hundred and fifty dollars--a welcome boon +in a time of need. He remained at home, applying himself to his writing, +and, mindful of Mrs. Shew's advice, abstained from stimulants and took +regular exercise on the country roads about Fordham. His frequent +companion in these walks was a priest of St. John's College, near +Fordham, who, being an educated and intellectual man, must have proven +a most congenial and welcome acquaintance. This priest, who seems to +have known Poe well, declares that he "made a superhuman struggle +against starvation," and speaks of him as a gentle and amiable man, +easily influenced by a kind word or act. + +Most of his time, said Mrs. Clemm, was passed out of doors. He did not +like the loneliness of the house, and would not remain alone in the room +in which Virginia had died. When he chose to write at night, as was +sometimes the case, and was particularly absorbed in his subject, he +would have his devoted mother-in-law sit beside him, "dozing in her +chair" and at intervals supplying him with hot coffee, or Catalina, his +wife's old pet, perched upon his knee or shoulder, cheering him with her +gentle purring. Virginia's death seemed to have drawn these three more +closely together. They could thenceforth often be seen walking up and +down the garden-walk, Poe and his mother, arm-in-arm, or with their arms +about each other's waists, and Catalina staidly keeping pace with them, +rubbing and purring. Mrs. Clemm told Stoddard how, when Poe was about +this time writing "_Eureka_," he would walk at night up and down the +veranda explaining his views and dragging her along with him, "until her +teeth chattered and she was nearly frozen." It is to be feared that he +was not always sufficiently considerate of his indulgent mother-in-law. + +Poe soon experienced the benefits of his restful and temperate life. +Health and spirits improved, and he began to take an interest in the +everyday things about him. As spring advanced, he and Mrs. Clemm laid +out some flower beds in the front garden and planted them with flowers +and vines given by the neighbors, until when in May the cherry tree +again blossomed the little abode assumed quite an attractive appearance. +Upon an old "settle" left by a former tenant, and which Mrs. Clemm's +skillful hands had mended and scrubbed and stained into respectability +and placed beneath the cherry tree as a garden-seat, Poe might now often +be seen reclining; gazing up into the branches, where birds and bees +flitted in and out, or talking and whistling to his own pets, a parrot +and bobolink, whose cages hung in the branches. A passer-by was +impressed by the picture presented quite early one summer morning of the +poet and his mother standing together on the green turf, smilingly +looking up and talking to these pets. Here, on the convenient _settle_, +on returning from one of his long sunrise rambles, he would rest until +summoned by his mother to his frugal breakfast. + +I have at various times heard persons remark that in reading the life of +a distinguished man they have desired to know some of the lesser details +of his daily life--as, how did he dress? what did he eat? We have all +been interested in learning that General Washington liked corn bread and +fried bacon for breakfast; that Sir Walter Scott was fond of "oaten +grills with milk," and that Wordsworth's favorite lunch was bread and +raisins. As regards Poe, we must go back to his sister's account of what +his morning meal consisted of while she was at Fordham--"a pretzel and +two cups of strong coffee;" or, when there was no pretzel, the crusty +part of a loaf with a bit of salt herring as a relish. Poe had the +reputation of being a very moderate eater and of preferring simple +viands, even at the luxurious tables of his friends. He was fond of +fruit, and his sister said of buttermilk and curds, which they obtained +from their rural neighbors. But we recall his enjoyment of the "elegant" +tea-cakes at the Morrisons on Greenwich street and the fried eggs for +breakfast. + +A lady who as a little girl knew Poe and his mother at this time said to +a correspondent of the _New York Commercial Advertiser_: "We lived so +near them that we saw them every day. They lived miserably, and in +abject poverty. He was naturally improvident, and but for the neighbors +they must have starved. My mother sent many a thing from her storeroom +to their table. He was not a man who drank in the common acceptation of +the term, but those were days when wine ran like water, and not to serve +it would seem niggardly. I remember that one day 'Muddie,' as Mr. Poe +called Mrs. Clemm, came to our house and asked us not to offer wine to +Edgar, as his head was weak, but that he did not like to refuse it." + +As an illustration of the fascination which Poe possessed, even for +strangers, is the following letter from Mr. John DeGalliford, of +Chattanooga, Tenn., to this same New York correspondent: + +"I am drawn to you by your defense of Edgar A. Poe. I love him, though I +met him but once. It was in September, 1845. I was sitting on a pile +watching our bark that was moored to the pile. A quiet, neatly-dressed +gentleman came up to me and asked me numberless questions in regard to +our seafaring life. He was so lovable in his conversation that I never +forgot him, and I prize the memory of those few hours of his sweet talk +with me and hold it sacred to his memory. He could not have been a +drinking man, for his looks did not show it. On my telling that I was a +runaway boy from Kentucky, he took some scraps of paper from his pocket +and took notes, saying that he could make a nice story of what I had +told him. I took him aboard the bark and showed him a pet monkey I had +brought from Natal. He ate a piece of biscuit and drank some cold +coffee, and said he would come again and see me and get acquainted with +my captain. This was years ago, and I am now an old man, seventy-three +years old, but I can remember, word for word, all that passed." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +WITH OLD FRIENDS. + + +It must be admitted that Poe, after his affair with Mrs. Osgood and the +severe illness which followed, was never again what he had been. With +health and spirits impaired, his intellect had in a great measure lost +its brilliant creative power--its inspirations, as we may call it--and +thenceforth his writings were no longer the spontaneous and +irrepressible impulse of genius, but the product of mental effort and +labor. In special had his poetic talent in a measure deserted him, as is +evident in his latest poems, with one or two exceptions. Recognizing +this condition--and with what a pang we may imagine--he recalled Mrs. +Shew's advice in regard to a second marriage, and, admitting its wisdom, +began to look about for a suitable matrimonial partner. Finally his +choice fell upon Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman, of Providence, Rhode Island, +one of the "poetesses" of the time, and the most brilliant of them all. + +A consideration which doubtless chiefly influenced him in this choice +was that Mrs. Whitman, being a lady of literary taste and independent +means, would be likely to take an interest in the _Stylus_, the hope of +establishing which he had never abandoned, and would assist him in +carrying out his plans in regard to it. + +Of Mrs. Whitman, at this time about forty-five years of age, I have the +following account from a lady--Mrs. F. H. Kellogg--whose mother was an +intimate friend and near neighbor of hers in Providence: + +"She was considered very eccentric--impulsive and regardless of +conventionalities. She dressed always in white, and on the coldest +winter evenings, with snow on the ground, would cross over to our house +in thin slippers and with nothing on her head but a thin, gauzy, white +scarf. She probably thought this æsthetic--and perhaps it was. There was +one thing which I must not omit to mention, because it was a part of +herself--_ether_. The scent accompanied her everywhere. It was said she +could not write except under its influence, but of this I do not know." + +As an illustration of her impulsive ways, Mrs. Kellogg says: + +"I was one evening, when a little girl, sitting on the front steps when +she and her sister, Miss Powers, crossed over to our house. They went +into the parlor, and I heard Mrs. Whitman ask my sister to sing for her +_The Mocking Bird_. She appreciated my sister's beautiful singing, but +on this occasion, while she was in the very midst of '_Listen to the +Mocking Bird_,' suddenly a cloud of white rushed past me like a tornado, +and I heard Mrs. Whitman's voice exclaiming excitedly, '_I have it! I +have it!_' Of course, we were all astonished and could not understand it +at all, until Miss Powers afterward explained it to us. It seems that +the beautiful music and singing had excited in her some poetic thought +or idea; and, regardless or forgetful of conventionalities, she had +impulsively rushed home to put it in writing, or perhaps in poetry, +before it should vanish away." + +Miss Sarah Jacobs, one of Griswold's "_Female Poets_," and a friend of +Mrs. Whitman, describes her as small and dark, with deep-set dreamy eyes +"that looked above and beyond but never _at_ you;" quick, bird-like +motions, and as being a believer in occult influences, as Poe himself +professed to be. "For all the sweet, poetic fragrance of her nature, she +took an interest in common things. She was wise, she was witty; and no +one could be long in her presence without becoming aware of the sweet +and generous sympathy of her nature." + +Up to this time Poe and Mrs. Whitman had never met, though Mrs. Osgood +says that the lady had written to him and sent him a valentine, of which +he had taken no notice. This was against him in his present venture, but +he was not discouraged. He set about his courtship in his usual manner, +by addressing to Mrs. Whitman (June 10) some lines--"_To +Helen_"--commencing: + + "I saw thee once--once only;--" + +supposed to commemorate his first sight of her as, passing her garden +"one July midnight," he beheld her robed in white, reclining on a bank +of violets, with her eyes raised heavenward. + + "No footsteps stirred; the hated world all slept, + Save only thee and me. Oh, heaven--oh, God! + How my heart beats in coupling those two words-- + Save only _thee and me_!" + +So, he continues, he gazed entranced until--the hour being past midnight +and a storm-cloud threatening--the lady very properly arose and +disappeared from his sight; all but her eyes. These remained and +followed him home, and had followed him ever since: + + "----two sweetly scintillant + Venuses; unextinguished by the sun." + +All this must have been very gratifying to Mrs. Whitman--if she believed +in it--but, remembering her neglected valentine, she was in no haste to +acknowledge the poetic offering, and Poe, after waiting some weeks, had +his attention drawn in another direction. + +He had written to his friend, Mr. Mackenzie, concerning his matrimonial +aspirations, and he now received an answer, suggesting that he come to +Richmond and try his fortune with an old-time school-girl sweetheart, +Miss Sarah Elmira Royster, now a rich "Widow Shelton," who had several +times of late inquired after him and sent her "remembrances." + +Animated by this new hope, he, late in the summer of 1847, proceeded to +Richmond, where he visited among his friends and called upon Mrs. +Shelton, but especially paid attention to a pretty widow, a Mrs. Clarke. +This lady, when a resident of Louisville, Kentucky, many years after +Poe's death, gave to the editor of a paper some reminiscences of him at +this time. + +"The good lady was deeply interested that the world might think well of +Poe, and grew warm on the subject of his wrongs. She claimed that the +poet was a Virginian, and, like most Virginians, she is very proud of +her State. She wondered where Gill had gotten the material for Poe's +vindication. She had first met Poe at the Mackenzies, when he was editor +of the _Southern Literary Messenger_, and he afterward boarded at the +same hotel as herself; but she saw most of him on his visit to Richmond +previous to his last. He was then at her house daily, and sometimes two +or three times a day. He came there, as he said, to rest. + +"If there happened to be friends present he was often obliging enough +to read, and would sometimes read some of his own poems; but he would +never read _The Raven_ unless he felt in the mood for it. When in +Richmond he generally stayed with the Mackenzies at _Duncan Lodge_, and +would drive in with them at any time. One day he came in with his sister +and two of the Mackenzies and stopped with me. There were some other +people present, and he read _The Raven_ for us. He shut out the daylight +and read by an astral lamp on the table. When he was through all of us +that had any tact whatever spared our comments and let our thanks be +brief; for he was most impatient of both." + +Of Poe's reading, Mrs. Clark spoke with enthusiasm. "It was altogether +peculiar and indescribable," she said. "I have heard _The Raven_ read by +his friend, John R. Thompson, and others, but it sounded so strange and +affected, compared with his own delivery. Poe had a wonderful +voice--rich, mellow and sweet. I cannot give you any idea of it. Edwin +Booth sometimes reminds me of him in his eyes and expression, but Poe's +voice was peculiar to himself. I have never heard anything like it. He +often read from Shelley and other poets. One day he pointed out to me +in one of Shelley's poems what he considered the truest characteristic +of hopeless love that he knew of: + + "'The desire of the moth for the star, + Of the night for the morrow.' + +"I enjoyed a good deal of his society during that visit in 1847. On his +last visit I saw less of him. He was then said to be engaged to a Mrs. +Shelton. Some said he was marrying her for her money. There was a good +deal of gossip at that time concerning Poe. His intemperate habits +especially were exaggerated and made the most of by those who did not +like him, while his companions in dissipation escaped unnoticed. When he +was in company at a party for instance--you might see a little of him in +the earlier part of the evening, but he would presently be off +somewhere. Then his eccentricities; I think that when a very young man +he imitated Byron." + +Mrs. Clarke said she had seldom seen a good likeness of Poe. The best +she had cut from an old magazine. "This engraving," she said, showing +it, reflects at once the fastidiousness and the virility characteristic +of his temperament. All the others have an expression pitiably weak. +His worst calumniators could hardly desire for him a harder fate than +the continual reproduction of that feeble visage. When he had money he +was lavish and over-generous with it. He was always refined. You felt it +in his very presence. And as long as I knew him, and as much as I was +with him, I never saw him in the least intoxicated. I have seen him when +he had had enough wine to make him talk with even more than his usual +brilliancy. Indeed, to talk in a large general company, some little +stimulant was necessary to him. Dr. Griswold says he was arrogant, +dogmatic and impatient of contradiction. I have heard him engage in +discussions frequently; oftenest with diffidence, always with +consideration for others. In a large company it was only when +exhilarated with wine that he spoke out his views and ideas with any +degree of self-assertion." + +Mrs. Clarke said that his sister, Rosalie, was rather pretty and +resembled himself somewhat in appearance, but "was as different as +possible in mental capacity. She was amiable, patient and +sweet-tempered, but as a companion wholly tiresome and monotonous. She +seemed to have had little or no individuality or force of character. She +thought a great deal of her brother, but during the greater part of +their lives they had seen nothing of each other. The family of Mr. +Mackenzie treated her affectionately and kindly, and until the breaking +up of the household she remained with them, and then went to Baltimore +to her relatives, the Poes. I don't know what became of her afterwards." + +Mrs. Clarke speaks of Poe's reading and lectures during his first visit +to Richmond; but these were mere small social entertainments at the +houses of various acquaintances. He really gave but one public lecture +during this visit to Richmond. One evening at Mrs. Mackenzie's she said +to him: "Edgar, since people appear so eager to hear you repeat _The +Raven_, why not give a public recital, which might benefit you +financially?" Being further urged, he finally yielded. One hundred +tickets were advertised, at fifty cents each, and the music hall of the +fashionable Exchange Hotel engaged for the occasion. On the appointed +evening Poe stepped upon the platform to face an audience of _thirteen_ +persons, including the janitor and several to whom complimentary tickets +had been presented. Of these was Mrs. Shelton, who occupied a seat +directly in front of the platform. Poe was cool and selfpossessed, but +his delivery mechanical and rather hurried, and on concluding he bowed +and abruptly retired. One of the audience remarked upon the unlucky +number of thirteen; and Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell commented indignantly +upon the indifference of the Richmond people to "their own great poet." +Poe was undoubtedly in a degree mortified, not at the indifference +manifested, but at the picture presented by the large and brilliantly +lighted hall and himself addressing the group of thirteen which +constituted the audience. But his failure may be explained by the fact +that in this month of August the _elite_ and educated people of the city +were mostly absent in the mountains and by the sea-shore; and the +weather being extremely sultry, few were inclined to exchange the cool +breezes of the "city of the seven hills" for a crowded and heated +lecture room, even to hear _The Raven_ read by its author. + +During this visit of Poe to Richmond, I, with my mother and sister, was +away from home, in the mountains, and we thus missed seeing him. On our +return shortly after his departure, we heard various anecdotes +concerning him, one or two of which I subjoin as illustrative of his +natural disposition. + +One evening, quite late, an alarm of fire was raised, and all the young +men of Duncan Lodge, accompanied by Poe, hastened to the scene of +disaster, about a mile further in the country. Finding a great crowd +collected, and that their services were not required, they sat on a +fence looking on, and it was past midnight when they thought of +returning home. Gay young Dr. "Tom" Mackenzie remarked that it would +never do to return in their immaculate white linen suits, as they would +be sure to get a "wigging" from the old ladies for not having helped to +put out the fire, and, besides, they were all hungry, and he knew how +they could get a good supper. With that he seized a piece of charred +wood and commenced besmirching their white garments and their hands and +faces, including Poe's. Arriving at home in an apparently exhausted +condition, they were treated by Mrs. Mackenzie herself, who would not +disturb her servants, to the best that the pantry afforded, nor was the +trick discovered until the following day. Mrs. Mackenzie laughed, but +from Mrs. Carter, the mother of two of the culprits, and who was gifted +with eloquence, they got the "wigging" which they had been anxious to +avoid. And from accounts, Poe enjoyed it all immensely. + +A lady told me that one evening, going over to Duncan Lodge, her +attention was attracted by the sound of voices in the garden, where she +beheld all the young men in the broad central alley engaged in the +classic game of "leapfrog." When it came to Mr. Poe's turn, she said, +"he took a swift run and skimmed over their backs like a bird, seeming +hardly to touch the ground. I never saw the like." Mr. Jones, Mrs. +Mackenzie's son-in-law, who was rather large and heavy, came to grief in +his performance, and no one laughed more heartily than did Poe. + +Was this the melancholy, morbid, "weird and wholly incomprehensible +being" that the world has pictured the author of _The Raven_? Among +these youthful spirits and his old friends, the depressing influences of +his late life and home--the poverty, the friendlessness--seemed to +vanish, and his real disposition reasserted itself. Pity that it could +not have been always so. I am convinced that a great deal of Poe's +unhappiness and apparent reserve and solitariness was owing to his +obscure home life, which kept him apart from all genial social +influences. At the North, wherever seen out of his business hours, he +appears to have been "alone and solitary, proud and melancholy +looking," says one, who had no idea of the loneliness of spirit, the +lack of genial companionship, which made him so. With a few he was on +friendly terms, but of intimate friends or associates he had not one so +far as is known. + +Of the Mackenzies, so closely associated with Poe during his lifetime, +I may be allowed to say that a more attractive family group I have +rarely known. Beside those I have mentioned were the two youngest +members, "Mr. Dick" and Mattie or "Mat"--wayward, generous, warm-hearted +Mat, indifferent to people's opinion and heedless of conventionalities. +She cared for nothing so much as her horse and dog, and spent an hour +each day in the stables, while her aunt, Miss Jane, would exclaim in +despair: "I don't know what to do with Martha. I cannot make a lady of +her;" to which she would answer with a satisfied assurance that nature +had never intended her to be a lady. + +But about this time--in October--Mat was married. There are ladies +living who have heard from their mothers, at that time young girls, +accounts of this famous wedding. The festivities were kept up for full +two weeks, with ever-changing house parties, and each evening music and +dancing, with unbounded hospitality. Miss Jane Mackenzie, upon whom the +family chiefly depended, and whose fortune they expected to inherit, was +gone on a visit to her brother in London; but she had given Mat a +liberal sum wherewith to celebrate her wedding. Sadly my thoughts pass +from this gay time over the next ten years or so to the time of "the +war" and the changes which it brought to this family and to us all. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +MRS. WHITMAN. + + +Poe was still in Richmond, presumably courting the widow Shelton, though +in so quiet a manner that it attracted little or no attention, when he +unexpectedly received from Mrs. Whitman, who seems to have repented of +her silence, a letter or poem of so encouraging a nature that he +immediately left Richmond and proceeded to New York. Here he obtained a +letter of introduction to Mrs. Whitman, which he on the following day +presented to that lady at her home in Providence. The next evening he +spent in her company, and on the succeeding day asked her to marry him! + +Receiving no definite answer, he, on his return to New York, sent her a +letter in which, alluding to his previous intention of addressing Mrs. +Shelton, he says: + +"Your letter reached me on the very day on which I was about to enter +upon a course which would have borne me far away from you, sweet, sweet +Helen, and the divine dream of your love." + +A few weeks later, when he had obtained from her a conditional promise +of marriage, he again wrote--a letter in which he clearly alludes to his +still cherished design of establishing the _Stylus_, from which he +anticipates such brilliant results. Thus he artfully and apparently for +the first time seeks to interest her in the scheme. + +"Am I right, dearest Helen, in the impression that you are ambitious? If +so, and if you will have faith in me, I can and will satisfy your +wildest desires. It would be a glorious triumph for us, darling--for you +and me ... to establish in America the sole unquestionable +aristocracy--that of the intellect; to secure its supremacy, to lead and +control it. All this I can do, Helen, and will--if you bid me _and aid +me_." + +Aware of her belief in occult and spiritual influences, he tells her +that once, on hearing a lady repeat certain utterances of hers which +appeared but the secret reflex of his own spirit, his soul seemed +suddenly to become one with hers. "From that hour I loved you. I have +never seen or heard your name without a shiver, half of delight, half of +anxiety. The impression left upon my mind was that you were still a +wife." (No such scruple had disturbed him in the case of Mrs. Osgood and +others.) He goes on thus artfully to explain the incident of his +declining Mrs. Osgood's offer of an introduction to Mrs. Whitman while +in Providence. "For this reason I shunned your presence. You may +remember that once, when I passed through Providence with Mrs. Osgood, I +positively refused to accompany her to your house. I dared neither go, +or say why I could not. I dared not speak of you, much less see you. +_For years_ your name never passed my lips, while my soul drank in with +a delirious thirst all that was uttered in my presence respecting you." + +It will be observed that he is here speaking of a time when his wife, +whom he "loved as man never before loved," was yet living; and also when +he was giving himself up to his unreasoning passion for Mrs. Osgood, +whom he had followed to Providence. + +After this, who shall undertake to defend Poe from the charge of +insincerity and dissimulation? + +Mrs. Osgood calls Poe's letters "divinely beautiful." We cannot tell how +Mrs. Whitman was affected by them, but certainly her whole course +exhibits her in a constant struggle between her own inclination and the +influence of friends who desired to save her from the match with Poe. As +early as January 21, 1848, it was known to the public that an engagement +existed between the two, and I have the authority of Mrs. Kellogg for +the statement that during the summer of that year Mrs. Whitman three +times renewed this engagement and was as often compelled to break it, +owing to his unfortunate habits. The last engagement was made on his +solemnly vowing reformation; on which a day was fixed for the marriage +and the services of a clergyman bespoken by Poe himself, who thereupon +wrote to Mrs. Clemm desiring her to be ready to receive himself and his +bride--at Fordham! + +One may imagine the dismay of poor Mrs. Clemm when she read this letter +and looked around the humble home with its low-ceiled upstairs room, +which had been Virginia's; the pine kitchen table and her dozen pieces +of crockery. For once her strong mind and resourceful talent must have +failed her. How was she to accommodate the fastidious bride of her most +inconsiderate son-in-law? How even provide a wedding repast against +their arrival? But happily she was spared the horror of such an +experience, for on the appointed day Poe arrived at Fordham alone, +though in a state of nervous excitement, which necessitated days and +even weeks of careful nursing on the part of his patient and +long-suffering mother-in-law. + +This final separation between the two--for they never again met--was +caused by Poe's intemperance at his hotel in Providence on the day +previous to that appointed for his marriage. He had delivered a lecture +which was enthusiastically applauded, and on his return to the hotel he +found himself surrounded by an admiring crowd, whose hospitalities he at +first resolutely declined, but with his usual weakness of will, finally +yielded to. Of the stormy scene when, on the following day, Mrs. Whitman +finally and decisively refused to marry him, she has herself given an +account, representing Poe as alternately pleading and "raving" in his +unwillingness to accept her decision. But there can be no question but +that he was at this time either in some degree mentally unbalanced or in +such a state physically as that the least excess would serve to excite +his mind beyond its normal condition and render him partly +irresponsible. Of this we have proof in the fact of his intention of +taking his proposed bride to Fordham. + +That Mrs. Whitman was really interested in her gifted and eccentric +suitor is evident, and in her heart she was loyal to him, as is shown by +her defence of him after his death, and also by the lines which she +addressed to him some months after their separation, entitled, "_The +Isle of Dreams_." Most of her poems written after this time had some +reference to him; and it is worthy of note that no woman whom Poe +professed to love ever lost her interest in him. The fascination which +he exerted over them must have been something extraordinary. + +As regards Poe's feelings toward Mrs. Whitman, it is evident from the +beginning that there was no real love on his part. He expressed no +regret at the ending of his "divine dream of love," but seems rather to +have experienced toward her a degree of resentment which thus found +expression in a letter to a friend: + +"From this day forth I shun the pestilential society of literary women. +They are a heartless, unnatural, venomous, dishonorable set, with no +guiding principle but inordinate self-esteem. Mrs. Osgood is the only +exception I know of." + +This tirade was doubtless excited partly by a scandal just now started +by one of the literary set in question concerning Poe and a young +married lady of Lowell. While delivering a lecture in that city he had +been hospitably entertained at her home, where he spent several days, +with the usual result of contracting a sentimental friendship with the +charming hostess, whom he calls "Annie." During the latter part of his +engagement to Mrs. Whitman his visits and attentions to this lady did +not escape the notice of the "literary set," and a scandal was at once +started by one of them, who drew the attention of "Annie's" husband to +the matter. He accepted Poe's explanation and his proposal rather to +give up the society of these friends than to be the cause of trouble to +them, saying: + +"I cannot and will not have it upon my conscience that I have interfered +with the domestic happiness of _the only being on earth whom I have +loved at the same time with purity and with truth_." + +Certainly an extraordinary avowal to be made to the lady's husband; and +we ask ourselves to how many women had he made a similar declaration? + +We have seen that when Poe for the last time left Mrs. Whitman's he went +direct to Fordham, where, said Mrs. Clemm, he raved about "Annie," and +even sent to her, reminding her of the "holy promise which he had +exacted from her in their hour of parting, that she would come to him on +his bed of death," and now claiming the fulfilment of that promise. +Whether or not she complied does not appear; but it is more than likely +that the lines, "_For Annie_," were suggested by his fever-dreams of her +presence, first written while still half-delirious, and subsequently +slightly altered to their present form. This piece, with the lines, "_To +My Mother_," after being declined by all the more prominent magazines, +finally appeared in the cheap "_Boston Weekly_," and must have been a +surprise to "Annie" and her husband. + +But there was one woman of the "literary set" who showed that she at +least was not deserving of the sweeping condemnation wherewith the irate +poet had visited them. This was Mrs. Anna Estelle Lewis, a young poetess +who, with her husband, was on friendly terms with Poe, and whose poems +he had favorably noticed. Poe was still, mentally and physically, in a +state which rendered him incapable of writing, and the condition at +Fordham was deplorable. Suspecting this state of things, Mrs. Lewis and +her husband invited Poe to visit them at their home in Brooklyn, and Mr. +Lewis says that thenceforth they frequently had both himself and Mrs. +Clemm to stay with them. It was this kindly couple that R. H. Stoddard +so sharply satirizes in his "_Reminiscences_" of Poe, while accepting an +evening's hospitality at their home after the poet's death. On this +occasion he met with Mrs. Clemm, of whom he has given a pen picture of +which we instinctively recognize the life-likeness. We can see the good +lady seated serenely among the company in her "black bombazine and +conventional widow's cap," lightly fingering her eye-glasses, as was her +company habit, and with her strongly marked features wearing that +"benevolent" smile which was characteristic of her most amiable moods. +"She assured me," says Stoddard, "that she had often heard her Eddie +speak of me--which I doubted--and that she believed she had also heard +him speak of the stripling by my side--which was an impossibility.... +She regretted that she had no more autographs to dispose of, but hinted +that she could manufacture them, since she could exactly imitate her +Eddie's handwriting; and this she told as though it had been to her +credit." + +Deeply chagrined at the ending of his affair with Mrs. Whitman, and +consequent disappointment in regard to the _Stylus_, Poe now, encouraged +by his mother-in-law, again turned his thoughts to Mrs. Shelton. + +It was in July that he and Mrs. Clemm left Fordham, he to proceed to +Richmond, and she, having let their rooms until his return, to stay with +the Lewises. Mr. Lewis says that it was at his front door that Poe took +an affectionate leave of them all; Mrs. Clemm, ever watchful and careful +against possible temptation or pitfalls by the way, accompanying him to +the boat to see him off. In parting from her he spoke cheeringly and +affectionately. "God bless you, my own darling Muddie. Do not fear for +Eddie. See how good I will be while away; and I will come back to love +and comfort you."[8] + + [8] Ingram. + +And so, smiling and hopeful, the devoted mother stood upon the pier and +watched to the last the receding form which she was never again to +behold. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +AGAIN IN RICHMOND. + + +When Poe came to Richmond on this visit, he went first to Duncan Lodge, +but afterward, for sake of the convenience of being in the city, took +board at the old _Swan Tavern_, on Broad street, once a fashionable +hostelry, but at this time little more than a cheap, though respectable, +boarding-house for business men. Broad street--so named from its unusual +width--extended several miles in a straight line from Chimberazo Heights +and Church Hill on the east, where Mrs. Shelton had her residence, to +the western suburbs, where Duncan Lodge and our own home of "_Talavera_" +were situated. This was the route which Poe traversed in his visits to +Mrs. Shelton. There were no street cars in those days, hacks were +expensive, and the walk from "the Swan" to Church Hill was long and +fatiguing. Poe would break his journey by stopping to rest at the office +of Dr. John Carter, a young physician who had recently hung out his +sign, about half-way between those two points. + +During the three months of his stay in Richmond we saw a good deal of +Poe. He appeared at first to be in not very good health or spirits, but +soon brightened up and was invariably cheerful, seeming to be enjoying +himself. I do not know to what it was to be attributed, unless to his +increased fame as a poet, but certainly his reception in Richmond at +this time was very different from what it had been two years previously. +He became the fashion; and was _fêted_ in society and discussed in the +papers. His friend, Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell--a first cousin of Mrs. +Allan--inaugurated the evening entertainments to which people were +invited "to meet Mr. Poe." It was generally expected that at these +gatherings he would recite _The Raven_, and this he was often obliging +enough to do, though we knew that it was to him an unwelcome task. In +our own home, no matter who were the visitors, we would never allow this +request to be made of him after he had on one occasion gratified us by a +recital. I remember on this occasion being disappointed in his manner of +delivery. I had expected some little graceful and expressive action, +but he sat motionless as a statue except that at the line, + + "_Prophet! cried I, thing of evil!_" + +he slightly erected his head; and again, in repeating: + + "Get thee back into the tempest and the night's plutonian shore!" + +he turned his face suddenly though slightly toward the outer darkness of +the open window near which he sat, each time raising his voice. He +explained his own idea to be that any action served to attract the +attention of the audience from the poem to the speaker, thus detracting +from the effect of the former. I was told how, at one of these +entertainments, Poe was embarrassed by the persistent attentions of a +moth or beetle, until a sympathetic old lady took a seat beside him and, +with wild wavings of a huge fan, kept the troublesome insect at a +distance. This mingling of the comic with the tragic element rather +spoiled the effect of the latter, and though Poe preserved his dignity, +he was perceptibly annoyed. + +I never saw Mr. Poe in a large company, but was told that on such +occasions he invariably assumed his mask of cold and proud reserve, not +untouched by an expression of sadness, which was natural to his features +when in repose. It was then that he "looked every inch a poet." In +general companies he disliked any attempt to draw him out, never +expressing himself freely, and at times manifesting a shyness amounting +almost to an appearance of diffidence, which was very noticeable. + +A marked peculiarity was that he never, while in Richmond, either in +society or elsewhere, made any advance to acquaintance, or sought an +introduction, even to a lady. Aware of the estimation in which his +character was held by some persons, he stood aloof, in proud +independence, though responding with ready courtesy to any advance from +others. Ladies who desired Mr. Poe's acquaintance would be compelled to +privately seek an introduction from some friend, since he himself never +requested it, and it was observed that he preferred the society of +mature women to that of the youthful belles, who were enthusiastic over +the author of _Lenore_ and _The Raven_. + +Mr. Poe spent his mornings in town, but in the evenings would generally +drive out to Duncan Lodge with some of the Mackenzies. He liked the +half-country neighborhood, and would sometimes join us in our sunset +rambles in the romantic old Hermitage grounds. Those were pleasant +evenings at Duncan Lodge and Talavera, with no lack of company at either +place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +A MORNING WITH POE AND "THE RAVEN." + +(A Leaf from a Journal.) + + +One pleasant though slightly drizzly morning in the latter part of +September I sat in our parlor at Talavera at a table on which were some +new magazines and a vase of tea roses freshly gathered. Opposite me sat +Mr. Poe. A basket of grapes--his favorite fruit--had been placed between +us; and as we leisurely partook of them we chatted lightly. + +He inquired at length what method I pursued in my writing. The idea was +new to me, and on my replying that I wrote only on the impulse of a +newly conceived idea, he proceeded to give me some needed advice. I must +make a _study_ of my poem, he said, line by line and word by word, and +revise and correct it until it was as perfect as it could be made. It +was in this way that he himself wrote. And then he spoke of _The +Raven_. + +He had before told me of the difficulties which he had experienced in +writing this poem and of how it had lain for more than _ten years_ in +his desk unfinished, while he would at long intervals work on it, adding +a few words or lines, altering, omitting and even changing the plan or +idea of the poem in the endeavor to make of it something which would +satisfy himself. + +His first intention, he said, had been to write a short poem only, based +upon the incident of an _Owl_--a night-bird, the bird of wisdom--with +its ghostly presence and inscrutable gaze entering the window of a vault +or chamber where he sat beside the bier of the lost _Lenore_. Then he +had exchanged the Owl for the Raven, for sake of the latter's +"_Nevermore_"; and the poem, despite himself, had grown beyond the +length originally intended. + +Does not this explain why the Raven--though not, like the Owl, a +night-bird--should be represented as attracted by the lighted window, +and, perching "upon the _bust of Pallas_," which would be more +appropriate to the original Owl, Minerva's bird? Also, we recognize the +latter in the lines: + + "By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore."[9] + + [9] As by also: + + "And its eyes have all the seeming + Of a demon that is dreaming." + +Poe, in adopting the Raven, evidently did not obliterate all traces of +the Owl. + +Of these troubles with the poem he had before informed me, and now, in +answer to a remark of mine, he said, in effect: + +"_The Raven_ was never completed. It was published before I had given +the final touches. There were in it certain knotty points and tangles +which I had never been able to overcome, and I let it go as it was." + +He told how, toward the last, he had become heartily tired of and +disgusted with the poem, of which he had so poor an opinion that he was +many times on the point of destroying it. I believe that his having +published it under the _nom de plume_ of "_Quarles_" was owing to this +lack of confidence in it, and that had it proven a failure he would +never have acknowledged himself the author. He feared to risk his +literary reputation on what appeared to him of such uncertain merit. + +He now, in speaking of the poem, regretted that he had not fully +completed before publishing it. + +"If I had a copy of it here," he said, "I could show you those knotty +points of which I spoke, and which I have found it impossible to do away +with," adding: "Perhaps you will help me. I am sure that you can, if you +will." + +I did not feel particularly flattered by this proposal, knowing that +since his coming to Richmond he had made a similar request of at least +two other persons. However, I cleared the table of the fruit and the +flowers and placed before him several sheets of generous foolscap, on +which I had copied for a friend _The Raven_ as it was first published. +He requested me to read it aloud, and as I did so, slowly and carefully, +he sat, pencil in hand, ready to mark the difficult passages of which he +had spoken. + +I paused at the third line. Had I not myself often noted the incongruity +of representing the poet as pondering over _many_ a volume instead of a +single one? I glanced inquiringly at Mr. Poe and, noting his unconscious +look, proceeded. When I reached the line, + + "And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor;" + +he gave a slight shiver or shrug of the shoulders--an expressive motion +habitual to him--and the pencil came down with an emphatic stroke +beneath the six last words. + +This was one of the hardest knots, he said, nor could he find a way of +getting over it. "_Ember_" was the only word rhyming with the two +preceding lines, but in no way could he dispose of it except as he had +done--thus producing the worst line in the poem. + +We "pondered" over it for awhile and finally gave it up. + +(But I may here mention that I have since, in studying the poem, made a +discovery which, strangely enough, seems never to have occurred to the +author. This was that in this particular stanza he had unconsciously +reversed the order or arrangement of the lines, placing those of the +triple rhymes first and the rhyming couplet last. Thus all his long +years of worry over that unfortunate "_ember_" had been unnecessary, +since the construction of the verse required not only the omission of +the word as a rhyme, but of the whole line of + + "And each separate dying ember;" + +when the succeeding objectionable words, + + "Wrought its ghost upon the floor," + +could have been easily altered; and the addition of a third line to the +succeeding couplet would have made the stanza correct.) + +Our next pause was at the word "_beast_," through which he ran his +pencil. + + "Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above my chamber door." + +"I must get rid of that word," he said; "for, of course, no beast could +be expected to occupy such a position." + +"Oh, yes; a mouse, for instance," I suggested, at which he gave me one +of his rare humorous smiles. + +Leaving this point for future consideration, we passed on to a more +serious difficulty. + + "This and more I sat divining, + With my head at ease reclining + On the cushion's velvet _lining_, with the lamplight gloated o'er." + +The knotty point here was in the word "lining"--a blunder obvious to +every reader. Poe said that the only way he could see of getting over +the difficulty was by omitting the whole stanza. But he was unwilling to +give up that "violet velvet" chair, which, with the "purple silken +curtain," he considered a picturesque adjunct to the scene, imparting to +it a character of luxury which served as a relief to the more sombre +surroundings. I had so often heard this impossible "lining" criticised +that when he inquired, "Shall I omit or retain the stanza?" I ventured +to suggest that it might be better to give up the stanza than have the +poem marred by a defect so conspicuous. For a moment he held the pencil +poised, as if in doubt, and I have since wondered what would have been +his decision. + +But just here we were interrupted by the tumultuous entrance of my +little dog, Pink, in hot pursuit of the family cat. The latter took +refuge beneath the table at which we were seated, and there ensued a +brisk exchange of duelistic passes, until I called off Pink and Mr. Poe +took up the cat and, placing her on his knee, stroked her soothingly, +inquiring if she were my pet. Upon my disclaiming any partiality for +felines, he said, "I like them," and continued his gentle caressing. +(Was he thinking of _Catalina_, his wife's pet cat, which he had left at +home at Fordham, and which after her death had sat upon his shoulder as +he wrote far into the night? Recalling his grave and softened +expression, I think that it must have been so. But at that time I had +never heard of Catalina.) + +But now came the final and most difficult "tangle" of all--the blunder +apparent to the world--the defect which mars the whole poem, and yet is +contained in but a single line: + + "And the lamplight o'er him streaming casts his shadow on the floor." + +Poe declared this to be hopeless, and that it was, in fact, the chief +cause of his dissatisfaction with the poem. Indeed, it may well excite +surprise that he, so careful and fastidious as to the completeness of +his work, should have allowed _The Raven_ to go from his hands marred by +a defect so glaring, but this is proof that he did indeed regard it as +hopeless. + + * * * * * + +When Mr. Poe left us on this September morning he took with him this +manuscript copy of _The Raven_; which, however, he on the following day +handed to me, begging that I would keep it until his return from New +York. I found that he had marked several minor defects in the poem, one +of which was his objection to the word "shutter," as being too +commonplace and not agreeing with the word "lattice," previously used. + +He remarked, before leaving for New York, that he intended having _The +Raven_, after some further work upon it, published in an early number of +the _Stylus_. I do not doubt but that, had he lived, he would have made +it much more perfect than it now is. + +After his death his friend, Mr. Robert Sully, the Richmond artist, was +desirous of making a picture of the _Raven_, but explained to me why it +could not be done--all on account of that impossible "shadow on the +floor." Of course, said he, to produce such an effect the lamplight must +come from above and behind the bust and the bird. No; it was +impracticable." + +This set me to thinking; and the result was that I, some time after, +went to Mr. Sully's studio and said to him: "How would it do to have a +glass transom above the door; one of those large fan-shaped transoms +which we sometimes find in old colonial mansions, opening on a lofty +galleried hall?" + +It would do, he said. Indeed, with such an arrangement, and the lamp +supposed to be suspended from the hall ceiling, as in those old +mansions, there would be no difficulty with either the poem or the +picture. And we were both delighted at our discovery, and thought how +pleased Poe would have been with the idea--so effective in explaining +that mysterious shadow on the floor. + +Mr. Sully commenced upon his picture, but died before completing it. + + * * * * * + +This manuscript copy of _The Raven_, with all its pencil-marks, as made +by Mr. Poe on that September morning, remained in my possession for many +years. It is yet photographed upon my memory, with all the details here +given from an odd leaf of a journal which I kept about that time--the +quiet parlor, the outside drizzle, the books, the roses, and the face +and figure of Mr. Poe as he gravely bent over that manuscript copy of +his immortal poem of _The Raven_. + +Had he no premonition that even then a darker shadow than that of the +_Raven_ was hovering over him? It was one of the last occasions on which +I ever saw him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +MRS. SHELTON. + + +Poe's first visits on his arrival in Richmond had been to Mrs. Shelton, +and it soon became known that an engagement existed between them, +although they were never seen together in public, and Poe on all +occasions denied the engagement. Yet morning after morning the curious +neighbors were treated to a sight of the poet ascending the steps of the +tall, plain, substantial looking brick house on the corner of Grace +street, facing the rear of St. John's church, and had they watched more +closely they might at times have seen another figure following in its +footsteps. This was Rosalie Poe, who, delighted at her brother's +engagement, and being utterly without tact or judgment, would present +herself at Mrs. Shelton's door shortly after his own arrival, as she +said, for the pleasure of seeing the couple together. Once she surprised +them at a _tête-à-tête_ luncheon at which "corned beef and mustard" +figured; but on another occasion Mrs. Shelton met and informed her that +Mr. Poe had a headache from his long walk and was resting on the parlor +sofa, where she herself would attend to him, and so dismissed her, to +her great indignation. Not alone to Mrs. Shelton's were these +"shadowings" of her brother confined, but if she at any time knew of his +intention to call at some house where she herself was acquainted, she +would as likely as not make her own appearance during his visit; or, in +promenading Broad street, he would unexpectedly find himself waylaid and +introduced to some prosy acquaintance of his sister. It required Mrs. +Mackenzie's authority to relieve him from these annoyances. There was, +however, something pathetic in the sister's pride in and affection for a +brother from whom she received but little manifestation of regard. He +treated her indulgently, but, as she herself often said, in her homely +way, "Edgar could never love me as I do him, _because he is so far above +me_." + +About the middle of August Mrs. Shelton's interested neighbors observed +that the poet's visits to her suddenly ceased; and then followed a +report that the engagement was broken, and that a bitter estrangement +existed between the two. Mr. Woodbury, Poe's biographer, doubts this, +and declares that, "We have no evidence that such was the case;" but we, +who were on the spot, as it were, and had opportunity of judging, _knew_ +that the report was true. Miss Van Lew, the famous "war postmistress" of +Richmond, once said to me as, standing on the porch of her house, she +pointed out Mrs. Shelton's residence: "I used at first to often see Mr. +Poe enter there, but never during the latter part of his stay in +Richmond. It seemed to be known about here that the engagement was +off.... Gossip had it that Mrs. Shelton discarded him because persuaded +by friends that he was after her money. All her relatives are said to be +opposed to the match." + +From Poe's own confidential statement to Mr. John Mackenzie, who had +first suggested the match with Mrs. Shelton, it appears that money +considerations was really the cause of the trouble. Mrs. Shelton had the +reputation of being a thorough business woman and very careful and +cautious with regard to her money. Poe was at this time canvassing in +the interests of the _Stylus_, in which he received great encouragement +from his friends, but when he applied to Mrs. Shelton it is certain that +she failed to respond as he desired. She had no faith in the success of +his plan, neither any sympathy with its purpose. Also, in discussing +arrangements for their marriage, she announced her intention of keeping +entire control of her property. Poe himself broke their engagement. Next +there arose a difficulty concerning certain letters which the lady +desired to have returned to her and which he declined to give up, except +on condition of receiving his own. Possibly each feared that these +letters might some time fall into the hands of Poe's biographers. If +they were written during his courtship of Mrs. Whitman, and when still +uncertain of the result, he appears to have been keeping Mrs. Shelton in +reserve. + +Mrs. Shelton, during a few days' absence of Poe at the country home of +Mr. John Mackenzie, came to Duncan Lodge and appealed to Mrs. Mackenzie +to influence Poe in returning her letters. I saw her on this occasion--a +tall, rather masculine-looking woman, who drew her veil over her face as +she passed us on the porch, though I caught a glimpse of large, shadowy, +light blue eyes which must once have been handsome. We heard no more of +her until some time about the middle of September, when suddenly Poe's +visits to her were resumed, though in a very quiet manner. It seems +certain that the engagement was then renewed, and that Mrs. Shelton must +have promised to assist Poe in his literary enterprise; for from that +time he was enthusiastic in regard to the _Stylus_ and what he termed +its "assured success." He even commenced arranging a _Table of Contents_ +for the first number of the magazine; and Mrs. Mackenzie told me how he +one morning spent an hour in her room taking from her information, notes +and _data_ for an article which he intended to appear in one of its +earliest numbers. He was in high spirits, and declared that he had never +felt in better health. This was after an attack of serious illness, due +to his association with dissipated companions. Tempted as he was on +every side and wherever he went in the city, it was not strange that he +had not always the strength of will to resist; and twice during this +visit to Richmond he was subject to attacks somewhat similar to those +which he had known at Fordham, and through which he was now kindly +nursed by his friends at Duncan Lodge. + +Poe gave but one public lecture on this visit to Richmond--that on "The +Poetic Principle"--and of this most exaggerated accounts have been +given by several writers, even to the present day, they representing it +to have been a great financial success. One recent lecturer remarks upon +the strangeness of the fate when, just as the hitherto impecunious poet +was "about returning home with five thousand and five hundred dollars in +his pocket, he should have been robbed of it all." The truth of the +matter is that but two hundred and fifty tickets were printed, the price +being fifty cents each, and, as Dr. William Gibbon Carter informed me, +there were by actual count not more than one hundred persons present at +the lecture, some being holders of complimentary tickets. Another +account says there were but sixty present, but that they were of the +very _elite_ of the city. Considering that from the proceeds of the +lecture all expenses of hall rent had to be paid, we cannot wonder at +Poe's writing to Mrs. Clemm, "My poor, poor Muddie, I am yet unable to +send you a single dollar." + +I was present at this lecture, with my mother and sister and Rose Poe, +who as we took seats reserved for us, left her party and joined us. I +noticed that Poe had no manuscript, and that, though he stood like a +statue, he held his audience as motionless as himself--fascinated by +his voice and expression. Rose pointed out to me Mrs. Shelton, seated +conspicuously in front of the platform, facing the lecturer. This +position gave me a good view of her, with her large, deep-set, +light-blue eyes and sunken cheeks, her straight features, high forehead +and cold expression of countenance. Doubtless she had been handsome in +her youth, but the impression which she produced upon me was that of a +sensible, practical woman, the reverse of a poet's ideal. And yet she +says "Poe often told her that she was the original of his lost +_Lenore_." + +When Poe had concluded his lecture, he lightly and quickly descended the +platform and, passing Mrs. Shelton without notice, came to where we were +seated, greeting us in his usual graceful manner. He looked pleased, +smiling and handsome. The audience arose, but made no motion to retire; +watching him as he talked and evidently waiting to speak to him; but he +never glanced in their direction. Rose, radiantly happy, stood drawn up +to her full height, and observed, "Edgar, only see how the people are +staring at the poet and his sister." I believe it to have been the +proudest moment of her life, and one which she ever delighted to +recall. This occurred during the period of estrangement between Poe and +Mrs. Shelton. + +Quite suddenly, in the latter part of September, Poe decided to go to +New York. His object was, as he himself declared, to make some +arrangements in regard to the _Stylus_, though gossip said to bring Mrs. +Clemm on to his marriage. + +It is difficult to get a clear idea of the relation between Poe and Mrs. +Shelton, owing to the contradictory statements of the two. Undoubtedly +they must have met during Poe's first visit to Richmond, and he tells +Mrs. Whitman that he was about to address the lady when her own letters +caused him to change his mind. And yet Mrs. Shelton speaks of their +meeting on his last visit as though it had been the first since their +youthful acquaintance. As she entered the parlor, she says, on his first +call, "I knew him at once," and, as the pious and practical woman that +she was, she adds, "I told him that I was on my way to church, and that +I allowed nothing to interfere with this duty." She says also in her +_Reminiscences_, "I was never engaged to him, but there was an +understanding;" and yet, on his death, she appeared in public attired in +deepest widow's weeds. That she was devoted to him appears from her own +letter to Dr. Moran when informed by him of Poe's death, "He was dearer +to me than any other living creature." Poe himself, writing to Mrs. +Clemm, says: "Elmira has just returned from the country. I believe that +she loves me more devotedly than any one I _ever_ knew." He adds, +apparently in allusion to his marriage, "Nothing has yet been arranged, +and it will not do to hurry matters," concluding with, "If possible, I +will get married before leaving Richmond." + +On his deathbed in Washington he said to Dr. Moran, "Sir, I was to have +been married in ten days," and requested him to write to Mrs. Shelton. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE MYSTERY OF FATE. + + +One evening--it was Sunday, the 2d of October--Dr. John Carter was +seated alone in his office when Poe entered, having just paid a farewell +visit to Mrs. Shelton before leaving in the morning for New York. He +remarked to Dr. Carter that he would probably stop for one day in +Baltimore, and perhaps also in Philadelphia, on business; would like to +remain longer, but had written to Mrs. Clemm to expect him at Fordham +some time this week. He would be back in Richmond in about a fortnight. + +While talking, he took up a handsome malacca sword-cane belonging to Dr. +Carter and absently played with it. He looked grave and preoccupied; +several times inquired the hour, and at length rising suddenly, remarked +that he would step over to Saddler's restaurant and get supper. He took +the cane with him, Dr. Carter understanding from this circumstance and +his not taking leave, that he would presently return on his way to the +_Swan_, where he had left his baggage. He did not, however, reappear; +and on the next morning Dr. Carter inquired about him at Saddler's. The +proprietor said that Poe and two friends had remained to a late hour, +talking and drinking moderately, and had then left together to go aboard +the boat, which would start at four o'clock for Baltimore. He said that +Poe, when he left, was in good spirits and quite sober; though this last +may be doubted, since he not only forgot to return Dr. Carter's cane but +to send for his own baggage at the Swan Some persons have insisted that +Poe must have been drugged by these men, who were strangers to Mr. +Saddler, and there was even a sensational story published in a Northern +magazine to the effect that Poe had been followed to Baltimore by two of +Mrs. Shelton's brothers, and there, after having certain letters taken +from him, beaten so severely that he was found dying in an obscure +alley. This story was first started by Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith in one +of the New York journals, though it does not appear from what source she +derived her information. No denial was made or notice taken of it by +Mrs. Shelton's friends, and the story gradually died out. + +For over forty years the mystery of the tragic death of the poet +remained a mystery, strangely and persistently defying all attempts at +elucidation. But within the last few years there has appeared in a St. +Louis paper a communication which professes to give a truthful account +of the circumstances connected with the poet's death, and which wears +such an appearance of probability that it is at least worth considering. + +This letter, which is addressed to the editor of the paper, is from a +certain Dr. Snodgrass, who represents himself to have been for many +years a resident of Dakota. He says that on the evening of October 2, +1849, being in Baltimore, he stepped into a plain but respectable +eating-house or restaurant kept by an Irish widow, where, to his +surprise, he met with Poe, whom he had once been accustomed to meet +here, but had not seen for some years. After taking some refreshment, +they left the place together, but had not proceeded far when they were +seized upon by two men, who hurried them off to some place where they +were, with several others, kept close prisoners through the night and +following day, though otherwise well treated. It was the eve of a great +municipal election, and the city was wild with excitement. Next evening +the kidnappers, having drugged their captives, hurried them to the +polls, where they, in a half-conscious condition, were made to vote over +and over again. The doctor, it appears, was only partially affected, but +Poe succumbed utterly, and at length one of the men said, "What is the +use of dragging around a dead man?" With that, they called a hack, put +Poe within it, and ordered the driver to take him to the Washington +Hospital. + +Dr. Snodgrass says positively: "I myself saw Poe thrust into the hack, +heard the order given, and saw the vehicle drive off with its +unconscious burden." + +Thus--if this account may be relied upon--ended the strange, sad tragedy +of the poet's life; none stranger, none sadder, in all the annals of +modern literature. + +Dr. Snodgrass intimates that his reason for so long a delay in making +this story known was his unwillingness to have his own part in the +affair exposed, and with the notoriety which its connection with the +poet would render unavoidable. But now, he says, in his old age, and +having outlived all who knew him at the time, this consideration is of +little worth to him. If the story be not true, we cannot see why it +should have been invented. At least, it cannot, at the present day, be +disproved, and it certainly appears to be the most probable and natural +explanation of the poet's death that has been given. It agrees also with +Dr. Moran's account of Poe's condition when he was received at the +hospital, and with the latter's earnest assurance that he himself was +not responsible for that condition, and also with his requesting that +Dr. Snodgrass be sent for. The kidnappers had probably exchanged his +garments for others as a means of disguise, intending to restore them +eventually. They at least did not take from him the handsome malacca +cane which was in his grasp when he reached the hospital; and which +which would tend to prove that he was not then altogether unconscious. +This cane was, at Dr. Carter's request, returned to him by Mrs. Clemm, +to whom Dr. Moran sent it. His baggage, left at the Swan, was sent by +Mr. Mackenzie to Mrs. Clemm, disproving the story that it had been +stolen from him in Baltimore. + +In addition to the above, we find another and very similar account, +apparently by the same Dr. Snodgrass, in the "_San Francisco Chronicle_ +of August 31," the date of the year not appearing on the clipping from +which I make the following extracts: + +"You say that Poe did not die from the effects of deliberate +dissipation?" asked the _Chronicle_ reporter. + +"That is just what I do mean; and I say further that he died from the +effects of deliberate murder." + +The author of this assertion was a well-known member of this city's +advanced and inveterate Bohemia; a gentleman who has long since retired +from the active pursuits of his profession and spends his old age in +dreamy meditation, frequenting one of the popular resorts of the craft, +but mingling little in their society. When joining in their +conversation, it is generally to correct some errors from his +inexhaustible mine of reminiscences, and on these occasions his words +are few and precise. + +"Then you knew something of the poet, Doctor?" + +"I was his intimate associate for years. Much that biographers have said +of him is false, especially regarding his death. Poe was not an habitual +drunkard, but he was a steady drinker when his means admitted of it. +His habitual resort when in Baltimore was the Widow Meagher's place, on +the city front, inexpensive, but respectable, having an oyster and +liquor stand, and corresponding in some respects with the coffee shops +of San Francisco. Here I frequently met him." + +"But about his death?" + +"The mystery of the poet's death had remained a mystery for more than +forty years when there appeared in a Texas paper an article from the pen +of the editor, in which he gave a letter from a Dr. Snodgrass professing +to reveal the truth of the matter. + +"About the time that this article was published there appeared one in +the San Francisco _Chronicle_ by a reporter of that paper, telling of an +interview which he had with this same Dr. Snodgrass, of whom he says: +'He was a well-known literary Bohemian of this city who long ago gave up +his profession and is spending his old age in a state of dreamy +existence from which he is seldom aroused except to correct some error +concerning people and things of past times, of which he possesses a mine +of reminiscences.'" + +The Doctor, denying that Poe had died from dissipation, gave an account +of the manner of his death as he knew it, corresponding in all +particulars with that given by him to the Texas editor. In conclusion, +he said: + +"Poe did not die of dissipation. I say that he was deliberately +murdered. He died of laudanum or some other drug forced upon him by his +kidnappers. When one said, 'What is the use of carrying around a dying +man?' they put him in a cab and sent him to the hospital. I was there +and saw it myself." + +"Poe had been shifting about between Baltimore, Philadelphia and New +York for some years. Once he had been away for several months in +Richmond, and one evening turned up at the widow's. I was there when he +came in. Then it was drinks all round, and at length we were real jolly. +It was the eve of an election, and we started up town. There were four +of us, and we had not gone half a dozen squares when we were nabbed by +policemen, who were looking up voters to "coop." It was the practice in +those days to seize people, whether drunk or sober, and keep them locked +up until the polls were opened and then march them to every precinct in +control of the party having the coop. This coop was in the rear of an +engine-house on Calvert street. It was part of the plan to stupefy the +prisoners with drugged liquor. Next day we were voted at thirty +different places, it being as much as one's life was worth to rebel. Poe +was so badly drugged that he had to be carried on two or three rounds, +and then the gang said it was no use trying any longer to vote a dead +man and must get rid of him. And with that they shoved him into a cab +and sent him away." + +"Then he died from dissipation, after all?" + +"Nothing of the kind. He died from the effects of laudanum or some other +poison forced on him in the coop. He was in a dying condition when being +voted twenty or thirty times. The story told by Griswold and others of +his being picked up in the street is a lie. I saw him thrust into the +cab myself." + +And Mrs. Clemm? + +When she received Poe's letter bidding her to expect him at Fordham that +week, she hastened thither to set her house in order for his reception. +Day after day she watched and waited, but he did not come. And at +length, when the week had passed, she one evening sat alone in the +little cottage around which and through the naked branches of the cherry +tree the October wind was sighing, and in anguish of spirit wrote to +"Annie": + +"Eddie is dead--_dead_." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +AFTER THE WAR. + + +In the fall of 1865--the year which saw the conclusion of the unhappy +war--I returned to Richmond and to my old home of Talavera, which I had +not seen in four years. + +What a shock to me was the first sight of it! In place of the pleasant, +smiling home, there stood a bare and lonely house in the midst of +encircling fortifications, still bristling with dismantled +gun-carriages. Every outbuilding had disappeared. All the beautiful +trees which had made it so attractive--even the young cedar of Lebanon, +which had been our pride--were gone; greenhouses, orchard, vineyard, +everything, had been swept away, leaving only a dead level overgrown +with broom-straw, amidst which were scattered rusted bayonets and a few +hardy plants struggling through the trampled ground. The place was no +longer "_Talavera_," but "_Battery 10_." + +In this desolate abode I remained some time, awaiting the arrival of +our scattered family, and with no protectors save a faithful old negro +couple. Each evening we would barricade as well as we could the entrance +to the fort, as some slight protection against the hordes of newly freed +negroes who roamed the country, living on whatever they could pick up. + +One evening when we had taken this precaution, some one was heard +calling without, and, mounting the ramparts, I beheld a forlorn looking +figure in black standing upon the outer edge of the trench. It proved to +be Rosalie Poe; and when I had brought her into the light and warmth of +the fire, I saw how changed and ill she appeared. She told me of the +Mackenzies. Mrs. Mackenzie was dead. "Mat" (Mrs. Byrd) was a widow, with +a beautiful young daughter, and her brother, Mr. Richard, was in +wretched health. Miss Jane Mackenzie had died in England, leaving her +fortune to her brother, residing there, and the destruction of the war +had completed the poverty of the family. They lived on a little place in +the country, with a cow and a garden as their chief means of support. +"They have to work for a living now," Rose said, forlornly; "but I am +not strong enough to work. I am going to Baltimore, to my relations +there, and see what they can do for me." + +I inquired after young Dr. Mackenzie, gay, handsome, genial "Tom," whom +everybody loved. + +"Tom is dead," said Rose, sadly. "He died of camp-fever and bad food. +When he came home he had only the clothes which he wore, and a neighbor +gave us something to bury him in." + +With a pang I thought of the gay wedding at Duncan Lodge, and the happy +faces that had been there assembled. + +When Rose left me, I could but hope that she would be kindly received by +her relatives in Baltimore. But some months thereafter, being in New +York, I received from her a number of photographs of her brother, which +she begged of me to dispose of for her benefit at one dollar each. Mrs. +M. A. Kidder, of Boston, kindly interested herself in the matter, but +wrote me that she met with but poor success, at even the reduced price +of twenty-five cents, people saying that they had not sufficient respect +for Poe's character to care to possess his portrait. I found it to be +nearly the same in New York. And meantime Rose wrote me every few days. + +"DEAR S----: Haven't you got anything for me yet? Do try and do +something for me, for I am worse off now than ever. I walk about the +streets all day" (trying to dispose of her brother's pictures), "and at +night have to look for a place to sleep. I feel like a lost sheep." + +Thus the sister of Edgar A. Poe, in the year 1868, wandered homeless and +friendless through the streets of Baltimore, as more than thirty years +previous her brother had done. + +We heard long afterward that, through some kind Northern lady, she +applied for admittance to the _Louise Home_, in Washington, which Mr. +Corcoran was willing to grant, but that certain of his "guests"--ladies +who had formerly occupied high social positions--were of opinion that, +considering Miss Poe's eccentricities, she would be better suited and +better satisfied in a less pretentious establishment. Finally she was +received into the "_Epiphany Church Home_," in Washington, where she +seems to have enjoyed a good deal of liberty, being often seen riding on +the street cars and visiting the offices of wealthy business men, who, +if they did not care to possess a photograph of Poe, were yet willing to +assist his penniless sister. It was never known what she did with the +money so collected; but from a letter to Mrs. Byrd, it would appear +that her intention was to purchase a grave for herself near that of her +brother. Mrs. Byrd wrote to me: "I think Poe's friends might lay Rose in +a grave beside him. It has always been her dearest wish." + +Rosalie Poe died suddenly, with a letter in her hand but that moment +received, and which, when opened, proved to be from Mr. George W. +Childs, enclosing a check for fifty dollars; doubtless in answer to an +application for aid. + +They gave her a pauper's grave in the cemetery of the Epiphany Church +Home. The record of her death by the Board is: + +"_Rosalie Poe. Died June 14, 1874. Aged 64._" + +Some years after the death of Rose Poe, I received a visit from Mrs. +Byrd, whom I had not seen since the war, and we talked over times past +and present. It had been Rosalie's own choice, she said, to go to +Baltimore. She did not like the country or the hard life which they were +leading. She must have collected considerable money, but never told +where she kept it; nor was it ever found. + +She told me about her family. Her pretty daughter had married a poor man +in preference to a rich one who had offered, and they had two beautiful +babies and were very happy. Her brother Richard was infirm and able to +do but little work. They had a little place in the country, where they +raised their own vegetables, and sent poultry and eggs to market. She +and her son-in-law did all the hard work about the place. "I wash and +cook for six persons," said she, cheerily. "Yes," she continued, in her +old quaint way, "we are poor, but respectable, and I am more content +than ever I was at Duncan Lodge. I feel that I have something to live +for, and the working life suits me. Yes, we are happy; although there +are not two tea-cups in the house of the same pattern." + +She spoke of Poe, whom she considered to have been always unjustly +treated. Everybody could see what his faults were, but few gave him +credit for his good qualities--his generous nature and kindly and +affectionate disposition, especially as exemplified in the harmony +always existing between himself and his wife and mother-in-law. While +giving the latter full credit for her devotion to Edgar, her impression +was that, except in the matter of his dissipation, her influence over +him had not been for good. Her mother and brother, John, believed that +the marriage with Virginia had been the greatest misfortune of his +life, and that he himself, while patiently resigning himself to his lot, +had come to regard it as such. + +Some ten years after the death of Poe I received from Mrs. Clemm a +letter giving a pathetic account of her homelessness and poverty. But, +she added, she had been offered a home with her relatives at the South; +and she appealed to me, as a friend of her "Eddie," to assist her in +raising the money necessary to pay her expenses thither. A similar +appeal she made to other of Poe's former friends; but we heard of her +afterward as an inmate of the Church Home Infirmary in Baltimore, where +she died in 1871, having outlived her son-in-law some twenty-two years. +It is a curious coincidence that the building in which she died was the +same in which, as the Washington Hospital, Poe had breathed his last. + +Her grave is in Westminster cemetery, and in sight of Poe's monument. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +POE'S CHARACTER. + + +In order thoroughly to understand Poe, it is necessary that one should +recognize the dominant trait of his character--a trait which affected +and in a measure overruled all the rest--in a word, _weakness of will_. + +"Unstable as water," is written upon Poe's every visage in characters +which all might read; in the weak falling away of the outline of the +jaw, the narrow, receding chin, and the sensitive, irresolute mouth. +Above the soul-lighted eyes and the magnificent temple of intellect +overshadowing them, we look in vain for the rising dome of _Firmness_, +which, like the keystone of the arch, should strengthen and bind +together the rest. Lacking this, the arch must be ever tottering to a +fall. + +To this weakness of will we may trace nearly every other defect in Poe's +character, together with most of the disappointments and failures in +whatsoever he undertook. He lacked the resolution and persistence +necessary to battle against obstacles, to persevere to the end against +opposition and discouragement, and to resist temptations and influences +which he knew would lead him astray from the object which he had at +heart. In this way he lost many a coveted prize when it seemed almost +within his grasp. + +The accepted opinion is that Poe's dissipation was his chief fault, as +it was that to which was owing his ruin in the end. But even this was +the effect chiefly of weakness of will. He was not by nature inclined to +evil, but the contrary; and we have seen that, when left to himself and +not exposed to temptation, he was, from all accounts, "sober, +industrious and exemplary in his conduct." But he lacked firmness to +resist the temptation which, more than in the case of most men, assailed +him on every side. + +Dr. William Gibbon Carter has told me how, when Poe was in Richmond on +his last visit, and doing his best to remain sober, he would in his +visits and strolls about the city be constantly greeted by friends and +acquaintances with invitations to "take a julep." It was the custom of +the time. Poe, said Dr. Carter, in one morning declined twenty-four such +invitations, but finally yielded; and the consequence was the severe +illness which threatened his life whilst in the city. The effect of one +glass on him, said the Doctor, was that of several on any other man. +Often he was tempted to drink from an amiable reluctance to decline the +offered hospitality. + +A marked peculiarity of Poe's character was the restless discontent +which from his sixteenth year took possession of and clung to him +through life, and was to him a source of much unhappiness. It was not +the discontent of poverty or of ungratified worldly ambition, but the +dissatisfaction of a genius which knows itself capable of higher things, +from which it is debarred--the desire of the caged eagle for the +wind-swept sky and the distant eyrie. He was not satisfied with being a +mere writer of stories. He believed that, with a broader scope, he could +wield a powerful influence over the literary world and make a record for +strength, brilliancy and originality of thought which would render his +name famous in other countries as in this. His desire was to set +established rules and conventionalities at defiance, and to be fearless, +independent, dominant in his assertion of himself and his ideas and +convictions. As an editor writing for other editors, he found himself +trammeled by what he called their narrowness and timidity. He must be +his own master, his own editor; and hence his lifelong dream and desire +took form in the conception of the Stylus--that _ignis fatuus_ which he +pursued to the last day of his life--uncertain, elusive, yet ever +eagerly sought, and always ending in disappointment and bitterness of +soul. Time and again it seemed within his grasp, and, as he exultantly +proclaimed, "his prospects glorious," when, by his own weakness of will, +it was lost to him. + +Undoubtedly, one of the chief factors in the non-success of Poe's life +and its consequent unhappiness was his marriage. + +Setting aside the poetic imaginings which have been and doubtless will +continue to be written concerning this marriage as one of idylic mutual +love and "idolatry," the story, in the light of established facts, +resolves itself into a very prosaic one. + +Mr. John Mackenzie, Poe's lifelong and only intimate and confidential +friend, never hesitated to say that had Poe been left to himself the +idea would never have occurred to him of marrying his little +child-cousin. In no transaction of his life was his pitiable weakness +more manifest than in this feeble yielding of himself to the dominant +will of a mother-in-law. + +Had Poe remained single or have married another than Virginia, his +regard for her would have continued just what it had been in the +beginning and what it remained to the end--the affection of a brother or +cousin for a sweet and lovable child. But no one can believe that Poe's +nature could have found its satisfying in such a marriage; and, in fact, +whatsoever sentimental things he may have written concerning it, his +whole conduct goes to prove its insincerity. + +Poe was of all men one who most craved and needed the love and sympathy +of a woman of a nature kindred to his own--a woman of talent and +qualities of mind and heart to appreciate his genius and all that was +best in him; one who would be to him not only a congenial companion, but +a "helpmeet" as well. Had he married one of Mrs. Osgood's tender +sensibilities and feminine charm, or Mrs. Whitman, with her talent and +strong character, or even a woman of the practical good sense and +judgment of Mrs. Shew, who knew so well how to care for him mentally and +physically--Poe would have been a different man. + +But his imprudent and, as it has been called, unnatural marriage, cut +him off from what would probably have been the highest happiness of his +life, with its accompanying worldly and social advantages, and bound him +down to a life of unceasing toil, penury and helplessness. It deprived +him of a social position and social enjoyment; for his poverty-stricken +"home" was never one to which he could invite his friends; and he +himself seems never to have found in it any real pleasure, but to have +regarded it merely as a haven of refuge in seasons of distress. But as +the years went by and, despite his incessant toil, his life and his home +grew more cheerless and poverty-stricken, he became hopeless and in a +measure reckless. It is to be noted that it was only after the death of +his wife that he appeared to recover anything like hope or energy. Then +his prospects suddenly brightened in the love of a good and talented +woman who could have made his life happy and prosperous, when, owing to +his miserable weakness of will in yielding to temptation, for which +there was no excuse, it was all at once swept from his grasp. + +Mr. John Mackenzie might well have said, as he did, that Poe's marriage +was the greatest misfortune of his life and as a millstone around his +neck, holding him down against every effort to rise. But perhaps not +even this close friend knew how keenly the poet must have felt the +narrowness of his life, the sordidness of his home, and the humiliation +of his poverty. Patiently and uncomplainingly he bore his unhappy lot; +and it is to be noted to his credit that howsoever he might at times go +astray, no word or act of unkindness toward the wife and mother who +loved him was ever known to escape from him. + +It will be seen from all that has here been written, in the light of +prosaic truth, that Poe's real character was one very different from +that which it has pleased the world in general to ascribe to +him--judging him as it does by the character of his writings as a poet. +The folly of such judgment, and the extent to which it was until +recently carried, is simply surprising. It is true that he appeared to +have but one ideal--the death of a woman young, lovely and beloved--and +that ideal in the imagining of the world resolved itself into the +personality of his wife. She, they concluded, was the original of all +the Lenores, and Anabel Lees, and Ullalumes, which inspired his +melancholy and despairing lyre; and in its gloom and hopelessness they +could see nothing but the expression of the poet's own nature. As well +have accused Rembrandt of being gloomy and morose because he painted in +dark colors. Like the artist, Poe loved obscure and sombre ideas and +conceptions, and he delighted in embodying these in his poems as much as +Rembrandt did in transferring his own to canvas. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +NO. 1. + +Lest the reader should be under the impression that much of what I +relate concerning Poe's childhood and certain circumstances connected +with his early youth is taken from Gill's _Life of Poe_, I will make an +explanation. + +At the time when the first edition of Gill's work was issued I was +engaged in writing what I intended to be a little book concerning Poe, +compiled from my own personal knowledge of him and what I had been told +by others. In some way Gill heard of this, and wrote to me, coolly +requesting to be allowed to see my manuscript, which I, of course, +excused myself from doing. Again and again he wrote, saying that he +"merely wished to see exactly what I had written." In self-defence, +I finally sent him the first part or chapter of the manuscript, he +promising to return it as soon as read. After some weeks it was returned +to me, without a word accompanying; and at the same time a second +edition of Gill's "_Life_" was issued--the first having been +suppressed--in which, to my surprise, I found copious extracts from my +manuscript. All those little anecdotes of Poe's childhood were thus +appropriated, with more important matter--such as Poe's dissipation when +in Richmond and his enlisting in the army, both of which Gill had in his +first edition positively denied; and this he made use of as though it +had been his own original material. My book was, of course, ruined, and +all that I could do was, some years after, to write "_The Last Days of +Poe_," published in _Scribner's Magazine_, though even from this Gill +made "_Notes_" for the Appendix of his second or third edition. + +Some of the material thus appropriated by Gill I have reclaimed and +inserted in this work. A comparison between the first and second edition +of Gill's "_Life of Poe_" affords a curious study, since in the second +he has carefully corrected the misstatements of the former from my +manuscript. + +My friend, Gen. Roger A. Pryor, late Judge of the Supreme Court of New +York, brought suit against Gill in this matter, but met with so much +trouble and annoyance by reason of the latter's persistence in evading +it, that it was finally, at my own earnest request, abandoned. + +Mr. Gill, I am informed, is still living. + + +NOTE 2. + +A strange fate was that of the poet's family, all of whom were indebted +to charity for a last resting place. + +His father, David Poe, died in Norfolk in the summer of 1811. His grave +is unknown. + +His mother was buried by charity in Richmond, December 9, 1811. + +His wife was indebted for a grave near Fordham, in New York, to +charitable contributions of friends. + +His sister, Rosalie Mackenzie Poe, died July 14, 1874, and was given a +pauper's grave in the cemetery of the Epiphany Church Home, in +Washington. + +Mrs. Clemm, his mother-in-law, died an inmate of the Church Home +Infirmary, Baltimore, and was buried by the charity of friends in +Westminster churchyard of that city in 1871. + +Poe himself, whose last days were passed in a charitable institute, was +indebted to relatives for a grave. + +Truly a record unparalleled in the annals of Literary History. + + * * * * * + + + + +BOOKS YOU MUST READ + +SOONER OR LATER + + +_Reuben: His Book_ + +BY MORTON H. PEMBERTON. + +Cloth, Gilt lettering, 12mo. Postpaid, $1.00. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Home Life of Poe + +Author: Susan Archer Weiss + +Release Date: October 13, 2010 [EBook #33930] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOME LIFE OF POE *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Turgut Dincer, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/poe.jpg" width="500" height="735" alt="EDGAR ALLAN POE" title="EDGAR ALLAN POE" /> +<div class="caption"><b>EDGAR ALLAN POE</b><br /><br /> +<small>[REPRODUCED FROM A PHOTO GIVEN TO MRS. WEISS BY POE THREE DAYS BEFORE HE +LEFT RICHMOND]</small></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/title.jpg" width="500" height="779" alt="Title Page" title="Title Page" /> +</div> + +<h2><span class="smcap">The Home Life,</span><br /> +<small>of</small><br /> +<big>POE</big></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Susan Archer Weiss</span></h3> + +<h5>BROADWAY<br /> +PUBLISHING<br /> +COMPANY<br /> +NEW YORK<br /> +1907</h5> + +<h5><i>Title Page by Wm. Lincoln Hudson · Cover by Stephen G. Clow</i></h5> + +<hr /> +<h5>Copyright, 1907,<br /> +BY<br /> +SUSAN ARCHER WEISS.</h5> + +<h5>All rights reserved.</h5> + +<hr /> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + +<table width="60%" summary="contents"> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER I.</td> +<td class="right">PAGE.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">First Glimpse of Edgar Poe</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER II.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Poe's First Home</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER III.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">The Allan Home</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER IV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Poe's Boyhood</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER V.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Schoolboy Love Affairs</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER VI.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Rosalie Poe</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER VII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">The Unrest of Youth</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER VIII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">In Barracks</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER IX.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Poe and Mrs. Allan</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER X.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">The Closing of the Gate</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XI.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Mrs. Clemm</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">A Pretty Girl with Auburn Hair Whom Poe +Loved</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XIII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Poe's Double Marriage</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XIV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">The Poes in Richmond</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">In New York</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XVI.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">The Real Virginia</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XVII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Poe's Philadelphia Home</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XVIII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Virginia's Illness</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XIX.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Back to New York</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XX.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Poe and Mrs. Osgood</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XXI.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">At Fordham</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XXII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">The Shadow at the Door</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XXIII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Mrs. Shew</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XXIV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Quiet Life at Fordham</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XXV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">With Old Friends</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XXVI.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Mrs. Whitman</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XXVII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Again in Richmond</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XXVIII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">A Morning with Poe—"The Raven"</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XXIX.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Mrs. Shelton</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XXX.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">The Mystery of Fate</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XXXI.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">After the War</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER XXXII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Poe's Character</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left"> </td> +<td class="right"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="left">Appendix</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr /> + +<h4>TO THE READER.</h4> + +<p>In considering this book, will the reader especially note that it is not +a "Life" or a "Biography" of Poe, of which too many already exist and to +which nothing can be added after the exhaustive works of Woodbury and +Prof. Harrison. I have not treated Poe in his character of poet or +author, but confined myself to his private home-life, domestic and +social, as I have heard it described by Poe's most intimate friends who +knew him from infancy—some of them my own relatives—and from my own +brief knowledge of him in the last three months of his life. The book +may therefore be considered as a <i>supplement</i> to the more complete +"Lives and Biographies," showing Poe in a character as yet wholly +unknown to the public, but which should be known in order to enable us +to form a correct judgment of his character. I have corrected various +misstatements of writers which, repeated by one from another, have come +to be received as truth.</p> + +<p class="short">I have made no attempt at producing an artistic work, but have treated +the subject as it demands, in a plain and practical manner with regard +to facts apart from idealism of any kind.</p> + +<p class="quotsig"><span class="smcap">The Author.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + +<hr /> + +<h2>HOME LIFE OF POE.</h2> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<h4>FIRST GLIMPSE OF EDGAR POE.</h4> + +<p>It may be regarded as a somewhat curious coincidence that the first +glimpse afforded us of Edgar Poe is on the authority of my own mother.</p> + +<p>This is the story, as she told it to me:</p> + +<p>"In the summer of 1811 there was a fine company of players in Norfolk, +and we children were as a special treat taken to see them. I remember +the names of Mr. Placide, Mr. Green, Mr. Young and Mr. Poe, with their +wives. I can recall Mrs. Young as a large, fair woman with golden hair; +but my most distinct recollection is of Mrs. Poe. She was rather small, +with a round, rosy, laughing face, short dark curls and beautiful large +blue eyes. Her manner was gay and saucy, and the audience was +continually applauding her. She ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span>peared to me a young girl, but was +past thirty, and had been twice married.</p> + +<p>"At this time," continued my mother, "we were living on Main street, and +my uncle, Dr. Robert Butt, of the House of Burgesses, lived close by, on +Burmuda street. The large, bright garret-room of his house was used by +our little cousins as a play-room, and was separated from that of the +adjoining house by only a wooden partition. One day, when we were +playing here, we heard voices on the other side of the partition, and, +peeping through a small knothole, saw two pretty children, with whom we +soon made acquaintance. Mr. and Mrs. Poe had taken lodgings in this +garret with a little boy and girl and an old Welsh nurse. Sometimes this +woman would say to us, 'Hush, hush, dumplings, don't make a noise,' and +we knew that some one was sick in that room. Most of the time she had +the children out of doors, and in the evenings we would play with them +on the sidewalk. The boy was a merry, romping little fellow, but hard to +manage. One day, when he would persist in playing in the middle of the +street, a runaway horse came dashing around a corner, and I remember how +the nurse rushed toward him, screaming: 'Ho! Hedgar! Hedgar!'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span> snatching +him away at the risk of her own life.</p> + +<p>"This nurse was a very nice old woman, plump, rosy and good-natured. She +wore a huge white cap with flaring frills, and pronounced her words in a +way that amused us. She was devoted to the children, who were spoiled +and wilful. The little girl was running all about, and the boy appeared +about three years old."</p> + +<p>Of this old lady it may be here said that she was really the mother of +Mrs. Poe, whom she called "Betty." As an actress of the name of Arnold, +she had played in various companies in both this country and Europe, +taking parts in which comic songs were sung. Her pretty daughter, +Elizabeth, she had brought up to her own profession, and had married her +early to an actor named Hopkins, who died in October, 1805. Two months +after his death his widow married David Poe, who was at that time a +member of their company; and mean while her mother, Mrs. Arnold, had +bestowed her own hand upon a musician of the romantic name of Tubbs, who +soon left her a widow. Thenceforth she devoted herself to her daughter's +family, remaining with the company and occasionally appearing in some +unimportant part.</p> + +<p>When in the summer of that year of 1811<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span> Mr. Placide's company left +Norfolk to open a season in Richmond, Mr. David Poe was too ill with +consumption to accompany them, and his family remained in Norfolk. He +must undoubtedly have died there; for from that time in all the affairs +of his family his name is not once mentioned, nor is the remotest +allusion made to him. He was probably buried by the city in one of the +obscure suburban cemeteries. By his death the widow was left penniless, +and Mr. Placide, to whose company she still belonged, and who was +anxious to have her services in his Richmond campaign, sent one of his +employees to bring the family to Richmond at his own expense. A room and +board had been engaged for them "at the house of a milliner named Fipps +on Main street," in the low-lying district between Fifteenth and +Seventeenth streets, still known as "<i>Bird-in-hand</i>." This room was not +by any means the wretched apartment which it has been described by some +of Poe's biographers. It was not a "cellar," not even a basement room, +but one back of the shop, the family residing above, and must have been +comfortably furnished, for this neighborhood was at this time the +shopping district of the ladies of Richmond, and Mrs. Fipps was probably +a fashion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span>able shopkeeper. Damp Mrs. Poe's room must have been, since +this locality was the lowest point in the city, where, when the river +overflowed its banks, as was frequently the case, the water would rise +to the back doors of the Main street buildings and at times flood the +ground floors. In this room Mrs. Poe contracted the malarial fever then +known as "ague-and-fever," which proved fatal to her.</p> + +<p>Owing to her illness Mrs. Poe, though her appearance was constantly +advertised, did not appear on the stage more than a half dozen times, if +as often. Mr. Placide wrote to her husband's relatives in Baltimore in +behalf of herself and children, but received no satisfactory answer, and +the company kindly gave her a benefit performance. Also, one of the +Richmond papers, the "<i>Enquirer</i>," of November 25th, made an appeal "to +the kind-hearted of the city" in behalf of the sick actress and her +little children. This brought to their aid among others Mr. John Allan +and his friend, Mr. Mackenzie.</p> + +<p>Both these gentlemen were engaged in the tobacco business, and being of +Scotch nationality, the feeling of clanship led them to take a special +interest in this family, whom they discovered to be of good Scotch +stock. Every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span>thing possible was done for their comfort, and Mrs. Allan +herself came to minister to the sick woman. On her first visit she found +Mrs. Tubbs feeding the children with bread soaked in sweetened gin and +water, which she called "gin-tea," and explained that it was her custom, +in order to "make them strong and healthy." This was little Edgar's +initiation into the habit which became the bane and ruin of his life.</p> + +<p>It soon became evident that Mrs. Poe was very near her end. Pneumonia +set in; and on the 8th of December, 1811, she died.</p> + +<p>The question now was, what was to be done with the children? After a +consultation among all parties, it was agreed that Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. +Allan should take charge of them at their own homes until they should be +claimed by their Baltimore relatives.</p> + +<p>It was a sad scene when the little ones were lifted up to look their +last upon the face of their dead mother, and then to be separated +forever from the grandmother who had so loved and cared for them. In +parting she gave to each a memento of their mother; to the boy a small +water-color portrait of the latter, inscribed, "For my dear little son, +Edgar, from his mother," and to the girl a jewel case, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> contents of +which had long since been disposed of. It was all that she had had to +leave them, and with this slender inheritance in their hands the little +waifs were taken away to the homes of strangers.</p> + +<p>On the day following a small funeral procession wended its way up the +steep ascent of Church Hill to the graveyard of St. John's church,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> +crowning its summit. At that day it was no easy matter to get one whose +profession had been that of an actor buried in consecrated ground; yet +Mr. Mackenzie succeeded in effecting this. The grave was in a then +obscure part of the cemetery, "close against the eastern wall," and +here, after the brief service, the mother of Edgar Poe was laid to rest.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Tubbs remained with Mr. Placide's company, and doubtless returned +with them to England and to her own family.</p> + +<p>Six weeks after the death of Mrs. Poe occurred that awful tragedy and +holocaust of the burning of the Richmond theatre, which shrouded the +whole country in gloom. On that night a large and fashionable audience +attended the performance of "<i>The Bleeding</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span> +<i>Nun</i>," eighty of whom perished in the flames. Mrs. Allen had expressed +a wish to attend, with her sister and little Edgar, but her husband +objected and instead took them on a Christmas visit to the country; so +they escaped the tragedy, as did also the members of Placide's company.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<h4>POE'S FIRST HOME.</h4> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie, on taking charge of the Poe children, entered +into a correspondence with their grandfather, Mr. David Poe, of +Baltimore, in regard to them. He was by no means anxious to claim them. +He represented that he and his wife were old and poor, and that already +having the eldest child, William Henry, upon his hands, he could not +afford to burden himself with the others. Finally he proposed that the +children should be placed in an orphan asylum, where they would be +properly cared for, on hearing of which Mrs. Mackenzie declared that she +would never turn the baby, Rosalie, out of her home, but would bring her +up with her own children; while Mrs. Allan, who was childless and had +become much attached to Edgar, proposed to her husband to adopt him.</p> + +<p>Mr. Allan demurred. His chief objection was that the boy was the child +of actors, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> that to have him brought up as his son would not be +advisable for him or creditable to themselves. It required some special +pleading on the part of the lady, and she so far prevailed as that her +husband consented to keep and care for the boy as for a son, but refused +to be bound by any terms of legal responsibility as either guardian or +adoptive parent, preferring to remain free to act in the future as he +might think proper. Mr. Mackenzie pursued the same course with regard to +Rosalie, though each bestowed on his protege his own family name in +baptism.</p> + +<p>There has been much useless discussion among Poe's biographers in regard +to the ages of the children at this time. Woodbury "<i>calculates</i>," +according to certain data obtained from a Boston newspaper regarding the +appearance of Mrs. Poe on the stage. "At this time," he says, speaking +of her prolonged absence in 1807, "William Henry <i>may have</i> been born;" +and accordingly fixes Edgar's birth as having occurred two years later, +in 1809.</p> + +<p>Wishing to satisfy myself on this point, I some time since decided to go +to the fountain-head for information, and wrote to Mrs. Byrd, a +daughter of Mrs. Mackenzie, who had been brought up with Rosalie Poe. +Her answer I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span> have carefully preserved and here give <i>verbatim</i>:</p> + +<p>"Dear S——.—You ask the ages of Rose and Edgar. He was born in 1808, +Rose in 1810. A remark of his (in answer to an invitation to her +wedding) was that if I had put off my marriage one week it would have +been on his birthday. I was married on the 5th of October.... Their +mother died on the 8th Dec., 1811; and on the 9th the children were +taken to Mr. Allan's and our house.... Their mother was boarding at Mrs. +Fipps', a milliner on Main street. She was Scotch and of good family; +and my father and Mr. Allan had her put away decently at the old Church +on the Hill.... Mr. Poe died first."</p> + +<p>This account of the children's ages is entitled to more weight than +those of his biographers, based upon mere calculation and +"<i>probabilities</i>." When the children were baptized as Edgar Allan and +Rosalie Mackenzie, their ages were also recorded, though whether in +church or family records is not known; and it is not likely that Mrs. +Byrd, who was brought up with Rosalie Poe, could be mistaken on this +point.</p> + +<p>Were Woodbury correct in assuming that William Henry, the eldest child, +"<i>may have</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span> <i>been born</i>" in October, 1807, and Edgar, January 19, 1809, +it would follow that the latter, when taken charge of by the Allans in +December, 1811, was less than two years old; an impossibility, +considering that his sister was then over one year old and running about +playing with other children. As to Mr. Poe's claim to October 12 as his +birthday, it is not likely that, howsoever often he may have given a +false date to others, he would have ventured upon it to the daughter of +Mrs. Mackenzie, the latter of whom would have detected the error.</p> + +<p>It must be accepted as a final conclusion that, as Mrs. Byrd states, +Edgar was born in 1808 and Rosalie in 1810.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> Her positive assertion is +proof sufficient against all mere calculation and conjecture; and in +this book I shall hold to these dates as authentic.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<h4>THE ALLAN HOME.</h4> + +<p>Mr. Allan was at this time thirty-one years of age—a plain, practical +business man, or, as some one has described him, "an honest, hard-headed +Scotchman, kindly, but stubborn and irascible." His wife, some years +younger than himself, was a beautiful woman, warm-hearted, impulsive and +fond of company and amusement. Both were charitable, and though not at +this time in what is called "society," were in comfortable circumstances +and fond of entertaining their friends.</p> + +<p>There was yet another member of the family, Miss Ann Valentine, an elder +sister of Mrs. Allan; a lady of a lovely disposition and almost as fond +of Edgar as was his so-called "mother." She was always his "Aunt Nancy."</p> + +<p>The Allans were at this time living in the business part of the town, +occupying one of a row of dingy three-story brick houses still standing +on Fourteenth street, between Main<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span> and Franklin. Mr. Allan had his +store on the ground floor, the family apartments being above. This was +at that time and until long afterward a usual mode of living with some +of the down-town merchants; though a few had already built handsome +residences on Shocko Hill.</p> + +<p>Little Edgar, bright, gay and beautiful, soon became the pet and pride +of the household. Even Mr. Allan grew fond of him, and his wife +delighted in taking him about and showing him off among her +acquaintances. In his baggy little trousers of yellow Nankin or silk +pongee, with his dark ringlets flowing over an immense "tucker," red +silk stockings and peaked purple velvet cap, with its heavy gold tassel +falling gracefully on one shoulder, he was the admiration of all +beholders. His disposition was affectionate and his temper sweet, though +having been hitherto allowed to have his own way, he was self-willed and +sometimes difficult to manage. To correct his faults and as a counter +balance to his wife's undue indulgence, Mr. Allan conscientiously set +about training the boy according to his own ideas of what was best. When +Edgar was "good" he was petted and indulged, but an act of disobedience +or wrong-doing was punished, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span> some said, with undue severity. To +shield him from this was the aim of the family, even of the servants; +and the boy soon learned to resort to various little tricks and +artifices on his own account. An amusing instance of this was told by +Mrs. Allan herself. Edgar one day would persist in running out in the +rain, when Mr. Allan peremptorily called him in, with the threat of a +whipping. He presently entered and, meekly walking up to his guardian, +looked him in the face with his large, solemn gray eyes and held out a +bunch of switches. "What are these for?" inquired the latter. "To whip +me with," answered the little diplomat; and Mr. Allan had to turn aside +to hide a smile, for the "switches" had been selected with a purpose, +being only the long, tough leaf-stems of the alanthus tree.</p> + +<p>Another anecdote I recall illustrative of the strict discipline to which +Edgar was subject.</p> + +<p>My uncle, Mr. Edward Valentine, who was a cousin of Mrs. Allan, and +often a visitor at her house, was very fond of Edgar; and liking fun +almost as much as did the child, taught him many amusing little tricks. +One of these was to snatch away a chair from some big boy about to seat +himself; but Edgar, too young to discriminate, on one occasion made a +portly and digni<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span>fied old lady the subject of this performance. Mr. +Allan, who in his anger was always impulsive, immediately led away the +culprit, and his wife took the earliest opportunity of going to console +her pet. As the child was little over three years old, it may be doubted +whether the punishment administered was the wisest course, but it was +Mr. Allan's way, who apparently believed in the moral suasion of the +rod.</p> + +<p>Edgar had no dogs and no pony, and did not ride out with a groom to +attend him, "like a little prince," as a biographer has represented. At +this time the Allans' circumstances were not such as to admit of such +luxuries. As to his appearance in this style at the famous White Sulphur +Springs, that is equally mythical.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">3</a></p> + +<p>There was, however, at least one summer when Edgar was six years of age +in which the Allans were at one of the lesser Virginia springs, and in +returning paid a visit to Mr. Valentine's family, near Staunton. This +gentleman often took Edgar out with him, either driving or seated behind +him on horseback; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> +and on receiving his paper from the country post-office would make the +boy read the news to the mountain rustics, who regarded him as a prodigy +of learning. Thus far he had been taught by an old Scotch dame who kept +an "infant-school," and who then and for years afterward called him "her +ain wee laddie," and to whom as long as she lived he was accustomed to +carry offerings of choice smoking tobacco. He also learned from her to +speak in the broad Scottish dialect, which greatly amused and pleased +Mr. Allan. The boy was at even this age remarkably quick in learning +anything.</p> + +<p>Mr. Valentine also delighted in getting up wrestling matches between +Edgar and the little pickaninnies with whom he played, rewarding the +victor with gifts of money. But there was one thing which no money or +other reward could induce the boy to undertake, and this was to go near +the country churchyard after sunset, even in company with these same +little darkies. Once, in riding home late, Edgar being seated behind Mr. +Valentine, they passed a deserted log-cabin, near which were several +graves, when the boy's nervous terror became so great that he attempted +to get in front of his companion, who took him on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> saddle before +him. "They would run after us and pull me off," he said, betraying at +even this early age the weird imagination of his maturer years.</p> + +<p>This incident led to his being questioned, when it was discovered that +he had been accustomed to go with his colored "mammy" to the servants' +rooms in the evenings, and there listen to the horrible stories of +ghosts and graveyard apparitions such as this ignorant and superstitious +race delight in. It is not improbable that the gruesome sketch of the +"<i>Tempest</i>" family, one of his earliest published, whose ghosts are +represented as seated in coffins around a table in an undertaker's shop, +and thence flying back to their near-by graves, was not inspired by some +such story heard in Mr. Allan's kitchen.</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly, these ghostly narratives, heard at this early and +impressionable age, served in part to produce those weird and ghoulish +imaginings which characterize some of Poe's writings, and to create that +tinge of superstition which was well known to his friends. He always +avoided cemeteries, hated the sight of coffins and skeletons, and would +never walk alone at night even on the street; believing that evil +spirits haunted the dark<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span>ness and walked beside the lonely wayfarer, +watching to do him a mischief. Death he loathed and feared, and a corpse +he would not look upon. And yet, as bound by a weird fascination, he +wrote continually of death.</p> + +<p>Edgar Poe, like every other Southern child, had his negro "mammy" to +attend to him until he went to England, to whom and the other servants +he was as much attached as they to him. Indeed, a marked trait of his +character was his liking for negroes, the effect of early association, +and to the end of his life he delighted in talking with them and in +their quaint and kindly humor and odd modes of thought and expression.</p> + +<p>Edgar had been about three years with the Allans when he was again +deprived of a home and sent among strangers. Mr. Allan went on a +business trip to England and Scotland, accompanied by his wife, Miss +Valentine and Edgar; the latter of whom was put to school in London, +where he must have felt his loneliness and isolation. Still, he came to +the Allans in holiday times, and was with them in Scotland for some +months previous to their return to Virginia. Little is known of them +during this absence of five years.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<h4>POE'S BOYHOOD.</h4> + +<p>The Allans returned to Richmond in June, 1820, Edgar being then twelve +years old. Having no house ready for their reception they were invited +by Mr. Ellis, Mr. Allan's business partner, to his home on Franklin, +then as now the fashionable street of the city.</p> + +<p>Mr. Allan at once put Edgar to Professor Clarke's classical school, +where he was in intimate association with boys of the best city +families.</p> + +<p>At the end of this year the Allans removed to a plain cottage-like +dwelling at the corner of Clay and Fifth streets, in a quiet and +out-of-the-way neighborhood. It consisted of but five rooms on the +ground floor and a half story above; and here for some years they +resided.</p> + +<p>Of Poe as a schoolboy various accounts have been given by former +schoolmates, with most of whom he was very popular, while others +represent him as reserved and not gen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span>erally liked. All, however, agree +that he was a remarkably bright pupil, with, in the higher classes, but +one rival, and that he was high-spirited and the leader in all sorts of +fun and frolic.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mackenzie's eldest son, John, or "Jack," two years older than +Edgar, though not mentioned by any of Poe's biographers, was the most +intimate and trusted of all his lifelong friends. The two were playmates +in childhood, and schoolmates and companions up to the time of Poe's +departure for the University. Poe always called Mrs. Mackenzie "Ma," and +was almost as much at home in her house as was his sister.</p> + +<p>I remember Mr. John Mackenzie as a portly, jolly, middle-aged gentleman +with a florid face and a hearty laugh. This is what he said of Poe after +the latter's death:</p> + +<p>"I never saw in him as boy or man a sign of morbidness or melancholy; +unless," he added, "it was when Mrs. Stanard died, when he appeared for +some time grieving and depressed. At all other times he was bright and +full of fun and high spirits. He delighted in playing practical jokes, +masquerading, and making raids on orchards and turnip-patches. Oh, yes; +every schoolboy liked a sweet, ten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span>der, juicy turnip; and many a time +after the apple crop had been gathered in, we might have been seen, a +half dozen of us, seated on a rail-fence like so many crows, munching +turnips. We didn't object to a raw sweet potato at times—anything that +had the relish of being stolen. On Saturdays we had fish-fries by the +river, or tramped into the woods for wild grapes and chinquepins. It was +not always that Mr. Allan would allow Edgar to go on these excursions, +and more than once he would steal off and join us, though knowing that +he would be punished for it."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Allan was a good man in his way," added Mr. Mackenzie, "but Edgar +was not fond of him. He was sharp and exacting, and with his long, +hooked nose and small keen eyes looking from under his shaggy eyebrows, +always reminded me of a hawk. I know that often, when angry with Edgar, +he would threaten to turn him adrift, and that he never allowed him to +lose sight of his dependence on his charity."</p> + +<p>Edgar, he said, was allowed a liberal weekly supply of pocket money, but +being of a generous disposition and giving treats of taffy and hot +gingerbread to his schoolmates at recess, besides being generally +extravagant, this supply was always exhausted before the week<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> was out, +when he would borrow, and so be kept constantly in debt. He was, +however, very prompt in paying off his debts.</p> + +<p>Mr. Robert Sully, nephew of the distinguished artist, Thomas Sully, and +himself an artist, was through life one of Poe's firmest friends. A boy +of delicate physique and a disposition so sensitive and irritable that +few could keep on good terms with him, he was always in difficulties. "I +was a dull boy at school," he said to me; "and Edgar, when he knew that +I had an unusually hard lesson, would help me out with it. He would +never allow the big boys to teaze me, and was kind to me in every way. I +used to admire and in a way envy him, he was so bright, clever and +handsome.</p> + +<p>"He lived not far from me, just around the corner; and one Saturday he +came running up to our house, calling out, "Come along, Rob! We are +going to the Hermitage woods for chinquepins, and you must come too. +Uncle Billy is going for a load of pine-needles, and we can ride in his +wagon." Now, that showed his consideration; he knowing that I could not +walk the long distances that most boys could, and therefore seldom went +on one of their excursions."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span></p> + +<p>In one of Poe's biographies is an absurd story to the effect that Mr. +Clarke, his first teacher, once on detecting him robbing a neighbor's +turnip-patch, tied one of the vegetables about his neck as a token of +disgrace, which the boy purposely wore home, when Mr. Allan, in a fury +at this insult to his adopted son, called on the teacher and threatened +him with personal chastisement. It is scarcely necessary at this day to +deny the truth of that story; but the following is what Mr. Clarke +himself says about it in an interview with a reporter in Baltimore some +years after Poe's death, he being at that time nearly eighty years +old.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">4</a></p> + +<p>"Edgar had a very sweet disposition. He was always cheerful, brimful of +mirth and a very great favorite with his schoolmates. I never had +occasion to speak a harsh word to him, much less to make him do penance. +He had a great ambition to excel."</p> + +<p>He spoke with pride of Edgar as a student, especially in the classics. +He and Nat Howard on one vacation each wrote him a complimentary letter +in Latin, both equally <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span>excellent in point of scholarship; but Edgar's +was in verse, which Nat could not write.</p> + +<p>"Whenever Poe came to Baltimore he would not forget to come and see me, +and I would offer him wine. It was the custom, you know. When he became +editor of Graham's Magazine and could afford it, he sent wine to me, +gratis.... I think that as boy and man Edgar loved me dearly. I am sure +I loved him.... Yes; he was a dear, open-hearted, cheerful and good boy; +and as a man he was a loving and affectionate friend to me. I went to +his funeral."</p> + +<p>The old Professor said that Poe's sister, Rosalie, he had seen when her +brother was a pupil of his. "She was at that time about ten years old, +was pretty and a very sweet child."</p> + +<p>Poe, after leaving Professor Clarke's, entered Dr. Burke's classical +school in 1832, where he remained until he went to the University. Here +one of his classmates was Dr. Creed Thomas, a noted Richmond physician, +who died so late as in 1890. In his reminiscences of Poe, published in a +Richmond paper not long before his own death, he says:</p> + +<p>"Poe was one of our brightest pupils. He read and scanned the Latin +poets with ease when scarcely thirteen years of age. He was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span> an apt +student and always recited well, with a great ambition to excel in +everything.</p> + +<p>"Despite his retiring disposition he was never lacking in courage. There +was not a pluckier boy in school. He never provoked a quarrel, but would +always stand up for his rights.... It was a noticeable fact that he +never asked any of his schoolmates to go home with him after school. The +boys would frequently on Fridays take dinner or spend the night with +each other at their homes, but Poe was never known to enter in this +social intercourse. After he left the school ground we saw no more of +him until next day."</p> + +<p>Dr. Thomas spoke of Poe's fondness for the stage. He and several other +of the brightest boys held amateur theatricals in an old building rented +for the purpose. Poe was one of the best actors; but Mr. Allan, upon +learning of it, forbade his having anything to do with these +theatricals, a great grievance to the boy.</p> + +<p>"A singular fact," proceeds Dr. Thomas, "is that Poe never got a +whipping while at Burke's. I remember that the boys used to come in for +a flogging quite frequently—I got my share. Poe was quiet and dignified +during school hours, attending strictly to his studies;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span> and we all used +to wonder at his escaping the rod so successfully."</p> + +<p>He adds that Poe was not popular with most of his schoolmates; that his +manners were retiring and distant. Doubtless there were boys with whom +he did not care to associate, feeling the lack of a congeniality between +himself and them. Then there were the prim and priggish class who looked +with virtuous disapproval on the robber of apple orchards and +turnip-patches, and who in after years never had a good word to say of +Poe, whether as boy or man.</p> + +<p>It will be observed from Dr. Davis' account that the "quiet and +dignified" manner which distinguished Poe in manhood was natural to him +even as a boy.</p> + +<p>As regards his never inviting his schoolmates to accompany him home to +dinner or to spend the night, this would not have been agreeable to +Edgar, who would have preferred having his time to himself for reading +or writing his verses, a volume of which he now began to make up. But he +was by no means deprived of company at home. The Allans, as has been +said, were fond of entertaining their friends, and at their "sociables" +and "tea parties" Edgar was generally required to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> present, with one +or two young friends to keep him company, and often he was treated to a +"party" of his own—boys and girls—where a rigid etiquette was +required, though dancing and charades were indulged in. This was Mrs. +Allan's idea of affording him enjoyment and cultivating in him elegant +and graceful manners; but to him it was most distasteful. Throughout his +life he detested social companies. Mrs. Mackenzie, in speaking of the +social restraint under which the Allans at this time sought to keep +Edgar, said that it was very distasteful to the boy, who liked to choose +his companions, and who now, at the age of fifteen, began to be +dissatisfied and to think that he was subject to undue restraint at +home. She often heard him express the wish that he had been adopted by +Mr. Mackenzie instead of by Mr. Allan; and she would talk to him in her +motherly way, endeavoring to impress him with a sense of what he owed to +the latter. His disposition, she said, was very sweet and affectionate, +and he was grateful for any kindness, and always happy to be at her +house as much as he was allowed to be from home. Her son John could +never be persuaded to visit Edgar at his home, so strict was the +etiquette observed at table and in general be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span>havior. She believed that +Mr. Allan, in taking charge of Edgar, had been influenced more by a +desire to please his wife than any real interest in the child, though he +had conscientiously endeavored to do his duty by him. She had once heard +him say that Edgar did not know the meaning of the word <i>gratitude</i>; to +which she replied that it could not be expected of children, who were +not able to understand their obligations; and that she did not at +present look for gratitude from Rose, but for affection and obedience. +Mrs. Allan was devoted to Edgar and he was very fond of her. It was she, +Mrs. Mackenzie thought, rather than her husband, who so extravagantly +supplied him with money, seeming to take a pride in his having more than +his schoolmates. She was a good and amiable woman, fond of pleasure +generally, and less domestic in her tastes than either her husband or +sister.</p> + +<p>Mr. John Mackenzie, in speaking of Edgar, bore witness to his high +spirit and pluckiness in occasional schoolboy encounters, and also to +his timidity in regard to being alone at night and his belief in and +fear of the supernatural. He had heard Poe say, when grown, that the +most horrible thing he could imagine as a boy was to feel an ice-cold +hand laid upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> his face in a pitch-dark room when alone at night; or to +awaken in semi-darkness and see an evil face gazing close into his own; +and that these fancies had so haunted him that he would often keep his +head under the bed-covering until nearly suffocated.</p> + +<p>The restrictions sought to be placed upon Poe's associations and +amusements served only to render him more democratic. He, with two or +three of his young friends of congenial tastes, were fond of stealing +off for a bath in the river near <i>Rocketts</i> or below <i>the Falls</i>, in +company with the hardy, adventurous boys of those localities, who were +known as "river rats." It was from them that he learned to swim, to row +and, when the river was low, to wade across its rocky bed to the willowy +islands and set fish-traps. When in Richmond in after years, he told how +he had met with some of these former companions, and how much he had +enjoyed talking with them about "old times" on the river.</p> + +<p>As regards religious influences and teachings in the Allan home, it does +not appear that Edgar was especially subject to these. Mr. and Mrs. +Allan were members of St. John's Episcopal church and punctilious in all +church observances, and they required of Edgar a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> strict attendance at +Sunday school and his presence in the family pew during divine service. +But in those days it was not thought necessary for professed Christians +to deny themselves social pleasures. On Sundays luxurious dinners were +provided, to which friends were invited from church, and rides and +drives were indulged in. Edgar was sent to dancing school, and Mrs. +Allan had her dancing entertainments and her husband his card parties, +which were attended by some of the most prominent professional men of +the city; amusements which, as is well known, exposed Episcopalians to +the charge of worldliness by other denominations. At all these +entertainments wine flowed freely.</p> + +<p>I have an impression, too vague to be asserted as fact, that Edgar Poe +was confirmed at the same time with his sister and Mary Mackenzie, at +St. John's church, and by the clergyman who had baptized them. To any +inquiry as to his religious denomination, he always answered, "I am an +Episcopalian." But it was often remarked upon by their friends in +Richmond that neither he nor Rosalie had ever been known to manifest a +sign of religious feeling or of interest in religious things. It was +noticeable in both that, phren<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span>ologically considered, the organ of +<i>veneration</i> was so undeveloped as to give a depressed or flat +appearance to the top of the head when seen in profile. And it was known +to Poe's intimate friends that, while he believed in a Supreme Power, he +had no faith in the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ. Hence he was as +a bark at sea with a guiding star in view but no rudder to direct its +course. His eager seeking for truth was ever but a groping in darkness, +with now and then a faint, far-away ray of the light of Truth flashing +upon his sight—as we see in <i>Eureka</i>.</p> + +<p>Yet Poe was careful to offer no disrespect to religion, and he was a +frequent attendant at church and a great lover of church music.</p> + +<p>Great injustice has been done the Allans by Poe's biographers in +representing them as responsible for his early dissipation. By all the +story has been repeated of how the child of three or four years was +accustomed to be given a glass of wine at dinner parties and required to +drink the health of the company.</p> + +<p>It was no unusual thing for little children to be taught this trick for +the amusement of company, as from my own recollections I can myself +aver. But the liquor given them was simply a little sweetened wine and +water. As<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> Edgar grew older he was, like other boys in his position—as +the Mackenzies—allowed his glass of wine at table; but no word was ever +heard of his being fond of wine until his return from the University.</p> + +<p>I have heard a Richmond gentleman who was Poe's chum at the University +speak of the latter's peculiar manner of drinking. He was no +<i>connoisseur</i>, they said, in either wine or other liquors, and seemed to +care little for their mere taste or flavor. "You never saw him +critically discussing his wine or smacking his lips over its excellence; +but he would generally swallow his glass at a draught, as though it had +been water—especially when he was in any way worried." In this way he +would soon become intoxicated, while his companions remained sober. "He +had the weakest head of any one that I ever knew," said this gentleman, +who attributed his dissipation while at the University, not to a natural +inclination, but to a weakness of will which allowed himself to be +easily influenced by his companions.</p> + +<p>Hitherto we have seen in Poe, the schoolboy, only what was amiable and +lovable; but now, in his sixteenth year, he began to show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> that beneath +this were springs of bitterness which, when disturbed, could arouse him +to a passion and a power hitherto unsuspected.</p> + +<p>I never heard of but one authentic instance of his being subject to +slight or "snubbing" while a boy on account of his parentage or his +dependent position in Mr. Allan's family, although several writers have +taken it for granted that such was the case. What effect such treatment +would have had upon him is evinced in the instance in question, in which +a young man, a sprig of an aristocratic family, chose to object to +association with the son of actors, and not only made a point of +ignoring him on all occasions, but made offensive allusions to him as a +"charity boy." This last being reported to Edgar, aroused in him a +resentment which found expression in a rhyming lampoon upon "<i>Don +Pompiosa</i>," so brimfull of wit, sarcasm and keenest ridicule that it was +circulated throughout the city for some time, though none knew who was +the author. The young man in question could not make his appearance upon +the street without being pointed out and laughed at, with audible +allusions to "<i>Don Pompiosa</i>," and was, it was said, at length actually +driven from the town, leav<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span>ing Poe triumphant. This was the forerunner +of those keen literary onslaughts which in after years made Poe as a +critic the terror of his enemies.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<h4>SCHOOLBOY LOVE AFFAIRS.</h4> + +<p>That Poe was, both as boy and man, unusually susceptible to the +influence of feminine charms has been the testimony of all who best knew +him. "I never knew the time," said Mr. Mackenzie, "that Edgar was not in +love with some one."</p> + +<p>Nor was it unusual for me, when a girl, to meet with some comely matron +who would laughingly admit that she had been "one of Edgar Poe's +sweethearts." Neither did he confine his boyish gallantries to girls of +his own age, but admired grown-up belles and young married ladies as +well; though this was probably in a great measure owing to the playful +petting with which they treated the handsome and chivalrous boy-lover.</p> + +<p>But this was a trait which did not meet with the approval of Miss Jane +Mackenzie, sister of the gentleman who adopted Rosalie Poe. This lady, +noted for her elegant manners and ac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span>complishments, kept a fashionable +"Young Ladies' Boarding-School," patronized by the best families of the +State; and many a brilliant belle and admired Virginia matron boasted of +having received her education at "Miss Jane's." As I remember her, she +was tall and stately, prim and precise, and was attired generally in +black silk and elaborate cap and frizette, a very <i>Lady-Prioress</i> sort +of a person. She had the reputation of being exceedingly "strict" in +regard to the manners and conduct of her pupils, and was a contrast to +the rest of her family, all of whom were remarkably genial.</p> + +<p>When Edgar was about fifteen or sixteen he began to make trouble for +Miss Jane. Repeatedly she would detect him in secret correspondence with +some one of her fair pupils, supplemented on his part by offerings of +candy and "original poetry," his sister Rosalie being the medium of +communication. The verses were sometimes compared by the fair recipients +and found to be alike, with the exception of slight changes appropriate +to each; a practice which he kept up in after years. He possessed some +skill in drawing, and it was his habit to make pencil-sketches of his +girl<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> friends, with locks of their hair attached to the cards.</p> + +<p>Poe himself has told of his boyish devotion to Mrs. Stanard, which made +so deep an impression upon the mind and heart of the embryo poet. The +story is well known of how he once accompanied little Robert Stanard +home from school (to see his pet pigeons and rabbits), and how his heart +was won by the gentle and gracious reception given him by the boy's +lovely mother, and the tenderness of tone and manner with which she +talked to him; she knowing his pathetic history. In his heart a chord of +feeling was stirred which had never before been touched; and thenceforth +he regarded her with a passionate and reverential devotion such as we +may imagine the religious devotee to feel for the Madonna. He calls this +"the first pure and ideal love of his soul," and possibly it may in time +have been increased by the knowledge of the doom which hung above and +overtook her at the last—the partial shrouding of the bright intellect, +the effect of a hereditary taint. Indeed, it is probable that on this +account Poe saw very little if anything of Mrs. Stanard in the two +succeeding years, in which time she led a secluded life with her family, +dying in April, 1824, at the age of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> thirty-one. But the impression had +been made, and remained with him during his lifetime, forming the one +solitary <i>Ideal</i> which pervaded nearly all his poems—the death of the +young, lovely and beloved. This experience was probably the beginning of +those occasional dreamy and melancholy moods about this time noticed by +some of his companions. The living friend of his boyhood's dream became +the "lost Lenore" of his maturer years.</p> + +<p>But though Poe deeply felt the loss of this beloved friend, the story is +not to be accepted that he was accustomed to go at night to the cemetery +where she was buried "and there, prostrate on her grave, weep away the +long hours of cold and darkness." No one who knew Poe in his boyhood, +with his horror of cemeteries, of darkness, and of being alone at night, +would believe this story, first told by Poe himself to Mrs. Whitman, and +by her poetic fancy further embellished. Besides this is the practical +refutation afforded by the high brick wall and locked gates of the +cemetery, with the strict discipline of the Allan home, which would have +made such midnight excursions impossible.</p> + +<p>Another account connected with Mrs. Stanard, and repeated by Poe's +biographers until<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> it has become an article of faith with the public, is +that the exquisite lines "To Helen" were inspired by and addressed to +that lady. If written at ten years of age, as Poe asserts, it will be +remembered that he was at this time at school in London, and it was not +until two years after his return, and when he was thirteen years of age, +that he ever saw Mrs. Stanard. He might have altered the lines to suit +her—his "Psyche," with the pale and "classic face"—and I recall that +the "folded scroll" of the first version was afterward changed to "the +agate lamp within thy hand," as more appropriate to Psyche. Poe never +made an alteration in his poems that was not an improvement.</p> + +<p>Those who knew Mrs. Stanard describe her as slender and graceful, with +regular delicate features, a complexion of marble pallor and dark, +pensive eyes. A portrait of her which was in possession of her son, +Judge Robert Stanard, represented her as a young girl wearing—perhaps +in respect to her Scottish descent—a <i>snood</i> in her dark, curling +hair.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<h4>ROSALIE POE.</h4> + +<p>Of Edgar Poe's sister, Rosalie, it may be said that all accounts +represent her as having been, up to the age of ten years, a pretty +child, with blue eyes and rosy cheeks, and of a sweet disposition. +Though evincing nothing of Edgar's talent and quickness at learning, she +was yet a rather better pupil than the average; and it had been Miss +Mackenzie's intention to give her every advantage of education afforded +by her own school, so as to fit her for becoming a teacher.</p> + +<p>But when Rosalie Poe was in her eleventh or twelfth year, a strange +change came over her, for which her friends could never account. Without +having ever been ill, a sudden blight seemed to fall upon her, as frost +upon a flower, and she drooped, as it were, mentally and physically. She +lost all energy and ambition, and thenceforth made little or no progress +in her studies, growing up into a languid and un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span>interesting girlhood. +Still, she was amiable, generous and devoted to her friends, who were +generally chosen for their personal beauty, and for this reason my +sister was a great favorite with her. To Mrs. Mackenzie she was always +dutiful and affectionate, but her great pride and affection centered in +her brother. She felt painfully, and would often allude to, the +difference between them. Once she said to me, "Of course, I can't expect +Edgar to love me as I do him, he is so far above me."</p> + +<p>A peculiarity of Miss Poe is worth mentioning, because it is one shared +by her brother, and must have been hereditary. She could not taste wine +without its having an immediate effect upon her. She would, after +venturing to take a glass of wine at dinner, sleep for hours, and awaken +either with a headache or in an irritable and despondent mood. As is +well known, the same effect was produced upon Edgar by a moderate +indulgence in drink, such as would not affect another man; and this +hereditary weakness should go far in accounting for and excusing those +excesses of which all the world is unfortunately aware.</p> + +<p>Of the elder brother of Edgar, William Henry, I have heard scarcely any +mention until after Poe's death, and few seemed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> know that there was +such a person. It seems, however, that in the summer, when Edgar was +preparing for the University, this brother came to Richmond on a visit +to himself and Rose. Edgar took him around to introduce to his young +lady acquaintances, by one of whom he has been described as handsome, +gentlemanly and agreeable. He died a year or two afterward, leaving some +poems which show him to have been possessed of unusual poetic talent. +Had he lived, he might have rivaled his brother as a poet.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<h4>THE UNREST OF YOUTH.</h4> + +<p>In the summer of 1825, Mr. Allan, having come into possession of a large +fortune left him by an uncle, purchased and removed to the handsome +brick residence at the corner of Main and Fifth streets, built by Mr. +Gallego, a wealthy Spanish gentleman, and which became known as the +Allan House.</p> + +<p>To own such a residence had long been the desire of Mrs. Allan, and upon +taking possession of the house she furnished it handsomely and commenced +entertaining in a style which rendered them conspicuous in Richmond +society. It was even said that they lived extravagantly; and Edgar, with +abundance of pocket-money, became the envy of his companions.</p> + +<p>But he was not happy. The impatience of restraint of which the +Mackenzies spoke, and the dissatisfaction of which was to him, despite +its luxuries, an uncongenial home, rendered him discontented. The heart +of the boy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span> of fifteen began to pulse with the restlessness of the bird +when it feels the first nervous twitchings of its wings, and his great +desire now was to get away from home and enjoy greater freedom. He would +often, when particularly dissatisfied, speak to the Mackenzies of going +to sea or enlisting in the army. At present, however, he contented +himself with requesting Mr. Allan to send him to the University.</p> + +<p>Mr. Allan did not see the use of a higher education for one whom he +destined for a commercial business, but finally yielded; and Edgar left +Mr. Burke's school and, under a private tutorage, commenced fitting +himself for the University. This period, from June to February 14, 1825, +was the only time, with the exception of two brief intervals, that he +resided in the Allan House.</p> + +<p>On another point, however, he did not so easily have his way. He was +very anxious that his youthful poems should be published in book form, +and importuned Mr. Allan to that effect, but this was a thing with which +the latter had no sympathy. He did consent to go with the boy to hear +what Mr. Clarke's judgment of the verses would be; but finally concluded +that Edgar was too young to publish a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> book; and so the latter's eager +and ambitious hopes were for the time frustrated.</p> + +<p>Still, this must have been a pleasant summer for him, in the enjoyment +of his new home, with its fine lawn and garden, in place of the cramped +cottage on Clay street, and especially in the knowledge that he was +breaking away from his schoolboy days and assuming something of the +independence of youth. It was at this time that he made the famous swim +of seven miles on James river, from Warwick Park to Richmond, which has +been so much commented upon—showing with what fine athletic powers he +was gifted.</p> + +<p>It was on the 14th of February, 1825, that Poe entered the University; +inscribing on the matriculation book the date of his birth as January +19, 1809, making him sixteen years of age, when he was really seventeen +(born in 1808). This date, it will be observed, agrees with no other +that he has given.</p> + +<p>Of his course at the University his biographers have informed us, on the +authority of professors and students, some of whom credit him with +almost every vice of dissipation, while others defend him from such +imputation. But when he returned home, at the end of the first year, +with a brilliant scholastic record, it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> became known that Mr. Allan had +been called upon to pay his gambling and other debts, amounting on the +whole to over two thousand dollars. Mr. Allan went on to Charlottesville +to investigate the matter, and scrupulously paid all that he considered +honest debts, refusing to notice the gambling debts.</p> + +<p>Poe, having paid little attention to his personal affairs, was almost as +much surprised as was Mr. Allan at the amount of his indebtedness. He +appeared truly penitent, and frankly so expressed himself to Mr. Allan, +offering to repay the latter by his services in his counting-house. It +was agreed that after the Christmas holidays he should take his place in +the office as clerk.</p> + +<p>This was the beginning of the declension of Poe's social and personal +reputation. By his elders he was severely condemned, while the good +little boys who had formerly looked doubtfully upon the robber of +orchards and turnip-patches now passed him by with sidelong glances and +pursed-up lips. And yet, good cause though Mr. Allan had to be angry—as +he was—we have the following account of Edgar's reception at home when +he returned from the University for the Christmas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> holidays, a reception +for which he was doubtless indebted to his devoted foster-mother:</p> + +<p>A former schoolmate of his, Charles Bolling, writes to the editor of a +Richmond paper that Mr. Allan, when on a visit to the country, having +given him a cordial invitation to call on him when in Richmond, he, one +evening, near Christmas, went to his house, where he was kindly +received. After sitting awhile, he perceived certain signs as of +preparation for the entertainment of company, and at once rose to leave, +but his host insisted upon his remaining, saying that Edgar had just +come home from the University, and some of his young friends had been +invited to meet him. Bolling replied that he was not in a suitable dress +for company, when Mr. Allan said: "Go up to Edgar's room. He will supply +you with one of his own suits." He found Edgar lying on a lounge +reading, who welcomed him cordially, and, throwing open his wardrobe +doors, placed the contents at his disposal.</p> + +<p>This was a room which, on their removal to their new home, Mrs. Allan +had chosen for Edgar's occupation, furnishing it handsomely, with his +books and pictures arranged in bookcases and on the wall. He took great +pleasure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> in this apartment, and had always passed much of his time +there.</p> + +<p>When the two youths had attired themselves to their satisfaction, they +repaired to the drawing-room, where Poe did his duty in welcoming his +guests. But after awhile he took Bolling aside and proposed that they +should go down the street and have a spree of their own. To this the +latter very properly objected, saying: "Oh, no; that would never do." +But being urged, finally consented; and they stole away from the company +together.</p> + +<p>This was an assertion of independence which one year previous he would +not have ventured upon. But he was now no longer a schoolboy, but a +University student and, as he claimed, nearly eighteen years of age. +This past year had wrought a great change in him; and he was already in +his heart prepared to break away from the restraint and authority which +he had found so irksome and assert his independence.</p> + +<p>In due time Poe was installed in Mr. Allan's counting-house as clerk, +but had occupied that position but a short time when it became +intolerable to him. He begged Mr. Allan to give him some other +employment, saying that he would rather earn his living in any other +way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span> Mr. Allan, still angry about the University debts, told him that +he was his own master, and could choose what employment he pleased, but +that henceforth he was not to look to him for assistance. After an angry +scene between the two, Poe packed his traveling bag and, leaving the +Allan house, did not return to it for the space of two years.</p> + +<p>It will be observed that this was no runaway act on Poe's part, as +asserted by biographers. He took an affectionate leave of Mrs. Allan and +Miss Valentine—who supplied him with money—and neither of whom +believed but that he would be back in a few weeks.</p> + +<p>He went to take leave of the Mackenzies, who, all but his friend "Jack," +advised him to return and submit himself to Mr. Allan; but this he would +not, could not, do. He claimed that Mr. Allan had spoken insultingly to +him, and declared that he would no longer be dependent on him. And so he +went forth, as he said, to seek his fortune.</p> + +<p>He made his way to Boston, where the first use to which he put his money +was in publishing a cheap edition of his poems. They were not of a kind +to attract attention, and he never realized a dollar from them. +Ambitious to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> have them known, he sent a number to his friends in +Richmond and other places South, and the rest turned over to his +publisher, an obscure young man of the name of Thomas, in part payment +of the expense of publishing.</p> + +<p>Then followed a season of wandering in search of employment until, his +money all gone, he had no resource but to enlist in the army, which he +did on May 2, 1827, being then, as he claimed, eighteen (really +nineteen) years of age, but representing himself as twenty-two.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + +<h4>IN BARRACKS.</h4> + +<p>In the year 1829, my uncle, Dr. Archer, then Post Surgeon at Fortress +Monroe, was one day called to the hospital to attend a private soldier +known as Edgar A. Perry. Finding him a young man of superior manners and +education, his interest was aroused, and his patient, won by his +sympathy, finally confessed that his real name was Edgar A. Poe, and +that he was the adopted son of Mr. John Allan, of Richmond; and also +expressed an earnest desire to leave the army, in which he had now been +for two years, the term of enlistment being five years.</p> + +<p>Dr. Archer informed the commanding officer of these revelations, and as +Perry, <i>alias</i> Poe, had proven himself in all respects a model soldier, +interest in his case was at once aroused. It was suggested that, with +his education and the social position which he had enjoyed, a cadetship +at West Point would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span> more suited to him than the place of a private +at Fortress Monroe. Poe, in his anxiety to be rid of the army, was +willing enough to accept this proposal, and by the advice of his new +friends wrote to Mr. Allan, informing him of his wishes and asking his +assistance.</p> + +<p>For some time he received no answer; but at length there came a letter +which must have caused his heart a pang of real sorrow. It was from Mr. +Allan, informing him of the death of his wife, and directing him to +apply for a furlough and come on at once to Richmond, where he arrived +two days after her burial.</p> + +<p>Woodbury is mistaken in saying that in all this time Mr. Allan had not +known of Edgar's whereabouts. According to Miss Valentine, Poe never at +any time ceased entirely to correspond with Mrs. Allan, who never, to +her dying day, lost her interest in the boy whom she had loved as a son, +and neither ceased her endeavors to reconcile himself and her husband, +urging Edgar to return and Mr. Allan to receive him. In anticipation of +such result, she kept his room as he had left it, ready for his +occupation at any time that it might suit his wayward fancy to return.</p> + +<p>Mr. Allan talked to Poe seriously, and, finding that his great desire +was to get a discharge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> from the army, promised to assist him; but only +upon condition of his entering West Point, by which there would be +secured to him an honorable and independent position for life, and Allan +himself be relieved from all responsibility concerning him. But that he +had not entirely forgiven Edgar was evident from a letter to the +latter's commanding officer, wherein he exposes, unnecessarily, perhaps, +the youth's gambling habits at the University, declaring that "he is no +relation of mine whatever, and no more to me than many others who, being +in need, I have regarded as being my care." Poe must have felt this +latter as a humiliation; and it was certainly not calculated to increase +his regard for the writer.</p> + +<p>Poe's career at West Point is well known. At first all went well. One of +his Virginia comrades, Col. Allan Magruder, describes him as of a simple +and kindly nature, but, by reason of his distance and reserve, not +popular with the cadets, and that he at length confined his association +exclusively to Virginians. But the old discontent and impatience of +restraint returned upon him, and after some months he wrote to Mr. Allan +that he wished to leave West Point—a step to which the latter +positively refused his assistance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span></p> + +<p>Finding nobody inclined to help him, he resolved to force his discharge. +He purposely neglected his studies and military duties, deliberately +violated the rules, engaged—it was said by some—in all sorts of +disgraceful pranks; and finally was tried by court-martial and, on March +7, 1831, dismissed from the institute.</p> + +<p>It has been naturally inferred that Poe's object in this voluntary +self-sacrifice was simply to free himself from the irksomeness of +military duties which, on trial, he found so opposed to his taste and +inclination. But perhaps the real motive was one which has never yet +been suspected.</p> + +<p>Some time after Poe's death I was informed by a lady that, being in +company where the conversation turned upon the poet and his writings, +one who did not admire the latter remarked that Edgar Poe could have +been of more use to both himself and others by remaining at West Point +and adopting the army as a profession. To this an old army officer, +Capt. Patrick Galt, replied that he had been informed by one who had +been a classmate of Poe that the latter had been driven away from West +Point by the slights and snubs of the cadets on account of his parentage +and his bring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span>ing up as an object of charity. West Point, this officer +declared, had in Poe's time been a very hotbed of aristocratic prejudice +and pretension, and, Poe's history being known, these young aristocrats +held themselves aloof, while the more snobbish among them, probably by +reason of his reserve and acknowledged superiority in some respects, did +not hesitate to attempt to humiliate him on occasion. Poe, he said, +probably knew that this odium would in a measure attach to him +throughout his whole military career, and he acted wisely in declining +to expose himself to it.</p> + +<p>Hence the shyness and reserve of which some of his fellow-cadets speak, +and his exclusive association with Virginians, who generally stand by +each other.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + +<h4>POE AND MRS. ALLAN.</h4> + +<p>In the meantime Mr. Allan had contracted a second marriage, the lady +being a Miss Louisa Patterson, of New Jersey. She was thirty years of +age; not handsome, but of dignified and courteous manners, with large, +strongly-marked features, indicative of decision of character and, as +was said, of a will of her own. Nevertheless, she was amiably inclined, +and as a society leader very tactful and diplomatic. One marked +characteristic of hers was that she never forgave the least slight or +disrespect to herself, though the offender were but a child; and of this +I remember some curious instances in my own acquaintance with her, many +years after the time of which I speak.</p> + +<p>It does not appear how Poe received the news of this marriage; but one +thing seems certain—that, strangely enough, the idea never occurred to +him that it in any way affected his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> own position in Mr. Allan's house. +He had never received from the latter any word to that effect; Miss +Valentine (his "Aunt Nancy"), with the old +servants, who had known, and served, and loved him from his babyhood, +were still there, and doubtless his room was still being kept, as ever +before, ready for his occupation.</p> + +<p>It was therefore with perfect confidence that, upon being dismissed from +West Point, he proceeded to Richmond, having barely enough money to pay +his way, and, sounding the brazen knocker of Mr. Allan's door, greeted +the old servant pleasantly, handing him his traveling bag to be carried +to his room, at the same time asking for Miss Valentine.</p> + +<p>The answer of the servant astonished him. His old room had been taken by +Mrs. Allan as a guest-chamber and his personal effects removed to "the +end-room." This was the last of several small apartments opening upon a +narrow corridor extending on one side of the house above the kitchen and +the servants' apartments. It had at one time been occupied by Mrs. +Allan's maid.</p> + +<p>On receiving this information, Poe was extremely indignant, and, +refusing to have his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> carpet-bag carried to that room, requested to see +Mrs. Allan.</p> + +<p>The lady came down to the parlor in all her dignity, and answered to his +inquiry that she had arranged her house to suit herself; that she had +not been informed that Mr. Poe had any present claim to that room or +that he was expected again to occupy it. Warm words ensued, and she +reminded him that he was a pensioner on her husband's charity, which +provoked him to more than hint that she had married Mr. Allan from +mercenary motives. This was enough for the lady. She sent for her +husband, who was at his place of business, and who, upon hearing her +account of the interview, coupled with the assertion that "Edgar Poe and +herself could not remain a day under the same roof," without seeing Poe, +sent to him an imperative order to leave the house at once, which he +immediately did. It was told by himself that as he crossed the hall Mr. +Allan hastily entered it from a side-door and called harshly to him, at +the same time drawing out his purse, but that he, without pause or +notice, continued on his way.</p> + +<p>This account of the rupture between Poe and the Allans I heard from the +Mackenzies and Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell, wife of Poe's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> schoolboy friend, +Dr. Robert G. Cabell, to whom Poe himself related it. The friends of the +Allens gave a much more sensational account of the affair, which was +much discussed, and went the rounds of the city, with such additions and +exaggerations as gossip could invent, until it culminated at length in +the dark picture with which Griswold horrified the world.</p> + +<p>It was to this incident that Poe alluded when he told Mrs. Whitman that +"his pride had led him to deliberately throw away a large fortune rather +than submit to a trivial wrong."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> + +<h4>THE CLOSING OF THE GATE.</h4> + +<p>When Poe, after leaving Mr. Allan's door, crossed the lawn and passed +out of the gate, can any one realize how momentous was the instant of +time in which the gate closed after him, or what a woeful human tragedy +was in that instant inaugurated? The closing of the gate meant the +shutting out forever of his past life; the clang of the iron latch was +the knell of all that had been bright and pleasant and prosperous in +that life, now lost to him forever. There he stood, homeless, penniless, +friendless, utterly alone in the world, with a pathless future before +him, shadowy, dim, no hand to point him onward and no star to +guiden. From this moment commences the true history of +Edgar A. Poe.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%" /> + + +<p>On leaving the Allan house, Poe went directly to the Mackenzies, the +only place to which he could turn, and spent several days<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> with these +kind friends, discussing what would be best for him to do, now that he +had his own way to make in the world. They advised him to begin by +teaching, until he could see his way more clearly; but Richmond was at +present no place for him, and he decided to go to Baltimore, where his +relatives, knowing the city so well, might be able to assist him. The +Mackenzies gave him what money they could spare, and Miss Valentine, on +hearing where he was, sent more.</p> + +<p>But in Baltimore Poe found himself coldly received by his relatives. +Since his miserable failure at West Point, when his prospects had seemed +so bright and all conspiring for his good, they had lost all faith in +him, and did not propose to trouble themselves on his account. On his +last visit, Neilson Poe, at whose house he was staying, had obtained for +him a place in an editor's office, which after a brief trial Poe threw +up. He now again applied for that place, but failed; as also in his +application for the position of assistant teacher in some academy. And +now commenced that wretched life of wandering, and penury, and, +according to Mr. Kennedy, of actual starvation, which is as sad as any +other such history in literature, with the exception of that of poor +Chatterton.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> His days were passed in roaming about the streets in search +of employment—anything by which he could obtain food and at night a +miserable place where to rest his weary limbs. He wrote a few stories +which he endeavored to dispose of to editors, but met with no success.</p> + +<p>Many stories have been told in regard to this unhappy period of Poe's +life. One, related by a Richmond man, stated that, being in Baltimore +about the time in question, he one day had occasion to visit a +brick-yard, when there passed him by a line of men bearing the freshly +moulded bricks to the kiln. Glancing at them casually, he was amazed to +recognize among them Edgar Poe. He could not be mistaken, having been +for years familiar with his appearance. Whether Poe recognized him, he +could not say; but when he returned next day he was not there, nor did +any one know of the name of Poe among the laborers. It was the opinion +of this man that he had merely picked up a day's job for a day's need.</p> + +<p>He was said to have been recognized in other equally uncongenial +occupations, but relief was at hand in the time of his sorest need.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3> + +<h4>MRS. CLEMM.</h4> + +<p>His father's sister, Mrs. Maria Clemm, who had for some years been +living in a New York country town, supporting herself and little +daughter by dressmaking, about this time returned to Baltimore, and +hearing from the Poes of the presence of her brother's son in the city, +commenced a search for him. She found him, at length, ill—really ill; +and at once took him to her own humble home, installing him in a room +which had been furnished for a lodger, and from that hour attended and +cared for him with a true motherly devotion.</p> + +<p>Those who believe in the spirit of the old adage, "Blood is thicker than +water," may imagine what a blessed relief this was to the weary and +almost despairing wanderer. Here he had what he needed almost as much as +he did food—rest; rest for the weak and exhausted body and for the +anxious mind as well.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> Here, in the quiet little room, he could lie and +dream, in the blissful consciousness that near him were the watchful +eyes and careful hands of his own father's sister, ready to attend to +his slightest want. And from the day on which he first entered her +humble abode Poe was never more to be a homeless wanderer. To him it +proved ever a safe little harbor, a sure haven of refuge and repose in +all storms and troubles that assailed, even to his life's end.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Clemm was at this time a strong, vigorous woman, somewhat past +middle age, and of large frame and masculine features. Her manner was +dignified and well-bred, and she was possessed of abundant +self-reliance, ready resource, and, as must be said, of clever artifice +as well, where artifice was necessary to the accomplishment of a +purpose. Her abode, though plainly and cheaply furnished, was a picture +of neatness and such comfort as she could afford to give it; but her +means were only what could be derived from dressmaking, taking a lodger +or two, and at times teaching a few small children.</p> + +<p>This state of affairs dawned upon Poe as he slowly recovered from his +fever-dreams; and he again became aware of the strong necessity of +further exertion on his part. Mrs. Clemm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> would not allow him to go to a +hospital. Probably she feared to lose him. In some degree, isolated from +her other kindred, she had in her loneliness found a son, and the +pertinacity with which she thenceforth clung to him was something +remarkable.</p> + +<p>Poe soon resumed his weary search for employment, but for some time +without success. In his hours of enforced idleness at home he found +employment in teaching his little cousin, Virginia, a pretty and +affectionate child of ten years, who, however, was fonder of a walk or a +romp with him than of her lessons. She was devoted to her handsome +cousin, and having hitherto lived with her mother and with few or no +playmates or companions, soon learned to depend upon him for all +pleasure or amusement. They called each other both then and ever after, +"Buddie" and "Sissy," while Mrs. Clemm was "Muddie" to both.</p> + +<p>Of this period of Poe's life in Baltimore, Dr. Snodgrass, a literary +Bohemian of the time, has given us glimpses:</p> + +<p>"In Baltimore, his chief resort was the Widow Meagher's place, an +inexpensive but respectable eating-house, with a bar attached and a room +where the customers could indulge in a smoke or a social game of cards. +This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> was frequented chiefly by printers and employees of shipping +offices. Poe was a great favorite with the Widow Meagher, a kindly old +Irish woman. On entering there you would generally find him seated +behind her oyster counter, at which she presided; himself as silent as +an oyster, grave and retiring. Knowing him to be a poet, she addressed +him always by the old Irish title of <i>Bard</i>, and by this name he was +here known. It was, "Bard, have a nip;" "Bard, take a hand." Whenever +anything particularly pleased the old woman's fancy, she would request +Poe to put it in "poethry," and I have seen many of these little pieces +which appeared to me more worthy of preservation than some included in +his published works.</p> + +<p>It happened that Poe one evening, in his wanderings about the streets, +stopped to read a copy of <i>The Evening Visitor</i> exposed for sale, and +had his attention attracted by the offer of a purse of one hundred +dollars for the best original story to be submitted to that journal +anonymously. Remembering his rejected manuscripts, he at once hastened +home and, making them into a neat parcel, dispatched them to the office +of the <i>Visitor</i>, though with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> little or no hope of their meeting with +acceptance.</p> + +<p>His feelings may therefore be imagined when he shortly received a letter +informing him that the prize of one hundred dollars had been awarded to +his story of "The Gold Bug," and desiring him to come to the office of +the <i>Visitor</i> and receive the money.</p> + +<p>It was on this occasion that Poe made the acquaintance of Mr. J. P. +Kennedy, author of "<i>Swallow Barn</i>," who proved such a true friend to +him in time of need. Mr. Kennedy says he recognized in the thin, pale, +shabbily dressed but neatly groomed young man a gentleman, and also that +he was starving. He invited him frequently to his table, presented him +with a suit of clothes and, seeing how feeble he was, gave him the use +of a horse for the exercise which he so much needed. He also obtained +for him some employment in the office of the <i>Evening Visitor</i>, whose +editor, Mr. Wilmer, accepted several stories from his pen; and it was +now, evidently, that Poe decided upon literature as a profession.</p> + +<p>Under these favoring conditions Poe rapidly recovered his health and +spirits. Mr. Wilmer, who saw a good deal of him at this time, says that +when their office work was done they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> would often walk out together into +the suburbs, generally accompanied by Virginia, who would never be left +behind. At the office he was punctual, industrious and his work +satisfactory. In all his association with him he never saw him under the +influence of intoxicants or knew him to drink except once, moderately, +when he opened a bottle of wine for a visitor.</p> + +<p>I once clipped from a Baltimore paper the following article by a +reporter to whom the story was related by "a lively and comely old +lady," herself its heroine. I give it as an illustration of the easy +confidence with which Poe, even in his youth, sought the acquaintance of +women who attracted his attention:</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3> + +<h4>"A PRETTY GIRL WITH AUBURN HAIR WHOM POE LOVED."</h4> + +<p>"The old lady commenced by saying that she had known Poe quite +intimately when she and her mother were residents of Baltimore, about +1832. She was then seventeen years of age and attending a finishing +school in that city. She confided to me, laughingly, that she was +considered a very pretty girl, with dark eyes and curling auburn hair.</p> + +<p>"The first time she noticed Poe, she said, was once when she was +studying her lesson at the window of her room, which was in the rear of +the house. Looking up, she saw a very handsome young man standing at an +opposite back window on the next street looking directly at her. She +pretended to take no notice, but on the following evening the same thing +occurred. He appeared to be writing at his window, and each time that he +laid aside a sheet he would look over at her, and at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> length bowed. This +time a school friend was with her, who, in a spirit of fun, returned the +bow. That evening, as the two were seated on the veranda together, this +young man sauntered past and, deliberately ascending the steps of the +adjoining house, spoke to them, addressing them by name. He sat for some +time on the dividing rail of the two verandas, making himself very +agreeable, and the acquaintance thus commenced in a mere spirit of +school-girl fun, was kept up for several weeks, some story being +invented to satisfy the mother.</p> + +<p>"'Of course, it was all wrong,' said the old lady, 'but it was fun, +nevertheless; and we girls could see no harm in it. But one evening, +when Mr. Poe and myself had been strolling up and down in the moonlight +until quite late, my mother desired him not to come again, as I was only +a school girl and the neighbors would talk. So our acquaintance ended +abruptly.' She added that, although they never again met, she always +felt the deepest interest in hearing of him, and had never forgotten her +fascinating boy-lover.</p> + +<p>"Asked if she had ever seen Virginia, she replied: 'Yes, several times, +when she was with her cousin;' that 'she was a pretty child,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span> but her +chalky-white complexion spoiled her.'"</p> + +<p>Mr. Allan died in March, 1834, leaving three fine little boys to inherit +his fortune.</p> + +<p>Some time before his death an absurd story was circulated, which we find +related in the Richmond <i>Standard</i>, of April, 1881, thirty-one years +after Poe's death, on the authority of Mr. T. H. Ellis, of Richmond. It +appears that a friend of Poe wrote to the latter that Mr. Allan had +spoken kindly of him, seeming to regret his harshness, and advising him +to come on to Richmond and call on him in his illness. Acting upon this +advice, he, one evening in February, presented himself at Mr. Allan's +door. The rest, as told by Ellis, is as follows:</p> + +<p>"He was met at the door by Mrs. Allan, who, not recognizing him, said +that her husband had been forbidden by his physician to see visitors. +Thrusting her rudely aside, he rapidly made his way upstairs and into +the chamber where Mr. Allan sat in an arm-chair, who, on seeing him, +raised his cane, threatening to strike him if he approached nearer, and +ordered him to leave the house, which he did."</p> + +<p>Woodbury asserts the truth of this story, because, as he says, "Mr. +Ellis had the very best means of knowing the truth." But Ellis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> was at +this time only a youth of 18 or 20, and had no more opportunity of +knowing the truth than the numerous acquaintances of the Allans' to whom +they related their version of the incident, with never a mention of the +cane. Poe, they said, accused the servant of having delivered his +message to Mrs. Allan and, creating some disturbance, the latter called +to the servant to "drive that drunken man away." Mr. Ellis should have +remembered that Mrs. Allan, to the day of her death, asserted that she +had never but once seen Poe; consequently, this story of the second +meeting between them and of Poe's "rudely thrusting her aside," and +being threatened with the cane, is simply a specimen of the gossip which +was continually being circulated concerning Poe by his enemies.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIII.</h3> + +<h4>POE'S DOUBLE MARRIAGE.</h4> + +<p>How it was that Poe, when a mature man of twenty-seven, came to marry +his little cousin of twelve or thirteen has ever appeared something of a +mystery.</p> + +<p>As understood by his Richmond friends, it appeared that when, in July of +1835, he left Baltimore to assume the duties of assistant editor to Mr. +White of the <i>Southern Literary Messenger</i>, Virginia, deprived of her +constant companion, so missed him and grieved over his absence that her +mother became alarmed for her health, and wrote to Poe concerning it; +and that in May of the following year the two came to Richmond, where +Poe and Virginia were married, she being at that time not fourteen years +of age. For this marriage Mrs. Clemm was severely criticised, the +universal belief being that she had "made the match."</p> + +<p>Of any other marriage than this these friends never heard; since it was +only from a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> letter found among Poe's papers after his death, and the +reluctant admission of Mrs. Clemm, that it became known that a previous +marriage had taken place.</p> + +<p>The marriage records of Baltimore show that on September 22, 1835, Edgar +A. Poe took out a license to marry Virginia E. Clemm. Mrs. Clemm, when +interviewed by one of Poe's biographers, admitted that there had been +such a marriage, and stated that the ceremony had been performed by +Bishop John Johns in Old Christ Church; though of this there is no +mention in the church records. Immediately after the ceremony, she said, +Poe returned to Richmond and to his editorial duties on the <i>Messenger</i>. +She vouchsafed no explanation, except that the two were engaged previous +to Poe's departure for Richmond.</p> + +<p>A possible explanation of the mystery may be that Mrs. Clemm, having set +her heart upon keeping her nephew in the family, could think of no surer +means than that of a match between himself and her daughter. When he +left Baltimore for Richmond, in July, she doubtless had her fears; and +then came reports of his notorious love affairs, one of which came near +ending in an elopement and mar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span>riage. It was probably then that she +wrote to him about Virginia's grieving for him; following up this letter +with another saying that Neilson Poe had offered to take Virginia into +his family and care for her until she should be eighteen years of age. +This brought a prompt reply from Poe, begging that she would not consent +to this plan and take "Sissy" away from him.</p> + +<p>This last letter is dated August 29. What other correspondence followed +we do not know; but two weeks later, on September 11, 1835, we find Poe +writing to his friend, Mr. Kennedy, the following extraordinary letter, +in which he clearly hints at suicide:</p> + +<p class="short">"I am wretched. I know not why. Console me—for you can. But let it be +quickly, or it will be too late. Convince me that it is worth one's +while to live.... Oh, pity me, for I feel that my words are +incoherent.... Urge me to do what is right. Fail not, as you value your +peace of mind hereafter.</p> + +<p class="quotsig"><span class="smcap">"Edgar A. Poe."</span> +<br /></p> + +<p><br /><br />This production, which, in whatever light it is viewed, cannot but be +regarded as an evidence of pitiable weakness. Some writer has chosen to +attribute Poe's anguish to the prospect of losing Virginia. But it does +not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span> at all appear that such is the case; for, even if Neilson Poe did +make such an offer, Poe knew well enough that neither Mrs. Clemm nor her +daughter would ever consent to accept it. The whole thing appears to +have been simply a plan of Mrs. Clemm to bring matters to the +satisfactory conclusion which she desired. She possessed over her nephew +then and always the influence and authority of a strong and determined +will over a very weak one; and we here see that in less than two months +after Poe's leaving her house she had carried her point and married him +to her daughter. Having thus secured him, she was content to wait a more +propitious time for making the marriage public.</p> + +<p>There is yet a little episode which may have influenced this affair and +may serve further to explain it.</p> + +<p>When Poe first went to Richmond, Mr. White, as a safeguard from the +temptation to evil habits, received him as an inmate of his own home, +where he immediately fell in love with the editor's youngest daughter, +"little Eliza," a lovely girl of eighteen. It was said that the father, +who idolized his daughter, and was also very fond of Poe, did not forbid +the match, but made his consent conditional upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> the young man's +remaining perfectly sober for a certain length of time. All was going +well, and the couple were looked upon as engaged, when Mrs. Clemm, who +kept a watchful eye upon her nephew, may have received information of +the affair, and we have seen the result.</p> + +<p>Does this throw any light upon Poe's pitiful appeal, "Urge me to do what +is right"? Was this why the marriage was kept secret—to give time for a +proper breaking off of the match with Elizabeth White? And it is +certain, from all accounts, that Poe now, at once, plunged into the +dissipation which was, according to general report, the occasion of Mr. +White's prohibition of his attentions to his daughter. It was she to +whom the lines, "<i>To Eliza</i>," now included in Poe's poems, were +addressed.</p> + +<p>When I was a girl I more than once heard of Eliza White and her love +affair with Edgar Poe. "She was the sweetest girl that I ever knew," +said a lady who had been her schoolmate; "a slender, graceful blonde, +with deep blue eyes, who reminded you of the Watteau Shepherdesses upon +fans. She was a great student, and very bright and intelligent. She was +said to be engaged to Poe, but they never appeared anywhere together. It +was soon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> broken off on account of his dissipation. I don't think she +ever got over it. She had many admirers, but is still unmarried."</p> + +<p>Recently I read an article written by Mrs. Holmes Cumming, of +Louisville, Kentucky, in which she spoke of persons and places that she +had seen in Richmond associated with Poe. Among others, she met with a +niece of Eliza White, who, when a child, had often seen Poe at the +latter's home. She remembered having at a party seen him dancing with +Eliza, and how every one remarked what a handsome couple they were. She +had never seen any one enjoy dancing more than Poe did; not but that he +was very dignified, but you could see in his whole manner and expression +how he enjoyed it." Perhaps it was because he had "little Eliza" for a +partner.</p> + +<p>Previous to Poe's first marriage, he had boarded with a Mrs. Poore on +Bank street, facing the Capitol square, and with whose son-in-law, Mr. +Thomas W. Cleland, he held friendly relations. A few weeks after his +first marriage (which was still kept secret) he removed to the +establishment of a Mrs. Yarrington, in the same neighborhood, where, +being joined by Mrs. Clemm and Virginia, they lived together as +formerly, he—as he informed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> Mr. George Poe—paying out of his slender +salary nine dollars a week for their joint board. This continued until +May of the next year, when the public marriage of Poe and Virginia took +place.</p> + +<p>On this occasion Mr. Thomas Cleland was obliging enough to consent to +act as Poe's surety, and he also secured the services of his own pastor, +the Rev. Amasa Converse, a noted Presbyterian minister. Late on the +evening of May 16, Mr. Cleland, with Mrs. Clemm, Poe and Virginia, left +Mrs. Yarrington's and, walking quietly up Main street to the corner of +Seventh, were married in Mr. Converse's own parlor and in the presence +of his family, Mrs. Clemm giving her full and free consent. The +clergyman remarked afterward that Mrs. Clemm struck him as being +"polished, dignified, and agreeable in her bearing," while the bride +"looked very young." The party then returned to their boarding-house, +where Mrs. Clemm invited the lady boarders to her room to partake of +wine and cake, when it was discovered that it was a wedding +celebration.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">5</a></p> + +<p>It will be observed that, according to the marriage bond, Virginia was +married under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> +her maiden name of Clemm, thus ignoring the former ceremony; and that +Poe subscribed to the oath of Thomas Cleland that she was "of the full +age of twenty-one years," when in reality she was but thirteen, having +been born August 16, 1822. Thus is shown how pliable was Poe in the +hands of his mother-in-law; and as regards Mr. Cleland, who was a very +pious Presbyterian, it can only be hoped that he never discovered in +what manner he had been imposed upon.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIV.</h3> + +<h4>THE POES IN RICHMOND.</h4> + +<p>When Poe went to Richmond as assistant editor to Mr. White, it had been +with the expectation of resuming his old place among his former friends +and associates—a prospect which, as he himself stated in a letter to +that gentleman, had afforded him very great pleasure. He had no idea of +the altered estimate in which he was held by some of these, and of the +general prejudice existing against him in consequence of the exaggerated +reports concerning his rupture with the Allans and the later story of +his attempt to force himself into Mr. Allan's presence. It is true that +the Mackenzies, the Sullys, Dr. Robert G. Cabell and his wife, with some +others of the best people, remained his firm friends; but he found +himself without social standing and with but few associates among his +former acquaintances. It was even said that when a leading society lady, +enjoying a literary reputation—the mother of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell +and Mrs. General Winfield Scott—gave an entertainment to which she +invited the talented young editor of the <i>Messenger</i>, two of the most +priggish of these gentlemen declined to attend rather than meet their +former schoolmate, Edgar Poe.</p> + +<p>This state of things must undoubtedly have served to irritate and +embitter one of Poe's proud and sensitive nature, and may have partly +led to the dissipated habits in which he now for the first time began to +indulge—besides, in some measure, influencing the extreme bitterness +and severity, or, as it has been called, <i>venom</i> of the criticism for +which the <i>Messenger</i> began to be noted. Never before had he been +accused of unamiability of disposition, but his temper seems suddenly to +have changed, and he was called "haughty, overbearing and quarrelsome."</p> + +<p>A great and, it is to be feared, irreparable obloquy has attached to +Poe's name through the utterance of a single individual—a Mr. Ferguson, +who was employed as a printer's assistant in the office of the +<i>Messenger</i> at the time of Poe's editorship of that magazine. Not many +years ago, Mr. Ferguson, who is still living, said, in answer to some +inquiry concerning the poet: "There never was a more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> perfect gentleman +than Mr. Poe when he was sober," but that at other times "he would just +as soon lie down in the gutter as anywhere else." And this assertion has +been taken up by one and another writer until it appears now to be +received as a fixed fact.</p> + +<p>I have often heard this statement indignantly denied by persons who knew +Poe at this time. Howsoever much under the influence of drink he might +be, he was, they say, never at any time or by any person seen staggering +through the streets or lying in a gutter. On the contrary, he was +extremely sensitive about being seen by his friends, and especially +ladies, under the influence of drink.</p> + +<p>Poe himself, long after this time, while denying the charge of general +dissipation, confessed that while in Richmond he at long intervals +yielded to temptation, and after each excess was invariably for some +days confined to his bed. And now, in addition to other charges against +him, was that of neglecting his wife and being frequently seen in +attendance on other women; a point on which his motherly friend, Mrs. +Mackenzie, more than once felt herself called upon to remonstrate with +him. He would be, for a week at a time, away from his home, putting up +at various<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> hotels and boarding-houses, and spending his money freely, +instead of, as formerly, committing it to the keeping of his +mother-in-law. Mrs. Clemm, descending from the dignity of a boarder, +tried to open a boarding-house of her own, but failed; and she now +rented a cheap tenement on Seventh street and went back to her +dressmaking, letting out rooms, and probably taking one or two boarders. +But it was seldom that her son-in-law was to be found here; though +always, after one of his excesses, he would seek its seclusion until fit +to again appear in public.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hewitt, who was about this time in Richmond, says that he heard a +great deal of gossip about Poe's love affairs; and describes him as, at +this time, of remarkable personal beauty—"graceful, and with dark, +curling hair and magnificent eyes, wearing a Byron collar and looking +every inch a poet." An old gentleman, a distinguished lawyer, once +undertook his defence, saying: "Poe is one of the kind whom men envy and +calumniate and women adore. How many could resist the temptation?"</p> + +<p>The Mackenzies spoke of Virginia at this time—now fourteen years of +age—as being small for her age, but very <i>plump</i>; pretty, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> not +especially so, with sweet and gentle manners and the simplicity of a +child. Rose Poe, now twenty-six years of age, would sometimes take her +young sister-in-law to spend an afternoon at the Mackenzies, where she +appeared as much of a child as any of the pupils, joining in their +sports of swinging and skipping rope. On one occasion her +husband—"Buddy"—came unexpectedly to bring her home, when she +scandalized Miss Jane Mackenzie by rushing into the street and greeting +him with the <i>abandon</i> of a child.</p> + +<p>Nearly twenty years after this time there were persons living on Main +street who remembered having almost daily seen about the Old Market, in +business hours, a tall, dignified looking woman, with a market basket on +one arm, while on the other hung a little girl with a round, +ever-smiling face, who was addressed as "Mrs. Poe"! She, too, carried a +basket.</p> + +<p>Whatsoever was the cause of Poe's discontent, he never appeared happy or +satisfied while in Richmond. His dissipated habits grew upon him, with a +consequent neglect of editorial duties, which sorely tried the patience +of his good and kind friend, Mr. White, to whom, it must be admitted, +Poe never appeared sufficiently grateful. Whether Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> White was +compelled at length to reluctantly discharge him, or whether, as Mr. +Kennedy says, Poe himself gave up his place as editor of the +<i>Messenger</i>, thinking that with his now established literary reputation +he could do better in the North, is not clear; but in the summer of 1838 +he left Richmond and, with his family, removed to New York.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Clemm, at least, could not have been averse to the move; for it +seems certain that there was a general prejudice against her on account +of her having made or consented to the match between her little daughter +and a man of Poe's age and dissipated habits.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XV.</h3> + +<h4>IN NEW YORK.</h4> + +<p>Of Poe's business and literary affairs in New York, and subsequently in +Philadelphia, his biographers have fully informed us, but with little or +no mention of his home life or his family. All that we can gather +concerning the latter is that never at any time were their circumstances +such as would enable them to dispense with the utmost economy of living, +and that, as regarded the practical everyday business affairs of life, +Poe was almost as helpless and dependent upon his mother-in-law as was +his child-wife. But for this devoted mother, what could they have +done?—those two, whom she rightly called her "children."</p> + +<p>Poe was sadly disappointed in his hopes of obtaining literary employment +in New York, and but for Mrs. Clemm's opening a boarding-house on +Carmine street, an obscure locality, the family might have starved. +Here, however, he seems to have turned over a new leaf,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> for one of the +boarders, a Mr. Gowans, a book-seller on the next street, declares that +in the eight months of his residence at Mrs. Clemm's, and a daily +intercourse with Poe, he never saw him otherwise than "sober, courteous, +and a perfect gentleman." Being a stranger in New York, he was removed +from the temptations which had assailed him in Richmond, and this fact +should be noted as a proof that, when left to himself, he showed no +inclination to indulge in dissipation. Of Virginia, Poe's wife, then +fifteen years of age, this gallant old bachelor says, in the exaggerated +style of flattery common in those days: "Her eyes outshone those of any +houri, and her features would defy the genius of a Canova to imitate. +Poe delighted in her round, childlike face and plump little figure."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVI.</h3> + +<h4>THE REAL VIRGINIA.</h4> + +<p>As regards the nature of Poe's affection for his wife, I have often +recalled an expression of Mr. John Mackenzie when, after the poet's +death, a group of his friends were familiarly discussing his character. +One doubted whether Poe had ever really loved his wife; to which Mr. +Mackenzie replied: "I believe that Edgar loved his wife, but not that he +was ever in love with her—which accounts for his constancy."</p> + +<p>I have heard other men say that it was impossible that Poe, at the age +of twenty-seven, could have felt for the child of twelve, with whom he +had played and romped in the familiar association of home life and the +free intercourse of brother and sister, aught of the absorbing and +idealizing passion of love. At most, said they, there could have been +but the tender and protective affection of an elder brother or cousin; +which, as Mr. Mackenzie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> remarked, was in one of Poe's temperament the +best guarantee for its continuance.</p> + +<p>Apart from the disparity of age, there was no congeniality of mind or +character to draw these two into sympathy. Virginia was not mentally +gifted, and Poe once, after her death, remarked to Mrs. Mackenzie that +she had never read half of his poems. When writing, he would go to Mrs. +Clemm to explain his ideas or to ask her opinion, but never to Virginia. +She was his pet, his plaything, his little "Sissy," whose sunny temper +and affectionate disposition brightened and cheered his home.</p> + +<p>"She was always a child," said a lady who knew her well. "Even in person +smaller and younger looking than her real age, she retained to the last +the shy sweetness and simplicity of childhood."</p> + +<p>It would certainly appear that Poe's child-wife never attained to the +full completeness of the nature and affections of a mature woman. She +was never known to manifest jealousy of the women whom he so notoriously +admired; neither did scandals disturb nor his neglect estrange her. Mrs. +Clemm would sometimes, as in duty bound, take him to task for his +irregularities, but no word of reproach ever escaped Virginia. She +regarded him with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> the most implicit and childlike trust; and certainly +it seems that Poe, of all men, knew how, by endearing epithets and +eloquent protestations, to win a woman's confidence—as will presently +appear.</p> + +<p>But, naturally, this was not the kind of affection to satisfy one of +Poe's impassioned and poetic nature. He craved a woman's love, and the +sympathetic appreciation of talented women, in whose companionship, as +Mrs. Whitman assures us, he delighted. What he did not find in Virginia +he sought elsewhere. In special he missed in her that understanding and +appreciation of his genius which he found in some other women. She loved +and admired her handsome and fascinating husband, but never appeared to +take pride in his genius or his fame as a poet.</p> + +<p>The accounts of Virginia's beauty, say those who knew her personally, +have been greatly exaggerated by Poe's biographers, who, taking their +impressions from the description of Mr. Gowans already mentioned, have +painted the poet's child-wife in the most glowing colors. The general +idea of her is like that which Mr. Woodbury expresses: "A sylph-like +creature, of such delicate and ethereal beauty that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> we almost expect to +see it vanish away, like one of Poe's own creations."</p> + +<p>But the real Virginia was neither delicate nor ethereal. She is +described by those who knew her at the age of twenty-two as looking more +like a girl of fifteen than a woman grown, with, notwithstanding her +frail health, a round, full face and figure, full, pouting lips, a +forehead too high and broad for beauty, and bright black eyes and +raven-black hair, contrasting almost startlingly with a white and +colorless complexion. Her manner and expression were soft and shy, with +something childlike and appealing. "She was liked by every one," says +Mr. Graham. A decided <i>lisp</i> added to her child-likeness.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVII.</h3> + +<h4>POE'S PHILADELPHIA HOME.</h4> + +<p>Poe, disappointed in his hopes of success in New York, left that city +and, in the summer of 1839, removed to Philadelphia, then the literary +center of the United States.</p> + +<p>Of his business experiences while here—his successes and +disappointments—his quarrels with certain editors and literary men and +his friendly relations with others, his biographers have informed us. +But it is in his home and private life that we are interested.</p> + +<p>Their financial circumstances at this time must have been deplorable, +for they had to borrow money to enable them to remove to Philadelphia. +Under the circumstances, to take board was impracticable; and it appears +from the reminiscences of certain neighbors, that they for some time +occupied very poor lodgings in an obscure street in the vicinity of a +market. But Poe was much more successful here than in New York, and we +find them in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> the following spring established in a home of their own in +a locality known as <i>Spring Garden</i>, a quiet suburb far from +the dust and noise of the city.</p> + +<p>Some one has recently taken pains to hunt out with infinite patience and +perseverance this house, which the Poes occupied for nearly five years. +It was an ordinary framed Dutch-roofed building, with but three rooms on +the ground floor, and under the eaves little horizontal strips of +windows on a level with the floor, which could scarcely have admitted +light and air. But there was, when they took possession, a bit of grassy +side yard which had once been part of a garden, and a porch over which +grew a straggling rose-bush. This latter Mrs. Clemm's skillful hands +carefully pruned and trained, thus winning for the humble abode the +title still applied to it of "The poet's rose-embowered cottage," to +which some enthusiast has added, "Where Poe and his idolized Virginia +dreamed their divine dream of love."</p> + +<p>To a lady who was at this time a resident of Spring Garden we are +indebted for a glimpse of the Poes in this their quiet and half-rural +abode.</p> + +<p>"Twice a day, on my way to and from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> school," she said, "I had to pass +their house, and in summer time often saw them. In the mornings Mrs. +Clemm and her daughter would be generally watering the flowers, which +they had in a bed under the windows. They seemed always cheerful and +happy, and I could hear Mrs. Poe's laugh before I turned the corner. +Mrs. Clemm was always busy. I have seen her of mornings clearing the +front yard, washing the windows and the stoop, and even white-washing +the palings. You would notice how clean and orderly everything looked. +She rented out her front room to lodgers, and used the middle room, next +to the kitchen, for their own living room or parlor. They must have +slept under the roof. We never heard that they were poor, and they kept +pretty much to themselves in the two years we lived near them. I don't +think that in that time I saw Mr. Poe half a dozen times. We heard he +was dissipated, but he always appeared like a gentleman, though thin and +sickly looking. His wife was the picture of health. It was after we +moved away that she became an invalid."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Clemm, she added, was a dress and cloak maker; and she thinks that +Mrs. Poe assisted her, as she would sometimes see the lat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span>ter seated on +the stoop engaged in sewing. "She was pretty, but not noticeably so. She +was too fleshy."</p> + +<p>This account refers to a time when Poe was assistant editor of <i>The +Gentleman's Magazine</i>, and the family were enjoying a degree of peace +and prosperity such as they never subsequently knew.</p> + +<p>Poe lost this position, according to Mr. Burton, the editor-in-chief, by +indulgence in dissipated habits. In replying to this charge, he wrote to +a friend, Mr. Snodgrass, that "on the honor of a gentleman" he had not, +since leaving Richmond, tasted anything stronger than cider, and that +upon one occasion only. In this he was borne out by the testimony of +Mrs. Clemm, who asserted, "I know that for years he never tasted even a +glass of wine." Mr. Burton, in making the charge, adds: "I believe that +for eighteen months previous to this time he had not drank." Still, the +severity and, one might say, almost cruelty of his personal criticisms +continued, and nothing could exceed the bitterness of his vituperation +against those by whom, as he conceived, he had been wronged or unjustly +treated. Mr. Burton, in replying, in a forbearing and even kindly +manner, to a very abusive letter from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> him, advised him to "lay aside +his ill-feeling against his fellow-writers, and to cultivate a more +tolerant and kindly spirit." He even proposed that Poe should resume his +place upon the magazine, but this he proudly declined, and continued to +contribute his brilliant stories to other periodicals. These attracted +the attention of Mr. Graham, who had just established the magazine which +bore his name, and who offered him the editorship, which Poe accepted, +and gave to it his best work. Under his management it prospered +wonderfully, and soon became the leading periodical of the country.</p> + +<p>Still, with a good salary and a brilliant literary reputation, Poe was +dissatisfied. The old restlessness and discontent returned. What he +desired was a magazine of his own, for which he might be at liberty to +write according to his own will. His independent and ambitious spirit +revolted at being limited to certain bounds and controlled by what he +considered the narrow views of editors. We find him as early as June 26, +1841, writing to Mr. Snodgrass: "Notwithstanding Graham's unceasing +civility and real kindness, I am more and more disgusted with my +situation." It ended at length in his resigning the editorship of +<i>Gra</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span><i>ham's</i> and devoting himself to writing for other publications, a +step which was the beginning of a long period of financial and other +troubles.</p> + +<p>From Col. Du Solle, editor of "<i>Noah's New York Sunday Times</i>," who as a +resident of Philadelphia about that time knew Poe well, I gained some +information concerning him. His dissipation, the Colonel said, was too +notorious to be denied; and that for days, and even weeks at a time, he +would be sharing the bachelor life and quarters of his associates, who +were not aware that he was a married man. He would, on some evenings +when sober, come to the rooms occupied by himself and some other writers +for the press and, producing the manuscript of <i>The Raven</i>, read to them +the last additions to it, asking their opinion and suggestions. He +seemed to be having difficulty with it, said Col. Du Solle, and to be +very doubtful as to its merits as a poem. The general opinion of these +critics was against it.</p> + +<p>The irregular habits of this summer resulted in the fall (1839) in a +severe illness, the first of the peculiar attacks to which Poe during +the rest of his life was at intervals subject. On recovering, he devoted +himself to the real<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span>ization of a plan for establishing a magazine of his +own, to be called "<i>The Penn Magazine</i>," and wrote to Mr. Snodgrass that +his "prospects were glorious," and that he intended to give it the +reputation of using no article except from the best writers, and that in +criticism it was to be sternly, absolutely just with both friends and +foe, independent of the medium of a publisher's will." In these last +words we read the whole secret of his past dissatisfaction and of his +future aspiration as an editor.</p> + +<p>The <i>Penn Magazine</i> was advertised +to appear on January 1, 1841, but this scheme was balked by a financial +depression which at that time occurred throughout the country.</p> + +<p>But who will not sympathize with Poe and admit that, considering the +disappointments to which he was continually subject, and the constant +humiliation and drawback of the poverty which met him on every hand, +balking each movement and design—together with the ill-health from +which he was now destined to be a constant sufferer—his faults and +failures should not be treated with every possible allowance? If he were +naturally weak, and lacking in the strength and firmness of will to +determinately resist obstacles and discour<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span>agements, we see in it the +effect of the heredity, apparent in his sister; and consequently so much +greater is his claim to be leniently judged.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3> + +<h4>VIRGINIA's ILLNESS.</h4> + +<p>In all this time of which we have spoken, embracing a period of several +years, Mrs. Clemm and her daughter continued their quiet life at the +cottage, the former doing what she could toward the support and comfort +of the family. But a great affliction was to befall them, in the +dangerous illness of Virginia, now in her twenty-first year, who had the +misfortune, while singing, to break a small blood-vessel. She had +already developed signs of consumption, and from this time forth +remained more or less an invalid, subject to occasional hemorrhages, +but, from all accounts, losing none of her characteristic cheerfulness +and light-heartedness.</p> + +<p>Poe was at this time still engaged in the editorship <i>of +Graham's Magazine</i>, and it is now that we begin +to hear of him in the character of "a devoted husband, watching beside +the sick bed of an idolized wife," with which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> world is familiar. +Certainly the condition of the helpless creature who so clung to him, +and the real danger which threatened her, was calculated to awaken all +the tenderness of his nature.</p> + +<p>"She could not bear the slightest exposure," wrote Mr. Harris in <i>Hearth +and Home</i>, "all needed the utmost care and all those conveniences as to +apartment and surroundings which are so important in the case of an +invalid. And yet the room where she lay for weeks, hardly able to +breathe except as she was fanned, was a little place with the ceiling so +low over the narrow bed that her head almost touched it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Graham tells how he saw Poe "hovering around his wife's couch with +fond fear and tender anxiety, <i>shuddering visibly</i> at her slightest +cough;" and mentions his driving out with them one summer day, and of +the husband's "watchful eyes eagerly bent on the slightest change in +that beloved face."</p> + +<p>Another literary friend of Poe's who visited the family in this time of +trial, Mr. Clarke, tells of his once taking his little daughter with +him, knowing Virginia to be fond of the companionship of children; and +as a proof of the latter's light-heartedness relates how the little girl +was induced to sing a comic song, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> Virginia received with "peal +after peal of merry laughter."</p> + +<p>The reminiscences of these kindly gentlemen who, at Poe's own request, +called upon him, regarding the poet and his family, are of the most +flattering character. Poe in his own home was the perfection of graceful +courtesy, and Mrs. Clemm amiably dignified, with a countenance when +speaking of "her children" almost "saint-like in its expression of +patience and motherly devotion." Of Virginia, Mr. Harris says, "She +looked hardly more than fourteen, was soft, fair and girlish." He says, +furthermore, that Mrs. Poe, whom he had not known previous to her +misfortune, had up to that time "possessed a voice of marvelous +sweetness and a harp and piano," which leads an English writer to +represent the poet's wife as "an accomplished musician, with the voice +of a St. Cecilia." This is a specimen of the exaggeration to which +"biographers" sometimes lend themselves, to be taken up by those who +follow and received by the public as fact.</p> + +<p>Poe now again interested himself in getting up a magazine, to which he +gave the name of "<i>The Stylus</i>" and there seemed an even more brilliant +prospect than before of its success. He wrote a prospectus, and went to +Wash<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span>ington to obtain subscriptions from President Tyler and the +Cabinet, but was taken ill, the result, it was said, of his meeting with +a convivial acquaintance; and Mrs. Clemm being notified thereof, on his +return to Philadelphia met him at the railroad station and took him home +in safety from further possible temptation. Owing partly to this +indiscretion, <i>The Stylus</i> was again a failure; and the matter being +known throughout the city, did not add to Poe's personal reputation.</p> + +<p>Now, also, just as for the first time, Poe began to be mentioned in the +character of a devoted husband, there arose a widespread scandal +concerning a handsome and wealthy lady whom, it was said, he accompanied +to Saratoga, and who was paying his expenses there. But while the story +appears to have been so far true, it certainly admits of a different +construction from that given by the gossips. Poe was at this time in +wretched health, hardly able to attend to his literary work, and in +consequence the financial condition of himself and family was +deplorable. What more probable than that some kind friend of his, seeing +the absolute necessity to him of a change, should have invited him to be +her guest at the quiet summer resort near Saratoga to which she was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> +going? It was a more delicate and, for him, a safer way than to have +supplied him with money on his own account. The lady, it was said, had +her own little turn-out, in which they daily drove into Saratoga; and +this exercise, with the mineral waters, the nourishing food and other +advantages of the place, doubtless secured to him the benefits which his +friend desired.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to believe that Poe could so have defied public opinion +as to have voluntarily given cause for a scandal of this nature, for +which the gossip of a public watering place should alone be held +responsible.</p> + +<p>Poe now again applied himself to his writing, but, for some reason, with +but little success. In desperation he hastily finished the manuscript of +<i>The Raven</i> and offered it to Graham, who, not satisfied as to its +merits as a poem, declined it, but expressed a willingness to abide by +the decision of a number of the office employees, clerks and others, +who, being called in, sat solemnly attentive and critical while Poe read +to them the poem. Their decision was against it, but on learning of the +poet's penniless condition and that, as he confessed, he had not money +to buy medicine for his sick wife, they made up a subscription of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> +fifteen dollars, which was given, not to Poe himself, but to Mrs. Clemm, +"for the use of the sick lady."</p> + +<p>This account, given in a New York paper by one of the office committee +many years after the poet's death, has been denied by a Mr. William +Johnston, who was at that time an office-boy in Graham's employ. He says +that he was present at the reading of the poem, and that no subscription +was taken up. This may have been done subsequently, without his +knowledge. Of Poe, he spoke in the most enthusiastic terms of admiration +and affection, as the kindest and most courteous gentleman that he had +ever met with; prompt and industrious at his work, and having always a +pleasant word and smile for himself. He never, in the course of Poe's +engagement with Graham, saw him otherwise than perfectly sober.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIX.</h3> + +<h4>BACK TO NEW YORK.</h4> + +<p>Poe, discouraged, and with the old restlessness upon him, suddenly +resolved to leave Philadelphia. On the 6th of April, 1844, he started +with Virginia for New York, leaving Mrs. Clemm to settle their affairs +in general.</p> + +<p>Most fortunately for Poe's memory, there remains to us a letter written +by him to Mrs. Clemm, in which he gives her an account of their journey. +It is of so private and confidential a nature, and speaks so frankly and +freely of such small domestic matters as most persons do not care to +have exposed to strangers, that in reading it one feels almost as if +violating the sacredness of domestic privacy. But I here refer to it as +showing Poe's domestic character in a most attractive light:</p> + +<p> +"<span class="smcap">New York</span>, Sunday morning, April 7,<br /> + just after breakfast.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="short">"<span class="smcap">My Dear Muddie</span>: We have just this moment done breakfast, and I now sit +down to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> write you about everything.... In the first place, we arrived +safe at Walnut street wharf. The driver wanted me to pay him a dollar, +but I wouldn't. Then I had to pay a boy a levy to put the trunks in the +baggage car. In the meantime I took Sis into the Depot Hotel. It was +only a quarter-past six, and we had to wait until seven.... We started +in good spirits, but did not get here until nearly three o'clock. Sissy +coughed none at all. When we got to the wharf it was raining hard. I +left her on board the boat, after putting the trunks in the ladies' +cabin, and set off to buy an umbrella and look for a boarding-house. I +met a man selling umbrellas, and bought one for twenty-five cents. Then +I went up Greenwich street and soon found a boarding-house.... It has +brown-stone steps and a porch with brown pillars. "Morrison" is the name +on the door. I made a bargain in a few minutes and then got a hack and +went for Sis. I was not gone more than half an hour, and she was quite +astonished to see me back so soon. She didn't expect me for an hour. +There were two other ladies on board, so she wasn't very lonely. When we +got to the house we had to wait about half an hour till the room was +ready. The cheapest board<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> that I ever knew, taking into consideration +the central situation and the <i>living</i>. I wish Kate (Virginia's pet cat, +'Catalina') could see it. She would faint. Last night for supper we had +the nicest tea you ever drank, strong and hot; wheat bread and rye +bread, cheese, tea-cakes (elegant), a good dish (two dishes) of elegant +ham and two of cold veal, piled up like a mountain and large slices; +three dishes of the cakes, and everything in the greatest profusion. No +fear of our starving here. The land-lady seemed as if she could not +press us enough, and we were at home directly. Her husband is living +with her, a fat, good-natured old soul. There are eight or ten boarders, +two or three of them ladies—two servants. For breakfast we had +excellent flavored coffee, hot and strong, not too clear and no great +deal of cream; veal cutlets, elegant ham-and-eggs and nice bread and +butter. I never sat down to a more plentiful or a nicer breakfast. I +wish you could have seen the eggs, and the great dishes of meat. I ate +the first hearty breakfast I have eaten since we left our little home. +Sis is delighted, and we are both in excellent spirits. She has coughed +hardly any and had no night-sweat. She is now mending my pants, which I +tore against a nail. I went out last night<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span> and bought a skein of silk, +a skein of thread, two buttons and a tin pan for the stove. The fire +kept in all night. We have now got four dollars and a half left. +To-morrow I am going to try and borrow three dollars, so that I may have +a fortnight to go upon. I feel in excellent spirits and have not drank a +drop, so that I hope soon to get out of trouble. The very instant that I +scrape together enough money I will send it on. You can't imagine how +much we both miss you. Sissy had a hearty cry last night because you and +Catalina weren't here. We are resolved to get two rooms the first moment +we can. In the meantime it is impossible that we can be more comfortable +or more at home than we are. Be sure to go to the P. O. and have my +letters forwarded. It looks as if it were going to clear up now. As soon +as I can write the article for Lowell, I will send it to you and get you +to get the money from Graham. Give our best love to Catalina."</p> + +<p class="quotsig">(Signature cut out here.)</p> + +<p><br />In this letter, written as simply and as unreservedly as that of a child +to its mother, we see Poe himself—Poe in his real nature. Not the poet, +with his studied affectation of gloom and sadness; not the critic, +severe in his judg<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span>ment of all that did not agree with his standard of +literary excellence, and not even the society man, wearing the mask of +cold and proud reserve—but Poe himself; Poe the man, shut in from the +eyes of the world in the privacy of his home life and the companionship +of his own family. Who could recognize in this gentle, kindly and tender +man, with his playful mood and his affectionate consideration for those +whom he loved—even for <i>Catalina</i>—the "morbid and enigmatical" being +that the world chooses to imagine him—the gloomy wanderer amid "the +ghoul-haunted regions of Weir," the despairing soul forever brooding +over the memory of his lost Lenore? And how readily he yields himself to +the enjoyment of the moment; how cheerful he is in a situation which +would depress any other man—a stranger in a strange city, just making a +new start in life, with "four dollars and a half" to begin with! Surely +there is something most pathetic in all this as we see it from Poe's own +unconscious pen; with the purchase of the twenty-five-cent umbrella to +shield "Sissy" from the rain, the two buttons and the skein of thread, +and, ever mindful of Sissy's comfort, the tin pan for the stove. The +picture is invaluable as enabling us to understand the true characters +of Poe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> and his wife and the peculiar relations existing between +them—Virginia, trustful, loving and happy, and Poe, all kindness and +protective tenderness for his little "Sissy." We look upon it as a +life-like photograph, clear and distinct in every line; Poe with the +traces of care and anxiety for the time swept away from his face, and +Virginia—as she is described at this time—a woman grown, but "looking +not more than fourteen," plump and smiling, with her bright, black eyes +and full pouting lips. It is Poe himself who reveals her character as no +other has done, when he says that, though "delighted" with her new +experience and situation, she yet "had a hearty cry," childlike, missing +her mother and her cat.</p> + +<p>It would have been well for them could they have remained at this model +"cheap" boarding-house, where they were so well provided for. But it was +beyond their means, with board for three persons; and so they look about +for "two rooms," and when ready send for Mrs. Clemm and Catalina. Two +rooms for the three; in one of which Mrs. Clemm must perform all her +domestic operations of cooking and laundering, for, as we afterwards +learn, Poe was indebted to his mother-in-law for that "immaculate linen" +in which, howsoever shabby the outer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> garments, he invariably appeared. +And despite the threadbare suit, he was always, it was said, as well +groomed and scrupulously neat as the most fastidious gentleman could be.</p> + +<p>That in New York Poe did not at first succeed according to his +expectations is rendered evident by the fact that in the following +October, he being ill, Mrs. Clemm applied to N. P. Willis for some +employment for him, who gave him a place in his office as assistant +editor. Willis says that Mrs. Clemm's countenance as she pleaded for her +son-in-law was "beautiful and saintly by reason of an evident complete +giving up of her life to privation and sorrowful tenderness" for those +whom she loved. Of Poe, he says that he was "a quiet, patient, +industrious and most gentlemanly person, commanding the utmost respect +and good feeling of every one." He also says, in speaking of a lecture +which he delivered about this time before the <i>New York Lyceum</i>, and +which was attended by several hundred persons: "He becomes a desk; his +beautiful head showing like a statuary embodiment of Discrimination—his +accent like a knife through water."</p> + +<p>It was now—in January, 1845—that <i>The Raven</i> was published in the +<i>Evening Mirror</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> taking the world by storm. Probably no one was more +surprised at its immediate success than was Poe himself, who, as he +afterwards stated to a friend, had never had much opinion of the poem. +He now found himself elevated to the highest rank of American literary +fame, and with this his worldly fortune should also have risen, yet we +find him going on in the same rut as before, writing but little for the +magazine and for that little being poorly paid—too poorly to enable the +family to live in any degree of comfort. From one cheap lodging to +another they removed, with such frequency as to suggest to us the +suspicion that their rent was not always ready when due.</p> + +<p>But after some time the old discontent returned upon Poe. Willis and the +<i>Mirror</i> were too narrow for him; and he sought and was fortunate enough +to obtain a place on the <i>Broadway Journal</i>, at that time the leading +journal of the day, and of which he was soon appointed assistant editor.</p> + +<p>With a good salary, the family were now enabled to live in more comfort. +They rented a front and back room on the third story of an old house on +East Broadway, which had once been the residence of a prosperous +merchant, but had long ago been given over to the use of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span> poor but +respectable tenants. It was musty and mouldy, but here they were +elevated somewhat above the noise and dust of the street, and had +sunlight and a good view from the narrow windows.</p> + +<p>It was here that, late one evening, Mr. R. H. Stoddard, whose sarcastic +pen is so well known, called on Poe instead of at his office, to inquire +the fate of a certain "<i>Ode</i>" which he had sent to the <i>Broadway +Journal</i> for publication. Necessarily he was received in the front room, +which was Virginia's. The following is his account of the visit:</p> + +<p>"Poe received me with the courtesy habitual with him when he was +himself, and gave me to understand that my <i>Ode</i> would be published in +the next number of his paper.... What did he look like?... He was +dressed in black from head to foot, except, of course, that his linen +was spotlessly white.... The most noticeable things about him were his +high forehead, dark hair and sharp, black eye. His cousin-wife, always +an invalid, was lying on a bed between himself and me. She never +stirred, but her mother came out of the back parlor and was introduced +to me by her courtly nephew."</p> + +<p>Stoddard is here mistaken in his description<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> of Poe's eyes. They were +neither sharp nor black, but large, soft, dreamy eyes, of a fine +steel-gray, clear as crystal, and with a jet-black pupil, which would in +certain lights expand until the eyes appeared to be all black. Stoddard +continues:</p> + +<p>"I saw Poe once again, and for the last time. It was a rainy afternoon, +such as we have in our November, and he was standing under an awning +waiting for the shower to pass over. My conviction was that I ought to +offer him my umbrella and go home with him, but I left him standing +there, and there I see him still, and shall always, poor and penniless, +but proud, reliant, dominant. May the gods forgive me! I never can +forgive myself."</p> + +<p>In April, five months after this time, Poe's old habits unfortunately +returned upon him. Mr. Lowell one day, in passing through New York, +called to see him, when Mrs. Clemm excused his "strange actions" by +frankly stating that "Edgar was not himself that day." She afterward +made the same statement to Mr. Briggs, whose assistant editor Poe was, +and who writes, June, 1845, to Lowell: "I believe he had not drank +anything for more than eighteen months until the last three months, and +concludes that he would have to dispense with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> his services. The matter +was settled, however, by Poe's proposing to buy the <i>Broadway Journal</i>, +hoping to make of it in a measure what he had desired for the <i>Stylus</i>. +The prospect seemed to promise fair enough for its success, and Mr. +Greeley and Mr. Griswold each generously contributed a sum of fifty +dollars; but the plan finally failed for want of sufficient funds, +George Poe, to whom Edgar applied, remembering his former unpaid loan, +making no response to his appeal. This was another great disappointment +to Poe, just as on former occasions his hopes seemed on the point of +realization. Thus, in whatsoever direction he turned, grim poverty faced +and frowned him down. Surely, it was enough to discourage him; and yet +to the end of his life he eagerly followed this illusive hope.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Clemm, too, who had in this time been trying to support the family +by keeping a boarding-house, also met with her disappointments. For some +reason her boarders never remained long with her, and the family, who +had removed to obscure lodgings on Amity street, now found themselves in +one of their frequent seasons of poverty and distress.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XX.</h3> + +<h4>POE AND MRS. OSGOOD.</h4> + +<p>It was a fortunate day when Mrs. Clemm, hunting about the suburbs of the +great city for a cheap place of abode, discovered the little cottage at +Fordham, a country railroad station some miles from New York.</p> + +<p>It was but an humble place at best, an old cottage of four rooms, in +ill-repair; but the rent was low, the situation—on the summit of a +rocky knoll—pleasant, affording fine views of the Harlem river; and +there was pure air, plenty of outdoor space, and that famous cherry +tree, now, in the month of May, in full and fragrant bloom. A few +repairs were made, and Mrs. Clemm's vigorous hands, with the assistance +of soap and water and whitewash, soon transformed the neglected abode +into a miracle of neatness and order. Checked matting hid the worn +parlor floor, and the cheap furniture which they had brought with them +looked better here than ever it had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span> done in the cramped and stuffy +rooms of the city. Outside a neglected rose-bush was trained against the +wall, supplying Virginia with roses in its season. Her room was above +the parlor, at the head of a narrow staircase; a low-ceiled apartment, +with sloping walls and small, square windows; and it was here at a desk +or table near his wife's sick bed that most of Poe's writing was now +done.</p> + +<p>In the preceding winter Virginia's health had apparently greatly +improved, and her illness was not of so serious a nature as to confine +her entirely to the house or to interfere with the social or literary +engagements of her husband, who was, as poet, lecturer, editor and +critic, at the zenith of his fame. In this time he had attended the +<i>soirees</i> of Miss Lynch and others of the literary class, once or twice +accompanied by his wife. At these he made the acquaintance of Mrs. +Hewitt, Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith and Mrs. E. F. Ellet, with others of +the "starry sisterhood of poetesses," as they were called by some +poetaster of the day, with each of whom he in succession formed one of +the sentimental platonic friendships to which he was given. All these, +however, were destined to yield to the superior attractions of a sister +poetess, Mrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span> Frances Sergeant Osgood, wife of the artist of that name.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Osgood, at this time about thirty-years of age, is described by R. +H. Stoddard as "A paragon—not only loved by men, but liked by women as +well." Attractive in person, bright, witty and sweet-natured, she won +even the splenatic Thomas Dunn English and the stoical Greeley, whose +approval of her was as frankly expressed as was his denunciation of the +"ugliness, self-conceit and disagreeableness" of her friend, the +transcendentalist, Margaret Fuller.</p> + +<p>Poe, who had written a very flattering notice of Mrs. Osgood's poems—in +return for which she addressed him some lines in the character of +<i>Israefel</i>—obtained an introduction and visited her frequently. Also, +at his request, she called upon his wife, and friendly relations were +soon established between them. To her, after Poe's death, we are +indebted for a characteristic picture of the poet and his wife in their +home in Amity street; and which, though almost too well known for +repetition, I will here give as a specimen of his home life:</p> + +<p>"It was in his own simple yet poetical home that the character of Edgar +Poe appeared to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> me in its most beautiful light. Playful, affectionate, +witty, alternately docile and wayward as a petted child, for his young, +gentle and idolized wife and for all who came, he had, even in the midst +of the most harassing literary duties, a kind word, a pleasant smile, a +graceful and courteous attention. At his desk, beneath the romantic +picture of his loved and lost Lenore'<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> patient, assiduous, +uncomplaining, tracing in an exquisitely clear chirography and with +almost superhuman swiftness the lightning thoughts, the rare and radiant +fancies as they flowed through his wonderful brain. For hours I have +listened entranced to his strains of almost celestial eloquence.</p> + +<p>"I recollect one morning toward the close of his residence in this city, +when he seemed unusually gay and light-hearted, Virginia, his sweet +wife, had written me a pressing invitation to come to them, and I, who +never could resist her affectionate summons, and who enjoyed his society +far more in his own home than elsewhere, hastened to Amity street. I +found him just completing his series of papers called "<i>The Literati of +New York</i>." 'Now,' said he, displaying in laughing triumph sev<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span>eral +little rolls of narrow paper (he always wrote thus for the press), +'I am going to show you by the difference of length in these the +different degrees of estimation in which I hold all you literary people. +In each of these one of you is rolled up and fully discussed. Come, +Virginia, and help me.' And one by one they unfolded them. At last they +came to one which seemed interminable. Virginia laughingly ran to one +corner of the room with one end and her husband went to the opposite +with the other. 'And whose linked sweetness long drawn out is that?' +said I. 'Hear her,' he cried; 'just as if her little vain heart didn't +tell her it's herself.'"</p> + +<p>From this account—the exaggerated phrases of which will be noted—it +would appear that a great degree of intimacy existed between Poe and his +fair visitor, when he could in his own home—the two tiny rooms in Amity +street—write "hour after hour" undisturbed by her presence. Virginia +was delighted with her new friend, but Mrs. Clemm, noting these frequent +and lengthy visits, regarded her with a suspicious eye. Too well she +knew of the platonic friendships of her Eddie; but there appeared +something in this affair beyond what was usual, and, in fact,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> gossip +had already begun to link together their names. Mrs. Osgood herself +seems to have relied upon Mrs. Poe's frequent invitations and fondness +for her society as a shield against meddlesome tongues, but in vain—for +not only were the jealous and vigilant eyes of Poe's mother-in-law bent +upon her, but those of the "starry sisterhood" as well. There was a +flutter and a chatter in the literary dovecote, and at length one of the +starry ones—Mrs. Ellet—concluded it to be her bounden duty to inquire +into the matter. Calling at Fordham one day, in Poe's absence, she and +Mrs. Clemm, who had probably never before met, engaged in a confidential +discussion, in the course of which the irate mother-in-law showed the +visitor a letter from Mrs. Osgood to Poe (one wonders how she got +possession of that letter), the contents of which were so opposed to all +the latter's ideas of propriety that it was clear that something would +have to be done. Eventually two of the starry ones—of whom one was +Margaret Fuller—waited upon Mrs. Osgood, whom they advised to +commission them to demand of Poe the return of her letters, which, +strangely enough, she did, though probably only as a conciliatory +measure. Poe, in his exasperation at this un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span>warrantable intermeddling, +remarked significantly that "Mrs. Ellet had better come and look after +her own letters;" upon which she sent to demand them. But he meantime +had cut her acquaintance by leaving them at her own door without either +written word or message; very much, we may imagine, as Dean Swift strode +into Vanessa's presence and threw at her feet her letter to Stella.</p> + +<p>This was either in May or early June, shortly after their removal to +Fordham. Poe had no idea of allowing this episode to interfere with his +visits to Mrs. Osgood, and the gossip continued, until, to avoid further +annoyance, she left New York and went to Albany on a visit to her +brother-in-law, Dr. Harrington.</p> + +<p>On the 12th of June we find Poe writing an affectionate note to his +wife, explaining why he stays away from her that night, and concluding +with:</p> + +<p class="short">"Sleep well, and God grant you a peaceful summer with your devoted</p> + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">"Edgar."</span> +</p> + +<p><br />A few days after this, toward the end of June, he was in Albany, making +passionate love to Mrs. Osgood. In dismay she left that city and went to +Boston, whither he followed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span> her; and again to Lowell and Providence, +giving rise to a widespread scandal, which caused the lady infinite +trouble and distress. But Mrs. Osgood, brilliant, talented and virtuous, +was also kind-hearted to a fault, and where her feelings and sympathies +were appealed to, amiably weak. Instead of indignantly and determinately +rejecting Poe's impassioned love-making, she says she pitied him, argued +with him, appealed to his reason and better feelings, and, in special, +reminded him of his sick wife, who lay dying at home and longing for his +presence. Finally, she returned to Albany; and Poe, ill at a hotel, +wrote urgently to Mrs. Clemm for money to pay his board bill and take +him back to Fordham.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXI.</h3> + +<h4>AT FORDHAM.</h4> + +<p>It was at this time, in the summer of 1845, that Poe's sister, Miss +Rosalie Poe, went on a visit to her brother, whom she had not seen in +ten years. On her return home, and for years thereafter, she was +accustomed to speak of this visit; and it was a curious picture which +she gave of the life of the poet and his family in the humble little +cottage on Fordham Hill.</p> + +<p>Poe was away when she arrived—presumably in his insane pursuit of Mrs. +Osgood. Miss Poe told of "Aunt Clemm's" distress and anxiety on his +account, and of how she "scraped together every penny" and borrowed +money from herself to send to Edgar, who, she said, had been taken ill +while on a business trip. There were no provisions in the house +scarcely, and she herself, both then and at various other times, would +purchase supplies from the market and grocers' wagons<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span> which passed; for +there were no stores at the little country station of Fordham.</p> + +<p>Miss Poe told of her brother's arrival at home, and of how she overheard +Mrs. Clemm administering to him a severe "scolding." He was so ill that +he had to be put to bed by Mrs. Clemm, who sat up with him all night +while he "talked out of his head" and begged for morphine. After some +days he was better, and walked about the house and sat under the pine +trees crowning a rocky knoll within calling distance of the house—ever +a constant and favorite retreat of his, affording fine views of the +river and neighboring country.</p> + +<p>One day, still weak and ill, he sat at his desk and looked over his +papers. Mrs. Clemm then took his place, and wrote at his dictation. Aunt +Clemm, said Rosalie, could exactly imitate Edgar's writing. On the +following day she filled her satchel with some of these papers and went +to the city, whence she returned late in the evening, quite after dark, +with a hamper of provisions and medicines to Virginia's great delight, +who had feared some mishap to her mother and cried accordingly. Miss Poe +believed that this hamper was a present from some one, but Aunt Clemm +was very reserved toward her in regard to her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span> affairs. She knew, she +said, that Mrs. Clemm had never liked her, but Edgar and Virginia were +kind.</p> + +<p>From this time Poe wrote industriously, seldom going to town, but +sending his mother-in-law instead. Several times Mrs. Clemm gave her +niece some "copying" to do, but this was not to her a very gratifying +task, and when, on her return home, she was asked what it was about, had +not the least idea! She always insisted that +<i>Anabel Lee</i> was written at this time, as she repeatedly heard Edgar +read it to Mrs. Clemm and also to himself, and recognized it when it was +published two years afterward. A curious picture was that which she gave +of the poet's reading his manuscript to his mother-in-law while the +latter sat beside his desk inking the worn seams of his and her own +garments; or of Poe, seated on a "settle" outside the kitchen door, also +reading to her some of his "rare and radiant fancies," while she +presided over the family laundry. He seems to have been constantly +appealing to her sympathy with his writing, but never to Virginia.</p> + +<p>According to Miss Poe, Mrs. Clemm was at this time dependent for her own +earnings on her sewing and fancy knitting, with pretty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> knick-knacks, +which she disposed of at a certain "notion store." Virginia, too, when +well enough, liked this kind of work. They had few visitors, for Mrs. +Clemm, too busy for gossip, made a point of discouraging calls from the +neighbors, with the exception of two or three families of better class +than most of those surrounding them. These latter were a half-rural +people, keeping dairies and cultivating market gardens.</p> + +<p>Miss Poe spoke of Virginia's cheerfulness. Nothing ever disturbed her. +"She was always laughing." She liked to have children about her; and +they came every day, bringing their dolls and playthings, with little +offerings of fruit and flowers from their home gardens. She taught them +to cut out and make their dolls' dresses, and would sometimes be very +merry with them. She did not appear to suffer, said Miss Poe—did not +lose flesh, and had always a hearty appetite, eating what the others +ate, though very fond of nice things, especially candy. Her mother and +Edgar petted her like a baby. "Aunt Clemm and Virginia," declared Miss +Poe with conviction, "cared for nobody but themselves and Edgar." +Virginia was at this time twenty-four years of age.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span></p> + +<p>It was not to be wondered at that, as Miss Poe said, her brother, +immediately after his return, remained at home, seldom going into town, +but sending his mother to dispose of his manuscripts. It has been said +that when he did make his appearance in the city and among his usual +business haunts, he found himself everywhere coldly received, in +consequence of the notorious episode with Mrs. Osgood, for whom it was +known he had left his sick wife. His literary enemies, of whom he had +made many by his keen criticisms, made the most of this charge against +him, in addition to that of dissipated habits, to which he now gave +himself up with a recklessness which he had never before shown.</p> + +<p>Poe afterward attempted to defend himself against this reproach and the +whole scandal of this season by attributing its excesses to his grief +and anxiety on account of his wife, whom, he says, he "loved as man +never loved before," a phrase the extravagance of which betrays its +insincerity. He describes how through the years of her illness he "loved +her more and more dearly and clung to her with the most desperate +pertinacity, until he became insane, with intervals of horrible +sanity.... During these fits of absolute uncon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span>sciousness I drank." And +thus he endeavors to explain away his pursuit of Mrs. Osgood!</p> + +<p>It cannot but be noted that in all Poe's accounts of himself, and +especially of his feelings, is a palpable affectation and exaggeration, +with an extravagance of expression bordering on the tragic and +melo-dramatic; a style which is exemplified in some of his writings, and +may be equally imaginative in both cases.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Osgood also, in her "<i>Reminiscences</i>," after Poe's death, sought to +clear both him and herself from the scandal of that summer by writing of +the affection and confidence existing between himself and his wife—"his +idolized Virginia"—as she saw them in their home, and declares her +belief that his wife was the only woman whom he had ever really loved. +In this we do not feel disposed to question her sincerity. Touching the +slander against herself, she wrote to a friend:</p> + +<p>"You have proof in Mrs. Poe's letters to me and Poe's to Mrs. Ellet, +either of which would fully establish my innocence.... Neither of them, +as you know, were persons likely to take much trouble to prove a woman's +innocence, and it was only because she felt that I had been cruelly +wronged by <i>her mother</i> and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> Mrs. Ellet that she impulsively rendered me +this justice."</p> + +<p>Of course, the letter of Mrs. Poe here referred to was written at the +suggestion of her husband, but it is curious to observe how frankly and +<i>naively</i> Mrs. Osgood—not now writing for the public—expresses her +real opinion of Poe and his wife.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Osgood goes on to say: "Oh, it is too cruel that I, the only one of +all those women who did <i>not</i> seek his acquaintance, should be sought +out after his death as the only victim to suffer from the slanders of +his mother."</p> + +<p>From this it would appear that <i>after Poe's death</i> the old scandal was +revived, and by Mrs. Clemm herself. About this time she was having +frequent interviews with Dr. Griswold in regard to Poe's papers, which +she had handed over to him for use in the <i>Memoirs</i> upon which he was +engaged. Naturally, Mrs. Clemm, who seems never to have forgiven Mrs. +Osgood for the troubles of that unfortunate first summer at Fordham, +would express herself freely to Griswold, who was a warm friend and +admirer of Mrs. Osgood. Was it on account of such utterances that +Griswold wrote to Mrs. Whitman:</p> + +<p>"Be very careful what you say to Mrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> Clemm. She is not your friend or +anybody's friend, and has no element of goodness or kindness in her +nature, but whose heart is full of wickedness and malice."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Osgood was a lovely and estimable woman, and if she did allow her +admiration of Poe and her warm-hearted sympathy with one of a kindred +poetic nature to impulsively carry her beyond the bounds of a strictly +platonic friendship, it was in all innocence on her part, and did not +lose her the good opinion of those who knew her. The blame was all for +Poe and the feeling against him intense.</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly the impression which she made on Poe was something beyond +what he ordinarily experienced toward women. In my own acquaintance with +him he several times spoke of her, and always with a sort of grave and +reverential tenderness—as one may speak of the dead, or as he might +have spoken of the lost friend of his boyhood, Mrs. Stanard. Although, +as Mrs. Osgood says, Poe and herself never met in the few remaining +years of their lives, yet several of his poems, without any real attempt +at disguise, express his remembrance of her. It was to her that the +lines "<i>To F——</i>" were addressed, after their parting:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i05">"Beloved, amid the earnest woes</span> +<span class="i1">That crowd around my earthly path—</span> +<span class="i0">(Dear path, alas! where grows</span> +<span class="i0">Not e'en one thornless rose)—</span> +<span class="i1">My soul at last a solace hath</span> +<span class="i0">In dreams of thee—and therein knows</span> +<span class="i0">An Eden of calm repose.</span> +<span class="i0"> </span> +<span class="i05">"And thus thy memory is to me</span> +<span class="i1">Like some enchanted far-off isle</span> +<span class="i0">In some tumultuous sea;</span> +<span class="i0">Some ocean throbbing far and free</span> +<span class="i1">With storms—but where meanwhile</span> +<span class="i0">Serenest skies continually</span> +<span class="i1">Just o'er that one bright island smile."</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>In "<i>A Dream</i>" he thus again alludes to her:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i05">"That holy dream, that holy dream,</span> +<span class="i0">When all the world was chiding,</span> +<span class="i0">Hath cheered me like a lovely beam</span> +<span class="i1">A lonely spirit guiding.</span> +<span class="i0"> </span> +<span class="i05">"What though that light through storm and night</span> +<span class="i1">Still trembles from afar?</span> +<span class="i0">What could there be more purely bright</span> +<span class="i1">Than truth's day-star?"</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span></p> + +<p>About the same time he wrote the lines, "<i>To My Mother</i>," the only one +of his poems in which he alluded to his wife, concluding with the +couplet:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i05">"By that infinitude which made my wife</span> +<span class="i0">Dearer unto my soul than its own life."</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>It will be observed that the sentimental things, in both prose and +verse, which Poe has written concerning his love for his wife—and they +are but two or three at most—were written immediately after his affair +with Mrs. Osgood and the universal charge against him that he had +deserted a dying wife for her sake. It is impossible that at this remote +period of time it could be understood how seriously—from all +contemporaneous accounts—Poe's reputation was affected by this +unfortunate episode; especially at the North, where it was best known.</p> + +<p>When Miss Poe left Fordham, in July, she carried with her a letter from +Mrs. Clemm to Mr. John Mackenzie, soliciting pecuniary aid for Edgar on +plea of his wretched health. Mr. Mackenzie was at this time married and +with a family of his own, but he never lost his interest in his old +friend or ceased to assist him so far as was in his power.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXII.</h3> + +<h4>THE SHADOW AT THE DOOR.</h4> + +<p>During the winter and succeeding summer matters did not improve at the +cottage. Poe, with health completely shattered and spirits horribly +depressed, remained at home with his sick wife for the most part, only +occasionally arousing himself to write. A lady, who was at this time a +little girl and one of Virginia's visitors, afterward told a reporter of +how she would sometimes see Mr. Poe writing at his table in the upstairs +room, and how as each sheet was finished he would paste it on to the +last one, until it was long enough to reach across the floor. Then she +would venture to roll it up for him in a neat cylinder, taking care not +to disturb him. Sometimes, when he was not employed, he would tell the +children blood-curdling stories of ghouls and goblins, when his eyes +would light up in a wonderful manner. "I lost my heart to those +beautiful eyes," she said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Clemm continued to make the rounds of the editors' offices with +these manuscripts, but met with little success. Poe's mind was not at +its brightest. He was not in a writing mood; and, as has been since +observed, he was reduced to the expedient of rewriting and altering +certain smaller articles and offering them to the more obscure papers +and journals. Mrs. Clemm, in the midst of her manifold duties, could do +but little with her sewing in the way of support for the family. So her +furniture went, piece by piece, the furniture which Miss Poe had so +often described—the parlor box-lounge upon which she slept; the +dining-table, which stood in the midst of the room, ready for the meal +which was so seldom placed upon it; the large engraving above the +mantelpiece, and the collection of sea-shells—all disappeared, until +the once cosey little apartment presented a bare and poverty-stricken +appearance. Mrs. Gove, one of the literary women of the day, described +it as being furnished with only a checked matting, a small corner-stand, +a hanging-shelf of books and four chairs.</p> + +<p>Years afterward, when strangers would visit the cottage at Fordham, they +would hear from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> the neighbors pathetic accounts of the family during +this summer of 1846.</p> + +<p>"We knew that they were poor," said one, "but they tried to keep it to +themselves. Many a time I have wanted to send them things from my +garden, but was afraid to do so."</p> + +<p>One old dame said to a New York reporter: "I've known when they were out +of provisions, for then Mrs. Clemm, who always seemed cheerful, would +come out with a basket and a shining case-knife and go 'round digging +greens (dandelions). Once I said to her, says I, 'Greens may be took too +frequent.' 'Oh, no,' says she, smiling, 'they cool the blood, and Eddie +likes them.'"</p> + +<p>Thus poor Mrs. Clemm, with her assumed cheerfulness, would seek to +produce the impression that their dinner of wild herbs was a matter of +choice instead of necessity.</p> + +<p>Another neighbor said to a visitor: "I never saw checked matting last as +theirs did. There was nothing upstairs but an old cot in a little +hall-room or closet, where Mrs. Clemm slept, and an old table and chair +and bed in the next room, where Mr. Poe wrote. But you could eat your +dinner off the two floors."</p> + +<p>The testimony of still another was: "In the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> kitchen she had only a +little stove, a pine table and a chair; but the floor was as white as +the table, and the tins as bright as silver. I don't think that she had +more than a dozen pieces of crockery, all on a little shelf in the +kitchen. The only meat I've ever known them to have was a five-cent bone +for soup or a few butcher's trimmings for a stew; but it seemed Mrs. +Clemm could make a little of anything go twice as far as other people +could."</p> + +<p>In the early part of this summer Virginia's health appeared better than +usual. A neighbor who lived nearest them said to a visitor to Poe's old +home: "In fine weather that summer—the summer before she died—we could +sometimes see her sitting at her front door, wrapped up, with her +husband or mother beside her, Mr. Poe reading a paper and Mrs. Clemm +knitting. Most times there would be one or two children along, and Mr. +Poe would play ball with them while his wife laughingly looked on. She +looked like a child herself, hardly taller than they were. Well—no; she +wasn't exactly pretty. She looked <i>too spooky</i>, with her white face and +big, black eyes; but she was interesting looking, and we felt sorry for +her—and for them all, for that matter. You could see they had known +better days."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span></p> + +<p>As the summer wore on, and the first autumn breezes shook the leaves +from the cherry tree, a change came over Virginia. Mrs. Clemm wrote to +Miss Poe that unless she could go to her relations at the South—a thing +not to be thought of—she would not live through the winter. Eddie's +health was completely broken, and unless she herself remained strong +enough to take care of them both, all would have to go to the +poor-house. These letters were generally indirect appeals for pecuniary +aid. Through similar pathetic accounts given by Mrs. Clemm to editors to +whom she offered manuscripts, the condition of the poet and his family +became known and was commented upon by the public papers, to Poe's great +indignation, who took occasion in an anonymous communication to deny its +truth. But that it was no time for pride to stand in the way of dire +necessity is evident from the account of Mrs. Gove on her first visit to +the cottage late in that fall. One can hardly realize a condition of +things such as she described—the bare and fireless room, the bed with +its thin, white covering and the military cloak—a relic of the West +Point days—spread over it, and the sick woman, "whose only means of +warmth was as her husband held her hands and her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> mother her feet, while +she herself hugged a large tortoise-shell cat to her bosom." And the +thin, haggard man, suffering like his wife from cold and the lack of +nourishing food, but who yet received his visitor with such courtly +elegance of manner, was the author of <i>The Raven</i>, with which the world +was even then being thrilled!</p> + +<p>It was a blessed day for the distressed family that on which, about the +last of October, Mrs. Shew came to the now bleak little cottage on the +hill and, like a ministering angel, devoted herself to caring for and +comforting them—not only as regarded their material wants but with kind +and encouraging words as well. With a sufficient competence and the +medical education given her by her father, she was enabled thus to +devote herself to the service of those who could not afford the +attendance of a regular physician.</p> + +<p>Not only did she supply them with medicine, but with careful nursing and +proper food prepared by her own hands in Mrs. Clemm's little kitchen. +Mrs. Gove collected sixty dollars, with which their other wants were +supplied; so that during the months of November and December the family +were more comfortably situated than was usual with them. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> meantime +Virginia rapidly declined, until it became evident that her frail life +was very near its close.</p> + +<p>On the day before her death Poe, in mortal dread of that awful <i>shadow</i> +which had been so long in its approach and now stood upon their +threshold, wrote urgently to Mrs. Shew to come and pass the night with +them. "My poor Virginia still lives, though failing fast." She came, in +time to take leave of the dying wife.</p> + +<p>One of Poe's biographers<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> has stated that on the day previous to Mrs. +Poe's death she requested Mrs. Shew to read two letters from the second +Mrs. Allen exonerating Poe from having ever caused a difficulty in her +house. To those who knew Mrs. Allan and had heard from herself and her +family the frequent accounts of that occurrence—accounts never +retracted by her to her dying day—this statement is not worth a +moment's consideration. The only question is, Who wrote those letters, +and how is it that they were never made public or again heard of? And +who could have imposed upon the dying woman a task such as this, instead +of themselves taking the responsibility?</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span></p> +<p>From this incident, if the account be true, it would appear that +Virginia was gentle, obedient and submissive to the last. On the day +following—January 3, 1847—her innocent, childlike spirit passed away +from earth.</p> + +<p>She was in the twenty-sixth year of her age.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXIII.</h3> + +<h4>MRS. SHEW.</h4> + +<p>With the death of his wife a great horror and gloom fell upon Poe. The +blow which he had for years dreaded had at length fallen. That which he +had feared and loathed above all things—the monster, Death—had entered +his home and made it desolate. As a poet, he could delight in writing +about the death of the young and lovely, but from the dread reality he +shrank with an almost superstitious horror and loathing. It was said, on +Mrs. Clemm's authority, that he refused to look upon the face of his +dead wife. He desired to have no remembrance of the features touched by +the transforming fingers of death.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Shew still kindly ministered to him, endeavoring also to arouse him +from his gloom and encourage him to renewed effort. But it seemed at +first useless. He had no hope or cheering beyond the grave, and it was +at this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> time that he might appropriately have written:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i05">"A voice from out of the future cries</span> +<span class="i1">'On! on!' but o'er the past—</span> +<span class="i0">Dim gulf—my spirit hovering lies,</span> +<span class="i1">Mute, motionless, aghast."</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Mrs. Shew, a thoroughly practical woman of sound, good sense and +judgment, and with so little of the æsthetic that she confessed to Poe +that she had never read his poems, nevertheless took a friendly interest +in him and felt for him in his loneliness. To afford him the benefit of +a change, she took him as her patient to her own home and commissioned +him to furnish her dining-room and library according to his own taste. +She also encouraged him to write, placing pen and paper before him and +bidding him to try; and in this way, it is claimed by one account, "<i>The +Bells</i>" came to be written, or at least begun. Under the influence of +cheerful society, comfort and good cheer, Poe's health and spirits +improved, and on his return home he again commenced writing. Soon, +however, a relapse occurred, and his kind friend and physician found it +necessary to resume her visits to Fordham. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> all this Poe was +grateful, but, unfortunately, he was more; and at length on a certain +day he so far betrayed his feelings that Mrs. Shew then and there +informed him that her visits to him must cease. On the day following she +wrote a farewell letter, in which she gave him advice and directions in +regard to his health, warning him of its precarious state, and of the +necessity of his abandoning the habits which were making a wreck of him +mentally and physically. She advised him as the only thing that could +save him to marry some good woman possessed of sufficient means to +support him in comfort, and who would love him well enough to spare him +the necessity of mental overwork, for which he was not now fitted.</p> + +<p>It may be here remarked that of all the women that we know of to whom +Poe offered his platonic devotion, Mrs. Shew was the only one by whom it +was promptly and decidedly rejected.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXIV.</h3> + +<h4>QUIET LIFE AT FORDHAM.</h4> + +<p>The beginning of this year was a dreary time at the cottage at Fordham. +The resources of the family, which had been generously contributed to, +mostly by strangers and anonymously, were now exhausted, and Poe, still +ill and in wretched spirits, was not capable of the exertion necessary +to replenish them. In the preceding summer he had by a severe criticism +of Thomas Dunn English aroused the ire of that gentleman, who revenged +himself in an article for which Poe brought a suit of libel, recovering +damages to the amount of two hundred and fifty dollars—a welcome boon +in a time of need. He remained at home, applying himself to his writing, +and, mindful of Mrs. Shew's advice, abstained from stimulants and took +regular exercise on the country roads about Fordham. His frequent +companion in these walks was a priest of St. John's College, near +Fordham,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span> who, being an educated and intellectual man, must have proven +a most congenial and welcome acquaintance. This priest, who seems to +have known Poe well, declares that he "made a superhuman struggle +against starvation," and speaks of him as a gentle and amiable man, +easily influenced by a kind word or act.</p> + +<p>Most of his time, said Mrs. Clemm, was passed out of doors. He did not +like the loneliness of the house, and would not remain alone in the room +in which Virginia had died. When he chose to write at night, as was +sometimes the case, and was particularly absorbed in his subject, he +would have his devoted mother-in-law sit beside him, "dozing in her +chair" and at intervals supplying him with hot coffee, or Catalina, his +wife's old pet, perched upon his knee or shoulder, cheering him with her +gentle purring. Virginia's death seemed to have drawn these three more +closely together. They could thenceforth often be seen walking up and +down the garden-walk, Poe and his mother, arm-in-arm, or with their arms +about each other's waists, and Catalina staidly keeping pace with them, +rubbing and purring. Mrs. Clemm told Stoddard how, when Poe was about +this time writing "<i>Eureka</i>," he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> would walk at night up and down the +veranda explaining his views and dragging her along with him, "until her +teeth chattered and she was nearly frozen." It is to be feared that he +was not always sufficiently considerate of his indulgent mother-in-law.</p> + +<p>Poe soon experienced the benefits of his restful and temperate life. +Health and spirits improved, and he began to take an interest in the +everyday things about him. As spring advanced, he and Mrs. Clemm laid +out some flower beds in the front garden and planted them with flowers +and vines given by the neighbors, until when in May the cherry tree +again blossomed the little abode assumed quite an attractive appearance. +Upon an old "settle" left by a former tenant, and which Mrs. Clemm's +skillful hands had mended and scrubbed and stained into respectability +and placed beneath the cherry tree as a garden-seat, Poe might now often +be seen reclining; gazing up into the branches, where birds and bees +flitted in and out, or talking and whistling to his own pets, a parrot +and bobolink, whose cages hung in the branches. A passer-by was +impressed by the picture presented quite early one summer morning of the +poet and his mother standing together on the green turf,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span> smilingly +looking up and talking to these pets. Here, on the convenient <i>settle</i>, +on returning from one of his long sunrise rambles, he would rest until +summoned by his mother to his frugal breakfast.</p> + +<p>I have at various times heard persons remark that in reading the life of +a distinguished man they have desired to know some of the lesser details +of his daily life—as, how did he dress? what did he eat? We have all +been interested in learning that General Washington liked corn bread and +fried bacon for breakfast; that Sir Walter Scott was fond of "oaten +grills with milk," and that Wordsworth's favorite lunch was bread and +raisins. As regards Poe, we must go back to his sister's account of what +his morning meal consisted of while she was at Fordham—"a pretzel and +two cups of strong coffee;" or, when there was no pretzel, the crusty +part of a loaf with a bit of salt herring as a relish. Poe had the +reputation of being a very moderate eater and of preferring simple +viands, even at the luxurious tables of his friends. He was fond of +fruit, and his sister said of buttermilk and curds, which they obtained +from their rural neighbors. But we recall his enjoyment of the "elegant" +tea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span>cakes at the Morrisons on Greenwich street and the fried eggs for +breakfast.</p> + +<p>A lady who as a little girl knew Poe and his mother at this time said to +a correspondent of the <i>New York Commercial Advertiser</i>: "We lived so +near them that we saw them every day. They lived miserably, and in +abject poverty. He was naturally improvident, and but for the neighbors +they must have starved. My mother sent many a thing from her storeroom +to their table. He was not a man who drank in the common acceptation of +the term, but those were days when wine ran like water, and not to serve +it would seem niggardly. I remember that one day 'Muddie,' as Mr. Poe +called Mrs. Clemm, came to our house and asked us not to offer wine to +Edgar, as his head was weak, but that he did not like to refuse it."</p> + +<p>As an illustration of the fascination which Poe possessed, even for +strangers, is the following letter from Mr. John DeGalliford, of +Chattanooga, Tenn., to this same New York correspondent:</p> + +<p>"I am drawn to you by your defense of Edgar A. Poe. I love him, though I +met him but once. It was in September, 1845. I was sitting on a pile +watching our bark that was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> moored to the pile. A quiet, neatly-dressed +gentleman came up to me and asked me numberless questions in regard to +our seafaring life. He was so lovable in his conversation that I never +forgot him, and I prize the memory of those few hours of his sweet talk +with me and hold it sacred to his memory. He could not have been a +drinking man, for his looks did not show it. On my telling that I was a +runaway boy from Kentucky, he took some scraps of paper from his pocket +and took notes, saying that he could make a nice story of what I had +told him. I took him aboard the bark and showed him a pet monkey I had +brought from Natal. He ate a piece of biscuit and drank some cold +coffee, and said he would come again and see me and get acquainted with +my captain. This was years ago, and I am now an old man, seventy-three +years old, but I can remember, word for word, all that passed."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXV.</h3> + +<h4>WITH OLD FRIENDS.</h4> + +<p>It must be admitted that Poe, after his affair with Mrs. Osgood and the +severe illness which followed, was never again what he had been. With +health and spirits impaired, his intellect had in a great measure lost +its brilliant creative power—its inspirations, as we may call it—and +thenceforth his writings were no longer the spontaneous and +irrepressible impulse of genius, but the product of mental effort and +labor. In special had his poetic talent in a measure deserted him, as is +evident in his latest poems, with one or two exceptions. Recognizing +this condition—and with what a pang we may imagine—he recalled Mrs. +Shew's advice in regard to a second marriage, and, admitting its wisdom, +began to look about for a suitable matrimonial partner. Finally his +choice fell upon Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman, of Providence, Rhode Island, +one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span> the "poetesses" of the time, and the most brilliant of them all.</p> + +<p>A consideration which doubtless chiefly influenced him in this choice +was that Mrs. Whitman, being a lady of literary taste and independent +means, would be likely to take an interest in the <i>Stylus</i>, the hope of +establishing which he had never abandoned, and would assist him in +carrying out his plans in regard to it.</p> + +<p>Of Mrs. Whitman, at this time about forty-five years of age, I have the +following account from a lady—Mrs. F. H. Kellogg—whose mother was an +intimate friend and near neighbor of hers in Providence:</p> + +<p>"She was considered very eccentric—impulsive and regardless of +conventionalities. She dressed always in white, and on the coldest +winter evenings, with snow on the ground, would cross over to our house +in thin slippers and with nothing on her head but a thin, gauzy, white +scarf. She probably thought this æsthetic—and perhaps it was. There was +one thing which I must not omit to mention, because it was a part of +herself—<i>ether</i>. The scent accompanied her everywhere. It was said she +could not write ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span>cept under its influence, but of this I do not know."</p> + +<p>As an illustration of her impulsive ways, Mrs. Kellogg says:</p> + +<p>"I was one evening, when a little girl, sitting on the front steps when +she and her sister, Miss Powers, crossed over to our house. They went +into the parlor, and I heard Mrs. Whitman ask my sister to sing for her +<i>The Mocking Bird</i>. She appreciated my sister's beautiful singing, but +on this occasion, while she was in the very midst of '<i>Listen to the +Mocking Bird</i>,' suddenly a cloud of white rushed past me like a tornado, +and I heard Mrs. Whitman's voice exclaiming excitedly, '<i>I have it! I +have it!</i>' Of course, we were all astonished and could not understand it +at all, until Miss Powers afterward explained it to us. It seems that +the beautiful music and singing had excited in her some poetic thought +or idea; and, regardless or forgetful of conventionalities, she had +impulsively rushed home to put it in writing, or perhaps in poetry, +before it should vanish away."</p> + +<p>Miss Sarah Jacobs, one of Griswold's "<i>Female Poets</i>," and a friend of +Mrs. Whitman, describes her as small and dark, with deep-set dreamy eyes +"that looked above and beyond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span> but never <i>at</i> you;" quick, bird-like +motions, and as being a believer in occult influences, as Poe himself +professed to be. "For all the sweet, poetic fragrance of her nature, she +took an interest in common things. She was wise, she was witty; and no +one could be long in her presence without becoming aware of the sweet +and generous sympathy of her nature."</p> + +<p>Up to this time Poe and Mrs. Whitman had never met, though Mrs. Osgood +says that the lady had written to him and sent him a valentine, of which +he had taken no notice. This was against him in his present venture, but +he was not discouraged. He set about his courtship in his usual manner, +by addressing to Mrs. Whitman (June 10) some lines—"<i>To +Helen</i>"—commencing:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I saw thee once—once only;—"</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>supposed to commemorate his first sight of her as, passing her garden +"one July midnight," he beheld her robed in white, reclining on a bank +of violets, with her eyes raised heavenward.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i05">"No footsteps stirred; the hated world all slept,</span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span> +<span class="i1">Save only thee and me. Oh, heaven—oh, God!</span> +<span class="i1">How my heart beats in coupling those two words—</span> +<span class="i0">Save only <i>thee and me</i>!"</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>So, he continues, he gazed entranced until—the hour being past midnight +and a storm-cloud threatening—the lady very properly arose and +disappeared from his sight; all but her eyes. These remained and +followed him home, and had followed him ever since:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">"——two sweetly scintillant</span> +<span class="i0">Venuses; unextinguished by the sun."</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>All this must have been very gratifying to Mrs. Whitman—if she believed +in it—but, remembering her neglected valentine, she was in no haste to +acknowledge the poetic offering, and Poe, after waiting some weeks, had +his attention drawn in another direction.</p> + +<p>He had written to his friend, Mr. Mackenzie, concerning his matrimonial +aspirations, and he now received an answer, suggesting that he come to +Richmond and try his fortune with an old-time school-girl sweetheart, +Miss Sarah Elmira Royster, now a rich "Widow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span> Shelton," who had several +times of late inquired after him and sent her "remembrances."</p> + +<p>Animated by this new hope, he, late in the summer of 1847, proceeded to +Richmond, where he visited among his friends and called upon Mrs. +Shelton, but especially paid attention to a pretty widow, a Mrs. Clarke. +This lady, when a resident of Louisville, Kentucky, many years after +Poe's death, gave to the editor of a paper some reminiscences of him at +this time.</p> + +<p>"The good lady was deeply interested that the world might think well of +Poe, and grew warm on the subject of his wrongs. She claimed that the +poet was a Virginian, and, like most Virginians, she is very proud of +her State. She wondered where Gill had gotten the material for Poe's +vindication. She had first met Poe at the Mackenzies, when he was editor +of the <i>Southern Literary Messenger</i>, and he afterward boarded at the +same hotel as herself; but she saw most of him on his visit to Richmond +previous to his last. He was then at her house daily, and sometimes two +or three times a day. He came there, as he said, to rest.</p> + +<p>"If there happened to be friends present he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span> was often obliging enough +to read, and would sometimes read some of his own poems; but he would +never read <i>The Raven</i> unless he felt in the mood for it. When in +Richmond he generally stayed with the Mackenzies at <i>Duncan Lodge</i>, and +would drive in with them at any time. One day he came in with his sister +and two of the Mackenzies and stopped with me. There were some other +people present, and he read <i>The Raven</i> for us. He shut out the daylight +and read by an astral lamp on the table. When he was through all of us +that had any tact whatever spared our comments and let our thanks be +brief; for he was most impatient of both."</p> + +<p>Of Poe's reading, Mrs. Clark spoke with enthusiasm. "It was altogether +peculiar and indescribable," she said. "I have heard <i>The Raven</i> read by +his friend, John R. Thompson, and others, but it sounded so strange and +affected, compared with his own delivery. Poe had a wonderful +voice—rich, mellow and sweet. I cannot give you any idea of it. Edwin +Booth sometimes reminds me of him in his eyes and expression, but Poe's +voice was peculiar to himself. I have never heard anything like it. He +often read from Shelley and other poets. One day he pointed out to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span> me +in one of Shelley's poems what he considered the truest characteristic +of hopeless love that he knew of:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i05">"'The desire of the moth for the star,</span> +<span class="i0">Of the night for the morrow.'</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>"I enjoyed a good deal of his society during that visit in 1847. On his +last visit I saw less of him. He was then said to be engaged to a Mrs. +Shelton. Some said he was marrying her for her money. There was a good +deal of gossip at that time concerning Poe. His intemperate habits +especially were exaggerated and made the most of by those who did not +like him, while his companions in dissipation escaped unnoticed. When he +was in company at a party for instance—you might see a little of him in +the earlier part of the evening, but he would presently be off +somewhere. Then his eccentricities; I think that when a very young man +he imitated Byron."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Clarke said she had seldom seen a good likeness of Poe. The best +she had cut from an old magazine. "This engraving," she said, showing +it, reflects at once the fastidiousness and the virility characteristic +of his temperament. All the others have an expression<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span> pitiably weak. +His worst calumniators could hardly desire for him a harder fate than +the continual reproduction of that feeble visage. When he had money he +was lavish and over-generous with it. He was always refined. You felt it +in his very presence. And as long as I knew him, and as much as I was +with him, I never saw him in the least intoxicated. I have seen him when +he had had enough wine to make him talk with even more than his usual +brilliancy. Indeed, to talk in a large general company, some little +stimulant was necessary to him. Dr. Griswold says he was arrogant, +dogmatic and impatient of contradiction. I have heard him engage in +discussions frequently; oftenest with diffidence, always with +consideration for others. In a large company it was only when +exhilarated with wine that he spoke out his views and ideas with any +degree of self-assertion."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Clarke said that his sister, Rosalie, was rather pretty and +resembled himself somewhat in appearance, but "was as different as +possible in mental capacity. She was amiable, patient and +sweet-tempered, but as a companion wholly tiresome and monotonous. She +seemed to have had little or no individuality or force of character. She +thought a great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span> deal of her brother, but during the greater part of +their lives they had seen nothing of each other. The family of Mr. +Mackenzie treated her affectionately and kindly, and until the breaking +up of the household she remained with them, and then went to Baltimore +to her relatives, the Poes. I don't know what became of her afterwards."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Clarke speaks of Poe's reading and lectures during his first visit +to Richmond; but these were mere small social entertainments at the +houses of various acquaintances. He really gave but one public lecture +during this visit to Richmond. One evening at Mrs. Mackenzie's she said +to him: "Edgar, since people appear so eager to hear you repeat <i>The +Raven</i>, why not give a public recital, which might benefit you +financially?" Being further urged, he finally yielded. One hundred +tickets were advertised, at fifty cents each, and the music hall of the +fashionable Exchange Hotel engaged for the occasion. On the appointed +evening Poe stepped upon the platform to face an audience of <i>thirteen</i> +persons, including the janitor and several to whom complimentary tickets +had been presented. Of these was Mrs. Shelton, who occupied a seat +directly in front of the platform. Poe was cool and self<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span>possessed, but +his delivery mechanical and rather hurried, and on concluding he bowed +and abruptly retired. One of the audience remarked upon the unlucky +number of thirteen; and Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell commented indignantly +upon the indifference of the Richmond people to "their own great poet." +Poe was undoubtedly in a degree mortified, not at the indifference +manifested, but at the picture presented by the large and brilliantly +lighted hall and himself addressing the group of thirteen which +constituted the audience. But his failure may be explained by the fact +that in this month of August the <i>elite</i> and educated people of the city +were mostly absent in the mountains and by the sea-shore; and the +weather being extremely sultry, few were inclined to exchange the cool +breezes of the "city of the seven hills" for a crowded and heated +lecture room, even to hear <i>The Raven</i> read by its author.</p> + +<p>During this visit of Poe to Richmond, I, with my mother and sister, was +away from home, in the mountains, and we thus missed seeing him. On our +return shortly after his departure, we heard various anecdotes +concerning him, one or two of which I subjoin as illustrative of his +natural disposition.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span></p> + +<p>One evening, quite late, an alarm of fire was raised, and all the young +men of Duncan Lodge, accompanied by Poe, hastened to the scene of +disaster, about a mile further in the country. Finding a great crowd +collected, and that their services were not required, they sat on a +fence looking on, and it was past midnight when they thought of +returning home. Gay young Dr. "Tom" Mackenzie remarked that it would +never do to return in their immaculate white linen suits, as they would +be sure to get a "wigging" from the old ladies for not having helped to +put out the fire, and, besides, they were all hungry, and he knew how +they could get a good supper. With that he seized a piece of charred +wood and commenced besmirching their white garments and their hands and +faces, including Poe's. Arriving at home in an apparently exhausted +condition, they were treated by Mrs. Mackenzie herself, who would not +disturb her servants, to the best that the pantry afforded, nor was the +trick discovered until the following day. Mrs. Mackenzie laughed, but +from Mrs. Carter, the mother of two of the culprits, and who was gifted +with eloquence, they got the "wigging" which they had been anxious to +avoid. And from accounts, Poe enjoyed it all immensely.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span></p> + +<p>A lady told me that one evening, going over to Duncan Lodge, her +attention was attracted by the sound of voices in the garden, where she +beheld all the young men in the broad central alley engaged in the +classic game of "leapfrog." When it came to Mr. Poe's turn, she said, +"he took a swift run and skimmed over their backs like a bird, seeming +hardly to touch the ground. I never saw the like." Mr. Jones, Mrs. +Mackenzie's son-in-law, who was rather large and heavy, came to grief in +his performance, and no one laughed more heartily than did Poe.</p> + +<p>Was this the melancholy, morbid, "weird and wholly incomprehensible +being" that the world has pictured the author of <i>The Raven</i>? Among +these youthful spirits and his old friends, the depressing influences of +his late life and home—the poverty, the friendlessness—seemed to +vanish, and his real disposition reasserted itself. Pity that it could +not have been always so. I am convinced that a great deal of Poe's +unhappiness and apparent reserve and solitariness was owing to his +obscure home life, which kept him apart from all genial social +influences. At the North, wherever seen out of his business hours, he +appears to have been "alone and solitary,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> proud and melancholy +looking," says one, who had no idea of the loneliness of spirit, the +lack of genial companionship, which made him so. With a few he was on +friendly terms, but of intimate friends or associates he had not one so +far as is known.</p> + +<p>Of the Mackenzies, so closely associated with Poe during his lifetime, +I may be allowed to say that a more attractive family group I have +rarely known. Beside those I have mentioned were the two youngest +members, "Mr. Dick" and Mattie or "Mat"—wayward, generous, warm-hearted +Mat, indifferent to people's opinion and heedless of conventionalities. +She cared for nothing so much as her horse and dog, and spent an hour +each day in the stables, while her aunt, Miss Jane, would exclaim in +despair: "I don't know what to do with Martha. I cannot make a lady of +her;" to which she would answer with a satisfied assurance that nature +had never intended her to be a lady.</p> + +<p>But about this time—in October—Mat was married. There are ladies +living who have heard from their mothers, at that time young girls, +accounts of this famous wedding. The festivities were kept up for full +two weeks, with ever-changing house parties, and each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span> evening music and +dancing, with unbounded hospitality. Miss Jane Mackenzie, upon whom the +family chiefly depended, and whose fortune they expected to inherit, was +gone on a visit to her brother in London; but she had given Mat a +liberal sum wherewith to celebrate her wedding. Sadly my thoughts pass +from this gay time over the next ten years or so to the time of "the +war" and the changes which it brought to this family and to us all.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXVI.</h3> + +<h4>MRS. WHITMAN.</h4> + +<p>Poe was still in Richmond, presumably courting the widow Shelton, though +in so quiet a manner that it attracted little or no attention, when he +unexpectedly received from Mrs. Whitman, who seems to have repented of +her silence, a letter or poem of so encouraging a nature that he +immediately left Richmond and proceeded to New York. Here he obtained a +letter of introduction to Mrs. Whitman, which he on the following day +presented to that lady at her home in Providence. The next evening he +spent in her company, and on the succeeding day asked her to marry him!</p> + +<p>Receiving no definite answer, he, on his return to New York, sent her a +letter in which, alluding to his previous intention of addressing Mrs. +Shelton, he says:</p> + +<p>"Your letter reached me on the very day on which I was about to enter +upon a course which would have borne me far away from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span> you, sweet, sweet +Helen, and the divine dream of your love."</p> + +<p>A few weeks later, when he had obtained from her a conditional promise +of marriage, he again wrote—a letter in which he clearly alludes to his +still cherished design of establishing the <i>Stylus</i>, from which he +anticipates such brilliant results. Thus he artfully and apparently for +the first time seeks to interest her in the scheme.</p> + +<p>"Am I right, dearest Helen, in the impression that you are ambitious? If +so, and if you will have faith in me, I can and will satisfy your +wildest desires. It would be a glorious triumph for us, darling—for you +and me ... to establish in America the sole unquestionable +aristocracy—that of the intellect; to secure its supremacy, to lead and +control it. All this I can do, Helen, and will—if you bid me <i>and aid +me</i>."</p> + +<p>Aware of her belief in occult and spiritual influences, he tells her +that once, on hearing a lady repeat certain utterances of hers which +appeared but the secret reflex of his own spirit, his soul seemed +suddenly to become one with hers. "From that hour I loved you. I have +never seen or heard your name without a shiver, half of delight, half of +anxiety. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span> impression left upon my mind was that you were still a +wife." (No such scruple had disturbed him in the case of Mrs. Osgood and +others.) He goes on thus artfully to explain the incident of his +declining Mrs. Osgood's offer of an introduction to Mrs. Whitman while +in Providence. "For this reason I shunned your presence. You may +remember that once, when I passed through Providence with Mrs. Osgood, I +positively refused to accompany her to your house. I dared neither go, +or say why I could not. I dared not speak of you, much less see you. +<i>For years</i> your name never passed my lips, while my soul drank in with +a delirious thirst all that was uttered in my presence respecting you."</p> + +<p>It will be observed that he is here speaking of a time when his wife, +whom he "loved as man never before loved," was yet living; and also when +he was giving himself up to his unreasoning passion for Mrs. Osgood, +whom he had followed to Providence.</p> + +<p>After this, who shall undertake to defend Poe from the charge of +insincerity and dissimulation?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Osgood calls Poe's letters "divinely beautiful." We cannot tell how +Mrs. Whitman was affected by them, but certainly her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span> whole course +exhibits her in a constant struggle between her own inclination and the +influence of friends who desired to save her from the match with Poe. As +early as January 21, 1848, it was known to the public that an engagement +existed between the two, and I have the authority of Mrs. Kellogg for +the statement that during the summer of that year Mrs. Whitman three +times renewed this engagement and was as often compelled to break it, +owing to his unfortunate habits. The last engagement was made on his +solemnly vowing reformation; on which a day was fixed for the marriage +and the services of a clergyman bespoken by Poe himself, who thereupon +wrote to Mrs. Clemm desiring her to be ready to receive himself and his +bride—at Fordham!</p> + +<p>One may imagine the dismay of poor Mrs. Clemm when she read this letter +and looked around the humble home with its low-ceiled upstairs room, +which had been Virginia's; the pine kitchen table and her dozen pieces +of crockery. For once her strong mind and resourceful talent must have +failed her. How was she to accommodate the fastidious bride of her most +inconsiderate son-in-law? How even provide a wedding repast against +their arrival? But happily she was spared the hor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span>ror of such an +experience, for on the appointed day Poe arrived at Fordham alone, +though in a state of nervous excitement, which necessitated days and +even weeks of careful nursing on the part of his patient and +long-suffering mother-in-law.</p> + +<p>This final separation between the two—for they never again met—was +caused by Poe's intemperance at his hotel in Providence on the day +previous to that appointed for his marriage. He had delivered a lecture +which was enthusiastically applauded, and on his return to the hotel he +found himself surrounded by an admiring crowd, whose hospitalities he at +first resolutely declined, but with his usual weakness of will, finally +yielded to. Of the stormy scene when, on the following day, Mrs. Whitman +finally and decisively refused to marry him, she has herself given an +account, representing Poe as alternately pleading and "raving" in his +unwillingness to accept her decision. But there can be no question but +that he was at this time either in some degree mentally unbalanced or in +such a state physically as that the least excess would serve to excite +his mind beyond its normal condition and render him partly +irresponsible. Of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span> we have proof in the fact of his intention of +taking his proposed bride to Fordham.</p> + +<p>That Mrs. Whitman was really interested in her gifted and eccentric +suitor is evident, and in her heart she was loyal to him, as is shown by +her defence of him after his death, and also by the lines which she +addressed to him some months after their separation, entitled, "<i>The +Isle of Dreams</i>." Most of her poems written after this time had some +reference to him; and it is worthy of note that no woman whom Poe +professed to love ever lost her interest in him. The fascination which +he exerted over them must have been something extraordinary.</p> + +<p>As regards Poe's feelings toward Mrs. Whitman, it is evident from the +beginning that there was no real love on his part. He expressed no +regret at the ending of his "divine dream of love," but seems rather to +have experienced toward her a degree of resentment which thus found +expression in a letter to a friend:</p> + +<p>"From this day forth I shun the pestilential society of literary women. +They are a heartless, unnatural, venomous, dishonorable set, with no +guiding principle but inordinate self-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span>esteem. Mrs. Osgood is the only exception I know of."</p> + +<p>This tirade was doubtless excited partly by a scandal just now started +by one of the literary set in question concerning Poe and a young +married lady of Lowell. While delivering a lecture in that city he had +been hospitably entertained at her home, where he spent several days, +with the usual result of contracting a sentimental friendship with the +charming hostess, whom he calls "Annie." During the latter part of his +engagement to Mrs. Whitman his visits and attentions to this lady did +not escape the notice of the "literary set," and a scandal was at once +started by one of them, who drew the attention of "Annie's" husband to +the matter. He accepted Poe's explanation and his proposal rather to +give up the society of these friends than to be the cause of trouble to +them, saying:</p> + +<p>"I cannot and will not have it upon my conscience that I have interfered +with the domestic happiness of <i>the only being on earth whom I have +loved at the same time with purity and with truth</i>."</p> + +<p>Certainly an extraordinary avowal to be made to the lady's husband; and +we ask our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span>selves to how many women had he made a similar declaration?</p> + +<p>We have seen that when Poe for the last time left Mrs. Whitman's he went +direct to Fordham, where, said Mrs. Clemm, he raved about "Annie," and +even sent to her, reminding her of the "holy promise which he had +exacted from her in their hour of parting, that she would come to him on +his bed of death," and now claiming the fulfilment of that promise. +Whether or not she complied does not appear; but it is more than likely +that the lines, "<i>For Annie</i>," were suggested by his fever-dreams of her +presence, first written while still half-delirious, and subsequently +slightly altered to their present form. This piece, with the lines, "<i>To +My Mother</i>," after being declined by all the more prominent magazines, +finally appeared in the cheap "<i>Boston Weekly</i>," and must have been a +surprise to "Annie" and her husband.</p> + +<p>But there was one woman of the "literary set" who showed that she at +least was not deserving of the sweeping condemnation wherewith the irate +poet had visited them. This was Mrs. Anna Estelle Lewis, a young poetess +who, with her husband, was on friendly terms with Poe, and whose poems +he had favorably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span> noticed. Poe was still, mentally and physically, in a +state which rendered him incapable of writing, and the condition at +Fordham was deplorable. Suspecting this state of things, Mrs. Lewis and +her husband invited Poe to visit them at their home in Brooklyn, and Mr. +Lewis says that thenceforth they frequently had both himself and Mrs. +Clemm to stay with them. It was this kindly couple that R. H. Stoddard +so sharply satirizes in his "<i>Reminiscences</i>" of Poe, while accepting an +evening's hospitality at their home after the poet's death. On this +occasion he met with Mrs. Clemm, of whom he has given a pen picture of +which we instinctively recognize the life-likeness. We can see the good +lady seated serenely among the company in her "black bombazine and +conventional widow's cap," lightly fingering her eye-glasses, as was her +company habit, and with her strongly marked features wearing that +"benevolent" smile which was characteristic of her most amiable moods. +"She assured me," says Stoddard, "that she had often heard her Eddie +speak of me—which I doubted—and that she believed she had also heard +him speak of the stripling by my side—which was an impossibility.... +She regretted that she had no more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span> autographs to dispose of, but hinted +that she could manufacture them, since she could exactly imitate her +Eddie's handwriting; and this she told as though it had been to her +credit."</p> + +<p>Deeply chagrined at the ending of his affair with Mrs. Whitman, and +consequent disappointment in regard to the <i>Stylus</i>, Poe now, encouraged +by his mother-in-law, again turned his thoughts to Mrs. Shelton.</p> + +<p>It was in July that he and Mrs. Clemm left Fordham, he to proceed to +Richmond, and she, having let their rooms until his return, to stay with +the Lewises. Mr. Lewis says that it was at his front door that Poe took +an affectionate leave of them all; Mrs. Clemm, ever watchful and careful +against possible temptation or pitfalls by the way, accompanying him to +the boat to see him off. In parting from her he spoke cheeringly and +affectionately. "God bless you, my own darling Muddie. Do not fear for +Eddie. See how good I will be while away; and I will come back to love +and comfort you."<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">8</a></p> + +<p>And so, smiling and hopeful, the devoted mother stood upon the pier and +watched to the last the receding form which she was never again to +behold.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXVII.</h3> + +<h4>AGAIN IN RICHMOND.</h4> + +<p>When Poe came to Richmond on this visit, he went first to Duncan Lodge, +but afterward, for sake of the convenience of being in the city, took +board at the old <i>Swan Tavern</i>, on Broad street, once a fashionable +hostelry, but at this time little more than a cheap, though respectable, +boarding-house for business men. Broad street—so named from its unusual +width—extended several miles in a straight line from Chimberazo Heights +and Church Hill on the east, where Mrs. Shelton had her residence, to +the western suburbs, where Duncan Lodge and our own home of "<i>Talavera</i>" +were situated. This was the route which Poe traversed in his visits to +Mrs. Shelton. There were no street cars in those days, hacks were +expensive, and the walk from "the Swan" to Church Hill was long and +fatiguing. Poe would break his journey by stopping to rest at the office +of Dr. John Carter, a young physi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span>cian who had recently hung out his +sign, about half-way between those two points.</p> + +<p>During the three months of his stay in Richmond we saw a good deal of +Poe. He appeared at first to be in not very good health or spirits, but +soon brightened up and was invariably cheerful, seeming to be enjoying +himself. I do not know to what it was to be attributed, unless to his +increased fame as a poet, but certainly his reception in Richmond at +this time was very different from what it had been two years previously. +He became the fashion; and was <i>fêted</i> in society and discussed in the +papers. His friend, Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell—a first cousin of Mrs. +Allan—inaugurated the evening entertainments to which people were +invited "to meet Mr. Poe." It was generally expected that at these +gatherings he would recite <i>The Raven</i>, and this he was often obliging +enough to do, though we knew that it was to him an unwelcome task. In +our own home, no matter who were the visitors, we would never allow this +request to be made of him after he had on one occasion gratified us by a +recital. I remember on this occasion being disappointed in his manner of +delivery. I had expected some little graceful and ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span>pressive action, +but he sat motionless as a statue except that at the line,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"<i>Prophet! cried I, thing of evil!</i>"</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>he slightly erected his head; and again, in repeating:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Get thee back into the tempest and the night's plutonian shore!"</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>he turned his face suddenly though slightly toward the outer darkness of +the open window near which he sat, each time raising his voice. He +explained his own idea to be that any action served to attract the +attention of the audience from the poem to the speaker, thus detracting +from the effect of the former. I was told how, at one of these +entertainments, Poe was embarrassed by the persistent attentions of a +moth or beetle, until a sympathetic old lady took a seat beside him and, +with wild wavings of a huge fan, kept the troublesome insect at a +distance. This mingling of the comic with the tragic element rather +spoiled the effect of the latter, and though Poe preserved his dignity, +he was perceptibly annoyed.</p> + +<p>I never saw Mr. Poe in a large company,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span> but was told that on such +occasions he invariably assumed his mask of cold and proud reserve, not +untouched by an expression of sadness, which was natural to his features +when in repose. It was then that he "looked every inch a poet." In +general companies he disliked any attempt to draw him out, never +expressing himself freely, and at times manifesting a shyness amounting +almost to an appearance of diffidence, which was very noticeable.</p> + +<p>A marked peculiarity was that he never, while in Richmond, either in +society or elsewhere, made any advance to acquaintance, or sought an +introduction, even to a lady. Aware of the estimation in which his +character was held by some persons, he stood aloof, in proud +independence, though responding with ready courtesy to any advance from +others. Ladies who desired Mr. Poe's acquaintance would be compelled to +privately seek an introduction from some friend, since he himself never +requested it, and it was observed that he preferred the society of +mature women to that of the youthful belles, who were enthusiastic over +the author of <i>Lenore</i> and <i>The Raven</i>.</p> + +<p>Mr. Poe spent his mornings in town, but in the evenings would generally +drive out to Dun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span>can Lodge with some of the Mackenzies. He liked the +half-country neighborhood, and would sometimes join us in our sunset +rambles in the romantic old Hermitage grounds. Those were pleasant +evenings at Duncan Lodge and Talavera, with no lack of company at either +place.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h3> + +<h4>A MORNING WITH POE AND "THE RAVEN."</h4> + +<h4>(A Leaf from a Journal.)</h4> + +<p>One pleasant though slightly drizzly morning in the latter part of +September I sat in our parlor at Talavera at a table on which were some +new magazines and a vase of tea roses freshly gathered. Opposite me sat +Mr. Poe. A basket of grapes—his favorite fruit—had been placed between +us; and as we leisurely partook of them we chatted lightly.</p> + +<p>He inquired at length what method I pursued in my writing. The idea was +new to me, and on my replying that I wrote only on the impulse of a +newly conceived idea, he proceeded to give me some needed advice. I must +make a <i>study</i> of my poem, he said, line by line and word by word, and +revise and correct it until it was as perfect as it could be made. It +was in this way that he himself wrote. And then he spoke of <i>The +Raven</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span></p> + +<p>He had before told me of the difficulties which he had experienced in +writing this poem and of how it had lain for more than <i>ten years</i> in +his desk unfinished, while he would at long intervals work on it, adding +a few words or lines, altering, omitting and even changing the plan or +idea of the poem in the endeavor to make of it something which would +satisfy himself.</p> + +<p>His first intention, he said, had been to write a short poem only, based +upon the incident of an <i>Owl</i>—a night-bird, the bird of wisdom—with +its ghostly presence and inscrutable gaze entering the window of a vault +or chamber where he sat beside the bier of the lost <i>Lenore</i>. Then he +had exchanged the Owl for the Raven, for sake of the latter's +"<i>Nevermore</i>"; and the poem, despite himself, had grown beyond the +length originally intended.</p> + +<p>Does not this explain why the Raven—though not, like the Owl, a +night-bird—should be represented as attracted by the lighted window, +and, perching "upon the <i>bust of Pallas</i>," which would be more +appropriate to the original Owl, Minerva's bird? Also, we recognize the +latter in the lines:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">9</a></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Poe, in adopting the Raven, evidently did not obliterate all traces of +the Owl.</p> + +<p>Of these troubles with the poem he had before informed me, and now, in +answer to a remark of mine, he said, in effect:</p> + +<p>"<i>The Raven</i> was never completed. It was published before I had given +the final touches. There were in it certain knotty points and tangles +which I had never been able to overcome, and I let it go as it was."</p> + +<p>He told how, toward the last, he had become heartily tired of and +disgusted with the poem, of which he had so poor an opinion that he was +many times on the point of destroying it. I believe that his having +published it under the <i>nom de plume</i> of "<i>Quarles</i>" was owing to this +lack of confidence in it, and that had it proven a failure he would +never have acknowledged himself the author. He feared to risk his +literary reputation on what appeared to him of such uncertain merit.</p> + +<p>He now, in speaking of the poem, regretted +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span> +that he had not fully completed before publishing it.</p> + +<p>"If I had a copy of it here," he said, "I could show you those knotty +points of which I spoke, and which I have found it impossible to do away +with," adding: "Perhaps you will help me. I am sure that you can, if you +will."</p> + +<p>I did not feel particularly flattered by this proposal, knowing that +since his coming to Richmond he had made a similar request of at least +two other persons. However, I cleared the table of the fruit and the +flowers and placed before him several sheets of generous foolscap, on +which I had copied for a friend <i>The Raven</i> as it was first published. +He requested me to read it aloud, and as I did so, slowly and carefully, +he sat, pencil in hand, ready to mark the difficult passages of which he +had spoken.</p> + +<p>I paused at the third line. Had I not myself often noted the incongruity +of representing the poet as pondering over <i>many</i> a volume instead of a +single one? I glanced inquiringly at Mr. Poe and, noting his unconscious +look, proceeded. When I reached the line,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor;"</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span></p> + +<p>he gave a slight shiver or shrug of the shoulders—an expressive motion +habitual to him—and the pencil came down with an emphatic stroke +beneath the six last words.</p> + +<p>This was one of the hardest knots, he said, nor could he find a way of +getting over it. "<i>Ember</i>" was the only word rhyming with the two +preceding lines, but in no way could he dispose of it except as he had +done—thus producing the worst line in the poem.</p> + +<p>We "pondered" over it for awhile and finally gave it up.</p> + +<p>(But I may here mention that I have since, in studying the poem, made a +discovery which, strangely enough, seems never to have occurred to the +author. This was that in this particular stanza he had unconsciously +reversed the order or arrangement of the lines, placing those of the +triple rhymes first and the rhyming couplet last. Thus all his long +years of worry over that unfortunate "<i>ember</i>" had been unnecessary, +since the construction of the verse required not only the omission of +the word as a rhyme, but of the whole line of</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And each separate dying ember;"</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>when the succeeding objectionable words,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Wrought its ghost upon the floor,"</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>could have been easily altered; and the addition of a third line to the +succeeding couplet would have made the stanza correct.)</p> + +<p>Our next pause was at the word "<i>beast</i>," through which he ran his +pencil.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above my chamber door."</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>"I must get rid of that word," he said; "for, of course, no beast could +be expected to occupy such a position."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; a mouse, for instance," I suggested, at which he gave me one +of his rare humorous smiles.</p> + +<p>Leaving this point for future consideration, we passed on to a more +serious difficulty.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">"This and more I sat divining,</span> +<span class="i3"> With my head at ease reclining</span> +<span class="i0">On the cushion's velvet <i>lining</i>, with the lamplight gloated o'er."</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The knotty point here was in the word "lining"—a blunder obvious to +every reader. Poe said that the only way he could see of getting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span> over +the difficulty was by omitting the whole stanza. But he was unwilling to +give up that "violet velvet" chair, which, with the "purple silken +curtain," he considered a picturesque adjunct to the scene, imparting to +it a character of luxury which served as a relief to the more sombre +surroundings. I had so often heard this impossible "lining" criticised +that when he inquired, "Shall I omit or retain the stanza?" I ventured +to suggest that it might be better to give up the stanza than have the +poem marred by a defect so conspicuous. For a moment he held the pencil +poised, as if in doubt, and I have since wondered what would have been +his decision.</p> + +<p>But just here we were interrupted by the tumultuous entrance of my +little dog, Pink, in hot pursuit of the family cat. The latter took +refuge beneath the table at which we were seated, and there ensued a +brisk exchange of duelistic passes, until I called off Pink and Mr. Poe +took up the cat and, placing her on his knee, stroked her soothingly, +inquiring if she were my pet. Upon my disclaiming any partiality for +felines, he said, "I like them," and continued his gentle caressing. +(Was he thinking of <i>Catalina</i>, his wife's pet cat, which he had left at +home at Fordham, and which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span> after her death had sat upon his shoulder as +he wrote far into the night? Recalling his grave and softened +expression, I think that it must have been so. But at that time I had +never heard of Catalina.)</p> + +<p>But now came the final and most difficult "tangle" of all—the blunder +apparent to the world—the defect which mars the whole poem, and yet is +contained in but a single line:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And the lamplight o'er him streaming casts his shadow on the floor."</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Poe declared this to be hopeless, and that it was, in fact, the chief +cause of his dissatisfaction with the poem. Indeed, it may well excite +surprise that he, so careful and fastidious as to the completeness of +his work, should have allowed <i>The Raven</i> to go from his hands marred by +a defect so glaring, but this is proof that he did indeed regard it as +hopeless.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%" /> + +<p>When Mr. Poe left us on this September morning he took with him this +manuscript copy of <i>The Raven</i>; which, however, he on the following day +handed to me, begging that I would keep it until his return from New +York.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span> I found that he had marked several minor defects in the poem, one +of which was his objection to the word "shutter," as being too +commonplace and not agreeing with the word "lattice," previously used.</p> + +<p>He remarked, before leaving for New York, that he intended having <i>The +Raven</i>, after some further work upon it, published in an early number of +the <i>Stylus</i>. I do not doubt but that, had he lived, he would have made +it much more perfect than it now is.</p> + +<p>After his death his friend, Mr. Robert Sully, the Richmond artist, was +desirous of making a picture of the <i>Raven</i>, but explained to me why it +could not be done—all on account of that impossible "shadow on the +floor." Of course, said he, to produce such an effect the lamplight must +come from above and behind the bust and the bird. No; it was +impracticable."</p> + +<p>This set me to thinking; and the result was that I, some time after, +went to Mr. Sully's studio and said to him: "How would it do to have a +glass transom above the door; one of those large fan-shaped transoms +which we sometimes find in old colonial mansions, opening on a lofty +galleried hall?"</p> + +<p>It would do, he said. Indeed, with such an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span> arrangement, and the lamp +supposed to be suspended from the hall ceiling, as in those old +mansions, there would be no difficulty with either the poem or the +picture. And we were both delighted at our discovery, and thought how +pleased Poe would have been with the idea—so effective in explaining +that mysterious shadow on the floor.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sully commenced upon his picture, but died before completing it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%" /> + +<p>This manuscript copy of <i>The Raven</i>, with all its pencil-marks, as made +by Mr. Poe on that September morning, remained in my possession for many +years. It is yet photographed upon my memory, with all the details here +given from an odd leaf of a journal which I kept about that time—the +quiet parlor, the outside drizzle, the books, the roses, and the face +and figure of Mr. Poe as he gravely bent over that manuscript copy of +his immortal poem of <i>The Raven</i>.</p> + +<p>Had he no premonition that even then a darker shadow than that of the +<i>Raven</i> was hovering over him? It was one of the last occasions on which +I ever saw him.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXIX.</h3> + +<h4>MRS. SHELTON.</h4> + +<p>Poe's first visits on his arrival in Richmond had been to Mrs. Shelton, +and it soon became known that an engagement existed between them, +although they were never seen together in public, and Poe on all +occasions denied the engagement. Yet morning after morning the curious +neighbors were treated to a sight of the poet ascending the steps of the +tall, plain, substantial looking brick house on the corner of Grace +street, facing the rear of St. John's church, and had they watched more +closely they might at times have seen another figure following in its +footsteps. This was Rosalie Poe, who, delighted at her brother's +engagement, and being utterly without tact or judgment, would present +herself at Mrs. Shelton's door shortly after his own arrival, as she +said, for the pleasure of seeing the couple together. Once she surprised +them at a <i>tête-à-tête</i> luncheon at which "corned beef +and mustard" figured;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span> but on another occasion Mrs. Shelton met and +informed her that Mr. Poe had a headache from his long walk and was +resting on the parlor sofa, where she herself would attend to him, and +so dismissed her, to her great indignation. Not alone to Mrs. Shelton's +were these "shadowings" of her brother confined, but if she at any time +knew of his intention to call at some house where she herself was +acquainted, she would as likely as not make her own appearance during +his visit; or, in promenading Broad street, he would unexpectedly find +himself waylaid and introduced to some prosy acquaintance of his sister. +It required Mrs. Mackenzie's authority to relieve him from these +annoyances. There was, however, something pathetic in the sister's pride +in and affection for a brother from whom she received but little +manifestation of regard. He treated her indulgently, but, as she herself +often said, in her homely way, "Edgar could never love me as I do him, +<i>because he is so far above me</i>."</p> + +<p>About the middle of August Mrs. Shelton's interested neighbors observed +that the poet's visits to her suddenly ceased; and then followed a +report that the engagement was broken, and that a bitter estrangement +existed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span> between the two. Mr. Woodbury, Poe's biographer, doubts this, +and declares that, "We have no evidence that such was the case;" but we, +who were on the spot, as it were, and had opportunity of judging, <i>knew</i> +that the report was true. Miss Van Lew, the famous "war postmistress" of +Richmond, once said to me as, standing on the porch of her house, she +pointed out Mrs. Shelton's residence: "I used at first to often see Mr. +Poe enter there, but never during the latter part of his stay in +Richmond. It seemed to be known about here that the engagement was +off.... Gossip had it that Mrs. Shelton discarded him because persuaded +by friends that he was after her money. All her relatives are said to be +opposed to the match."</p> + +<p>From Poe's own confidential statement to Mr. John Mackenzie, who had +first suggested the match with Mrs. Shelton, it appears that money +considerations was really the cause of the trouble. Mrs. Shelton had the +reputation of being a thorough business woman and very careful and +cautious with regard to her money. Poe was at this time canvassing in +the interests of the <i>Stylus</i>, in which he received great encouragement +from his friends, but when he applied to Mrs. Shelton it is certain that +she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span> failed to respond as he desired. She had no faith in the success of +his plan, neither any sympathy with its purpose. Also, in discussing +arrangements for their marriage, she announced her intention of keeping +entire control of her property. Poe himself broke their engagement. Next +there arose a difficulty concerning certain letters which the lady +desired to have returned to her and which he declined to give up, except +on condition of receiving his own. Possibly each feared that these +letters might some time fall into the hands of Poe's biographers. If +they were written during his courtship of Mrs. Whitman, and when still +uncertain of the result, he appears to have been keeping Mrs. Shelton in +reserve.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Shelton, during a few days' absence of Poe at the country home of +Mr. John Mackenzie, came to Duncan Lodge and appealed to Mrs. Mackenzie +to influence Poe in returning her letters. I saw her on this occasion—a +tall, rather masculine-looking woman, who drew her veil over her face as +she passed us on the porch, though I caught a glimpse of large, shadowy, +light blue eyes which must once have been handsome. We heard no more of +her until some time about the middle of Sep<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span>tember, when suddenly Poe's +visits to her were resumed, though in a very quiet manner. It seems +certain that the engagement was then renewed, and that Mrs. Shelton must +have promised to assist Poe in his literary enterprise; for from that +time he was enthusiastic in regard to the <i>Stylus</i> and what he termed +its "assured success." He even commenced arranging a <i>Table of Contents</i> +for the first number of the magazine; and Mrs. Mackenzie told me how he +one morning spent an hour in her room taking from her information, notes +and <i>data</i> for an article which he intended to appear in one of its +earliest numbers. He was in high spirits, and declared that he had never +felt in better health. This was after an attack of serious illness, due +to his association with dissipated companions. Tempted as he was on +every side and wherever he went in the city, it was not strange that he +had not always the strength of will to resist; and twice during this +visit to Richmond he was subject to attacks somewhat similar to those +which he had known at Fordham, and through which he was now kindly +nursed by his friends at Duncan Lodge.</p> + +<p>Poe gave but one public lecture on this visit to Richmond—that on "The +Poetic Principle"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span> —and of this most exaggerated accounts have been +given by several writers, even to the present day, they representing it +to have been a great financial success. One recent lecturer remarks upon +the strangeness of the fate when, just as the hitherto impecunious poet +was "about returning home with five thousand and five hundred dollars in +his pocket, he should have been robbed of it all." The truth of the +matter is that but two hundred and fifty tickets were printed, the price +being fifty cents each, and, as Dr. William Gibbon Carter informed me, +there were by actual count not more than one hundred persons present at +the lecture, some being holders of complimentary tickets. Another +account says there were but sixty present, but that they were of the +very <i>elite</i> of the city. Considering that from the proceeds of the +lecture all expenses of hall rent had to be paid, we cannot wonder at +Poe's writing to Mrs. Clemm, "My poor, poor Muddie, I am yet unable to +send you a single dollar."</p> + +<p>I was present at this lecture, with my mother and sister and Rose Poe, +who as we took seats reserved for us, left her party and joined us. I +noticed that Poe had no manuscript, and that, though he stood like a +statue,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span> he held his audience as motionless as himself—fascinated by +his voice and expression. Rose pointed out to me Mrs. Shelton, seated +conspicuously in front of the platform, facing the lecturer. This +position gave me a good view of her, with her large, deep-set, +light-blue eyes and sunken cheeks, her straight features, high forehead +and cold expression of countenance. Doubtless she had been handsome in +her youth, but the impression which she produced upon me was that of a +sensible, practical woman, the reverse of a poet's ideal. And yet she +says "Poe often told her that she was the original of his lost +<i>Lenore</i>."</p> + +<p>When Poe had concluded his lecture, he lightly and quickly descended the +platform and, passing Mrs. Shelton without notice, came to where we were +seated, greeting us in his usual graceful manner. He looked pleased, +smiling and handsome. The audience arose, but made no motion to retire; +watching him as he talked and evidently waiting to speak to him; but he +never glanced in their direction. Rose, radiantly happy, stood drawn up +to her full height, and observed, "Edgar, only see how the people are +staring at the poet and his sister." I believe it to have been the +proudest moment of her life, and one which she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span> ever delighted to +recall. This occurred during the period of estrangement between Poe and +Mrs. Shelton.</p> + +<p>Quite suddenly, in the latter part of September, Poe decided to go to +New York. His object was, as he himself declared, to make some +arrangements in regard to the <i>Stylus</i>, though gossip said to bring Mrs. +Clemm on to his marriage.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to get a clear idea of the relation between Poe and Mrs. +Shelton, owing to the contradictory statements of the two. Undoubtedly +they must have met during Poe's first visit to Richmond, and he tells +Mrs. Whitman that he was about to address the lady when her own letters +caused him to change his mind. And yet Mrs. Shelton speaks of their +meeting on his last visit as though it had been the first since their +youthful acquaintance. As she entered the parlor, she says, on his first +call, "I knew him at once," and, as the pious and practical woman that +she was, she adds, "I told him that I was on my way to church, and that +I allowed nothing to interfere with this duty." She says also in her +<i>Reminiscences</i>, "I was never engaged to him, but there was an +understanding;" and yet, on his death, she appeared in public attired in +deep<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span>est widow's weeds. That she was devoted to him appears from her own +letter to Dr. Moran when informed by him of Poe's death, "He was dearer +to me than any other living creature." Poe himself, writing to Mrs. +Clemm, says: "Elmira has just returned from the country. I believe that +she loves me more devotedly than any one I <i>ever</i> knew." He adds, +apparently in allusion to his marriage, "Nothing has yet been arranged, +and it will not do to hurry matters," concluding with, "If possible, I +will get married before leaving Richmond."</p> + +<p>On his deathbed in Washington he said to Dr. Moran, "Sir, I was to have +been married in ten days," and requested him to write to Mrs. Shelton.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXX.</h3> + +<h4>THE MYSTERY OF FATE.</h4> + +<p>One evening—it was Sunday, the 2d of October—Dr. John Carter was +seated alone in his office when Poe entered, having just paid a farewell +visit to Mrs. Shelton before leaving in the morning for New York. He +remarked to Dr. Carter that he would probably stop for one day in +Baltimore, and perhaps also in Philadelphia, on business; would like to +remain longer, but had written to Mrs. Clemm to expect him at Fordham +some time this week. He would be back in Richmond in about a fortnight.</p> + +<p>While talking, he took up a handsome malacca sword-cane belonging to Dr. +Carter and absently played with it. He looked grave and preoccupied; +several times inquired the hour, and at length rising suddenly, remarked +that he would step over to Saddler's restaurant and get supper. He took +the cane with him, Dr. Carter understanding from this circumstance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span> and +his not taking leave, that he would presently return on his way to the +<i>Swan</i>, where he had left his baggage. He did not, however, reappear; +and on the next morning Dr. Carter inquired about him at Saddler's. The +proprietor said that Poe and two friends had remained to a late hour, +talking and drinking moderately, and had then left together to go aboard +the boat, which would start at four o'clock for Baltimore. He said that +Poe, when he left, was in good spirits and quite sober; though this last +may be doubted, since he not only forgot to return Dr. Carter's cane but +to send for his own baggage at the Swan Some persons have insisted +that Poe must have been drugged by these men, who were strangers to Mr. +Saddler, and there was even a sensational story published in a Northern +magazine to the effect that Poe had been followed to Baltimore by two of +Mrs. Shelton's brothers, and there, after having certain letters taken +from him, beaten so severely that he was found dying in an obscure +alley. This story was first started by Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith in one +of the New York journals, though it does not appear from what source she +derived her information. No denial was made or notice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span> taken of it by +Mrs. Shelton's friends, and the story gradually died out.</p> + +<p>For over forty years the mystery of the tragic death of the poet +remained a mystery, strangely and persistently defying all attempts at +elucidation. But within the last few years there has appeared in a St. +Louis paper a communication which professes to give a truthful account +of the circumstances connected with the poet's death, and which wears +such an appearance of probability that it is at least worth considering.</p> + +<p>This letter, which is addressed to the editor of the paper, is from a +certain Dr. Snodgrass, who represents himself to have been for many +years a resident of Dakota. He says that on the evening of October 2, +1849, being in Baltimore, he stepped into a plain but respectable +eating-house or restaurant kept by an Irish widow, where, to his +surprise, he met with Poe, whom he had once been accustomed to meet +here, but had not seen for some years. After taking some refreshment, +they left the place together, but had not proceeded far when they were +seized upon by two men, who hurried them off to some place where they +were, with several others, kept close prisoners through the night and +follow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span>ing day, though otherwise well treated. It was the eve of a great +municipal election, and the city was wild with excitement. Next evening +the kidnappers, having drugged their captives, hurried them to the +polls, where they, in a half-conscious condition, were made to vote over +and over again. The doctor, it appears, was only partially affected, but +Poe succumbed utterly, and at length one of the men said, "What is the +use of dragging around a dead man?" With that, they called a hack, put +Poe within it, and ordered the driver to take him to the Washington +Hospital.</p> + +<p>Dr. Snodgrass says positively: "I myself saw Poe thrust into the hack, +heard the order given, and saw the vehicle drive off with its +unconscious burden."</p> + +<p>Thus—if this account may be relied upon—ended the strange, sad tragedy +of the poet's life; none stranger, none sadder, in all the annals of +modern literature.</p> + +<p>Dr. Snodgrass intimates that his reason for so long a delay in making +this story known was his unwillingness to have his own part in the +affair exposed, and with the notoriety which its connection with the +poet would render unavoidable. But now, he says, in his old age, and +having outlived all who knew him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span> at the time, this consideration is of +little worth to him. If the story be not true, we cannot see why it +should have been invented. At least, it cannot, at the present day, be +disproved, and it certainly appears to be the most probable and natural +explanation of the poet's death that has been given. It agrees also with +Dr. Moran's account of Poe's condition when he was received at the +hospital, and with the latter's earnest assurance that he himself was +not responsible for that condition, and also with his requesting that +Dr. Snodgrass be sent for. The kidnappers had probably exchanged his +garments for others as a means of disguise, intending to restore them +eventually. They at least did not take from him the handsome malacca +cane which was in his grasp when he reached the hospital; and which +which would tend to prove that he was not then altogether unconscious. +This cane was, at Dr. Carter's request, returned to him by Mrs. Clemm, +to whom Dr. Moran sent it. His baggage, left at the Swan, was sent by +Mr. Mackenzie to Mrs. Clemm, disproving the story that it had been +stolen from him in Baltimore.</p> + +<p>In addition to the above, we find another and very similar account, +apparently by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">208</a></span> same Dr. Snodgrass, in the "<i>San Francisco Chronicle</i> +of August 31," the date of the year not appearing on the clipping from +which I make the following extracts:</p> + +<p>"You say that Poe did not die from the effects of deliberate +dissipation?" asked the <i>Chronicle</i> reporter.</p> + +<p>"That is just what I do mean; and I say further that he died from the +effects of deliberate murder."</p> + +<p>The author of this assertion was a well-known member of this city's +advanced and inveterate Bohemia; a gentleman who has long since retired +from the active pursuits of his profession and spends his old age in +dreamy meditation, frequenting one of the popular resorts of the craft, +but mingling little in their society. When joining in their +conversation, it is generally to correct some errors from his +inexhaustible mine of reminiscences, and on these occasions his words +are few and precise.</p> + +<p>"Then you knew something of the poet, Doctor?"</p> + +<p>"I was his intimate associate for years. Much that biographers have said +of him is false, especially regarding his death. Poe was not an habitual +drunkard, but he was a steady drinker when his means admitted of it. +His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span> habitual resort when in Baltimore was the Widow Meagher's place, on +the city front, inexpensive, but respectable, having an oyster and +liquor stand, and corresponding in some respects with the coffee shops +of San Francisco. Here I frequently met him."</p> + +<p>"But about his death?"</p> + +<p>"The mystery of the poet's death had remained a mystery for more than +forty years when there appeared in a Texas paper an article from the pen +of the editor, in which he gave a letter from a Dr. Snodgrass professing +to reveal the truth of the matter.</p> + +<p>"About the time that this article was published there appeared one in +the San Francisco <i>Chronicle</i> by a reporter of that paper, telling of an +interview which he had with this same Dr. Snodgrass, of whom he says: +'He was a well-known literary Bohemian of this city who long ago gave up +his profession and is spending his old age in a state of dreamy +existence from which he is seldom aroused except to correct some error +concerning people and things of past times, of which he possesses a mine +of reminiscences.'"</p> + +<p>The Doctor, denying that Poe had died from dissipation, gave an account +of the manner of his death as he knew it, corresponding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span> in all +particulars with that given by him to the Texas editor. In conclusion, +he said:</p> + +<p>"Poe did not die of dissipation. I say that he was deliberately +murdered. He died of laudanum or some other drug forced upon him by his +kidnappers. When one said, 'What is the use of carrying around a dying +man?' they put him in a cab and sent him to the hospital. I was there +and saw it myself."</p> + +<p>"Poe had been shifting about between Baltimore, Philadelphia and New +York for some years. Once he had been away for several months in +Richmond, and one evening turned up at the widow's. I was there when he +came in. Then it was drinks all round, and at length we were real jolly. +It was the eve of an election, and we started up town. There were four +of us, and we had not gone half a dozen squares when we were nabbed by +policemen, who were looking up voters to "coop." It was the practice in +those days to seize people, whether drunk or sober, and keep them locked +up until the polls were opened and then march them to every precinct in +control of the party having the coop. This coop was in the rear of an +engine-house on Calvert street. It was part of the plan to stupefy the +prisoners with drugged liquor. Next day we were voted at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span> thirty +different places, it being as much as one's life was worth to rebel. Poe +was so badly drugged that he had to be carried on two or three rounds, +and then the gang said it was no use trying any longer to vote a dead +man and must get rid of him. And with that they shoved him into a cab +and sent him away."</p> + +<p>"Then he died from dissipation, after all?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing of the kind. He died from the effects of laudanum or some other +poison forced on him in the coop. He was in a dying condition when being +voted twenty or thirty times. The story told by Griswold and others of +his being picked up in the street is a lie. I saw him thrust into the +cab myself."</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Clemm?</p> + +<p>When she received Poe's letter bidding her to expect him at Fordham that +week, she hastened thither to set her house in order for his reception. +Day after day she watched and waited, but he did not come. And at +length, when the week had passed, she one evening sat alone in the +little cottage around which and through the naked branches of the cherry +tree the October wind was sighing, and in anguish of spirit wrote to +"Annie":</p> + +<p>"Eddie is dead—<i>dead</i>."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXXI.</h3> + +<h4>AFTER THE WAR.</h4> + +<p>In the fall of 1865—the year which saw the conclusion of the unhappy +war—I returned to Richmond and to my old home of Talavera, which I had +not seen in four years.</p> + +<p>What a shock to me was the first sight of it! In place of the pleasant, +smiling home, there stood a bare and lonely house in the midst of +encircling fortifications, still bristling with dismantled +gun-carriages. Every outbuilding had disappeared. All the beautiful +trees which had made it so attractive—even the young cedar of Lebanon, +which had been our pride—were gone; greenhouses, orchard, vineyard, +everything, had been swept away, leaving only a dead level overgrown +with broom-straw, amidst which were scattered rusted bayonets and a few +hardy plants struggling through the trampled ground. The place was no +longer "<i>Talavera</i>," but "<i>Battery 10</i>."</p> + +<p>In this desolate abode I remained some time,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span> awaiting the arrival of +our scattered family, and with no protectors save a faithful old negro +couple. Each evening we would barricade as well as we could the entrance +to the fort, as some slight protection against the hordes of newly freed +negroes who roamed the country, living on whatever they could pick up.</p> + +<p>One evening when we had taken this precaution, some one was heard +calling without, and, mounting the ramparts, I beheld a forlorn looking +figure in black standing upon the outer edge of the trench. It proved to +be Rosalie Poe; and when I had brought her into the light and warmth of +the fire, I saw how changed and ill she appeared. She told me of the +Mackenzies. Mrs. Mackenzie was dead. "Mat" (Mrs. Byrd) was a widow, with +a beautiful young daughter, and her brother, Mr. Richard, was in +wretched health. Miss Jane Mackenzie had died in England, leaving her +fortune to her brother, residing there, and the destruction of the war +had completed the poverty of the family. They lived on a little place in +the country, with a cow and a garden as their chief means of support. +"They have to work for a living now," Rose said, forlornly; "but I am +not strong enough to work. I am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span> going to Baltimore, to my relations +there, and see what they can do for me."</p> + +<p>I inquired after young Dr. Mackenzie, gay, handsome, genial "Tom," whom +everybody loved.</p> + +<p>"Tom is dead," said Rose, sadly. "He died of camp-fever and bad food. +When he came home he had only the clothes which he wore, and a neighbor +gave us something to bury him in."</p> + +<p>With a pang I thought of the gay wedding at Duncan Lodge, and the happy +faces that had been there assembled.</p> + +<p>When Rose left me, I could but hope that she would be kindly received by +her relatives in Baltimore. But some months thereafter, being in New +York, I received from her a number of photographs of her brother, which +she begged of me to dispose of for her benefit at one dollar each. Mrs. +M. A. Kidder, of Boston, kindly interested herself in the matter, but +wrote me that she met with but poor success, at even the reduced price +of twenty-five cents, people saying that they had not sufficient respect +for Poe's character to care to possess his portrait. I found it to be +nearly the same in New York. And meantime Rose wrote me every few days.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">215</a></span></p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear S——</span>: Haven't you got anything for me yet? Do try and do +something for me, for I am worse off now than ever. I walk about the +streets all day" (trying to dispose of her brother's pictures), "and at +night have to look for a place to sleep. I feel like a lost sheep."</p> + +<p>Thus the sister of Edgar A. Poe, in the year 1868, wandered homeless and +friendless through the streets of Baltimore, as more than thirty years +previous her brother had done.</p> + +<p>We heard long afterward that, through some kind Northern lady, she +applied for admittance to the <i>Louise Home</i>, in Washington, which Mr. +Corcoran was willing to grant, but that certain of his "guests"—ladies +who had formerly occupied high social positions—were of opinion that, +considering Miss Poe's eccentricities, she would be better suited and +better satisfied in a less pretentious establishment. Finally she was +received into the "<i>Epiphany Church Home</i>," in Washington, where she +seems to have enjoyed a good deal of liberty, being often seen riding on +the street cars and visiting the offices of wealthy business men, who, +if they did not care to possess a photograph of Poe, were yet willing to +assist his penniless sister. It was never known what she did with the +money so collected; but from a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">216</a></span> letter to Mrs. Byrd, it would appear +that her intention was to purchase a grave for herself near that of her +brother. Mrs. Byrd wrote to me: "I think Poe's friends might lay Rose in +a grave beside him. It has always been her dearest wish."</p> + +<p>Rosalie Poe died suddenly, with a letter in her hand but that moment +received, and which, when opened, proved to be from Mr. George W. +Childs, enclosing a check for fifty dollars; doubtless in answer to an +application for aid.</p> + +<p>They gave her a pauper's grave in the cemetery of the Epiphany Church +Home. The record of her death by the Board is:</p> + +<p>"<i>Rosalie Poe. Died June 14, 1874. Aged 64.</i>"</p> + +<p>Some years after the death of Rose Poe, I received a visit from Mrs. +Byrd, whom I had not seen since the war, and we talked over times past +and present. It had been Rosalie's own choice, she said, to go to +Baltimore. She did not like the country or the hard life which they were +leading. She must have collected considerable money, but never told +where she kept it; nor was it ever found.</p> + +<p>She told me about her family. Her pretty daughter had married a poor man +in preference to a rich one who had offered, and they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">217</a></span> had two beautiful +babies and were very happy. Her brother Richard was infirm and able to +do but little work. They had a little place in the country, where they +raised their own vegetables, and sent poultry and eggs to market. She +and her son-in-law did all the hard work about the place. "I wash and +cook for six persons," said she, cheerily. "Yes," she continued, in her +old quaint way, "we are poor, but respectable, and I am more content +than ever I was at Duncan Lodge. I feel that I have something to live +for, and the working life suits me. Yes, we are happy; although there +are not two tea-cups in the house of the same pattern."</p> + +<p>She spoke of Poe, whom she considered to have been always unjustly +treated. Everybody could see what his faults were, but few gave him +credit for his good qualities—his generous nature and kindly and +affectionate disposition, especially as exemplified in the harmony +always existing between himself and his wife and mother-in-law. While +giving the latter full credit for her devotion to Edgar, her impression +was that, except in the matter of his dissipation, her influence over +him had not been for good. Her mother and brother, John, believed that +the marriage with Virginia<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span> had been the greatest misfortune of his +life, and that he himself, while patiently resigning himself to his lot, +had come to regard it as such.</p> + +<p>Some ten years after the death of Poe I received from Mrs. Clemm a +letter giving a pathetic account of her homelessness and poverty. But, +she added, she had been offered a home with her relatives at the South; +and she appealed to me, as a friend of her "Eddie," to assist her in +raising the money necessary to pay her expenses thither. A similar +appeal she made to other of Poe's former friends; but we heard of her +afterward as an inmate of the Church Home Infirmary in Baltimore, where +she died in 1871, having outlived her son-in-law some twenty-two years. +It is a curious coincidence that the building in which she died was the +same in which, as the Washington Hospital, Poe had breathed his last.</p> + +<p>Her grave is in Westminster cemetery, and in sight of Poe's monument.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">219</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXXII.</h3> + +<h4>POE'S CHARACTER.</h4> + +<p>In order thoroughly to understand Poe, it is necessary that one should +recognize the dominant trait of his character—a trait which affected +and in a measure overruled all the rest—in a word, <i>weakness of will</i>.</p> + +<p>"Unstable as water," is written upon Poe's every visage in characters +which all might read; in the weak falling away of the outline of the +jaw, the narrow, receding chin, and the sensitive, irresolute mouth. +Above the soul-lighted eyes and the magnificent temple of intellect +overshadowing them, we look in vain for the rising dome of <i>Firmness</i>, +which, like the keystone of the arch, should strengthen and bind +together the rest. Lacking this, the arch must be ever tottering to a +fall.</p> + +<p>To this weakness of will we may trace nearly every other defect in Poe's +character, together with most of the disappointments and failures in +whatsoever he undertook. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">220</a></span> lacked the resolution and persistence +necessary to battle against obstacles, to persevere to the end against +opposition and discouragement, and to resist temptations and influences +which he knew would lead him astray from the object which he had at +heart. In this way he lost many a coveted prize when it seemed almost +within his grasp.</p> + +<p>The accepted opinion is that Poe's dissipation was his chief fault, as +it was that to which was owing his ruin in the end. But even this was +the effect chiefly of weakness of will. He was not by nature inclined to +evil, but the contrary; and we have seen that, when left to himself and +not exposed to temptation, he was, from all accounts, "sober, +industrious and exemplary in his conduct." But he lacked firmness to +resist the temptation which, more than in the case of most men, assailed +him on every side.</p> + +<p>Dr. William Gibbon Carter has told me how, when Poe was in Richmond on +his last visit, and doing his best to remain sober, he would in his +visits and strolls about the city be constantly greeted by friends and +acquaintances with invitations to "take a julep." It was the custom of +the time. Poe, said Dr. Carter, in one morning declined twenty-four such +invi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span>tations, but finally yielded; and the consequence was the severe +illness which threatened his life whilst in the city. The effect of one +glass on him, said the Doctor, was that of several on any other man. +Often he was tempted to drink from an amiable reluctance to decline the +offered hospitality.</p> + +<p>A marked peculiarity of Poe's character was the restless discontent +which from his sixteenth year took possession of and clung to him +through life, and was to him a source of much unhappiness. It was not +the discontent of poverty or of ungratified worldly ambition, but the +dissatisfaction of a genius which knows itself capable of higher things, +from which it is debarred—the desire of the caged eagle for the +wind-swept sky and the distant eyrie. He was not satisfied with being a +mere writer of stories. He believed that, with a broader scope, he could +wield a powerful influence over the literary world and make a record for +strength, brilliancy and originality of thought which +would render his name famous in other countries as in this. His desire +was to set established rules and conventionalities at defiance, and to +be fearless, independent, dominant in his assertion of himself and his +ideas and convictions. As an editor writ<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">222</a></span>ing for other editors, he found +himself trammeled by what he called their narrowness and timidity. He +must be his own master, his own editor; and hence his lifelong dream +and desire took form in the conception of the Stylus—that <i>ignis +fatuus</i> which he pursued to the last day of his life—uncertain, +elusive, yet ever eagerly sought, and always ending in disappointment +and bitterness of soul. Time and again it seemed within his grasp, and, +as he exultantly proclaimed, "his prospects glorious," when, by his own +weakness of will, it was lost to him.</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly, one of the chief factors in the non-success of Poe's life +and its consequent unhappiness was his marriage.</p> + +<p>Setting aside the poetic imaginings which have been and doubtless will +continue to be written concerning this marriage as one of idylic mutual +love and "idolatry," the story, in the light of established facts, +resolves itself into a very prosaic one.</p> + +<p>Mr. John Mackenzie, Poe's lifelong and only intimate and confidential +friend, never hesitated to say that had Poe been left to himself the +idea would never have occurred to him of marrying his little +child-cousin. In no transaction of his life was his pitiable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">223</a></span> weakness +more manifest than in this feeble yielding of himself to the dominant +will of a mother-in-law.</p> + +<p>Had Poe remained single or have married another than Virginia, his +regard for her would have continued just what it had been in the +beginning and what it remained to the end—the affection of a brother or +cousin for a sweet and lovable child. But no one can believe that Poe's +nature could have found its satisfying in such a marriage; and, in fact, +whatsoever sentimental things he may have written concerning it, his +whole conduct goes to prove its insincerity.</p> + +<p>Poe was of all men one who most craved and needed the love and sympathy +of a woman of a nature kindred to his own—a woman of talent and +qualities of mind and heart to appreciate his genius and all that was +best in him; one who would be to him not only a congenial companion, but +a "helpmeet" as well. Had he married one of Mrs. Osgood's tender +sensibilities and feminine charm, or Mrs. Whitman, with her talent and +strong character, or even a woman of the practical good sense and +judgment of Mrs. Shew, who knew so well how to care for him mentally and +physically—Poe would have been a different man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">224</a></span></p> + +<p>But his imprudent and, as it has been called, unnatural marriage, cut +him off from what would probably have been the highest happiness of his +life, with its accompanying worldly and social advantages, and bound him +down to a life of unceasing toil, penury and helplessness. It deprived +him of a social position and social enjoyment; for his poverty-stricken +"home" was never one to which he could invite his friends; and he +himself seems never to have found in it any real pleasure, but to have +regarded it merely as a haven of refuge in seasons of distress. But as +the years went by and, despite his incessant toil, his life and his home +grew more cheerless and poverty-stricken, he became hopeless and in a +measure reckless. It is to be noted that it was only after the death of +his wife that he appeared to recover anything like hope or energy. Then +his prospects suddenly brightened in the love of a good and talented +woman who could have made his life happy and prosperous, when, owing to +his miserable weakness of will in yielding to temptation, for which +there was no excuse, it was all at once swept from his grasp.</p> + +<p>Mr. John Mackenzie might well have said, as he did, that Poe's marriage +was the greatest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">225</a></span> misfortune of his life and as a millstone around his +neck, holding him down against every effort to rise. But perhaps not +even this close friend knew how keenly the poet must have felt the +narrowness of his life, the sordidness of his home, and the humiliation +of his poverty. Patiently and uncomplainingly he bore his unhappy lot; +and it is to be noted to his credit that howsoever he might at times go +astray, no word or act of unkindness toward the wife and mother who +loved him was ever known to escape from him.</p> + +<p>It will be seen from all that has here been written, in the light of +prosaic truth, that Poe's real character was one very different from +that which it has pleased the world in general to ascribe to +him—judging him as it does by the character of his writings as a poet. +The folly of such judgment, and the extent to which it was until +recently carried, is simply surprising. It is true that he appeared to +have but one ideal—the death of a woman young, lovely and beloved—and +that ideal in the imagining of the world resolved itself into the +personality of his wife. She, they concluded, was the original of all +the Lenores, and Anabel Lees, and Ullalumes, which inspired his +melancholy and despairing lyre; and in its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">226</a></span> gloom and hopelessness they +could see nothing but the expression of the poet's own nature. As well +have accused Rembrandt of being gloomy and morose because he painted in +dark colors. Like the artist, Poe loved obscure and sombre ideas and +conceptions, and he delighted in embodying these in his poems as much as +Rembrandt did in transferring his own to canvas.</p> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span></p> + +<h3>APPENDIX.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">No. 1.</span></h4> + +<p>Lest the reader should be under the impression that much of what I +relate concerning Poe's childhood and certain circumstances connected +with his early youth is taken from Gill's <i>Life of Poe</i>, I will make an +explanation.</p> + +<p>At the time when the first edition of Gill's work was issued I was +engaged in writing what I intended to be a little book concerning Poe, +compiled from my own personal knowledge of him and what I had been told +by others. In some way Gill heard of this, and wrote to me, coolly +requesting to be allowed to see my manuscript, which I, of course, +excused myself from doing. Again and again he wrote, saying that he +"merely wished to see exactly what I had written." In self-defence, I +finally sent him the first part or chapter of the manuscript, he +promising to return it as soon as read. After some weeks it was returned +to me, without a word accompanying; and at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">228</a></span> the same time a second +edition of Gill's "<i>Life</i>" was issued—the first having been +suppressed—in which, to my surprise, I found copious extracts from my +manuscript. All those little anecdotes of Poe's childhood were thus +appropriated, with more important matter—such as Poe's dissipation when +in Richmond and his enlisting in the army, both of which Gill had in his +first edition positively denied; and this he made use of as though it +had been his own original material. My book was, of course, ruined, and +all that I could do was, some years after, to write "<i>The Last Days of +Poe</i>," published in <i>Scribner's Magazine</i>, though even from this Gill +made "<i>Notes</i>" for the Appendix of his second or third edition.</p> + +<p>Some of the material thus appropriated by Gill I have reclaimed and +inserted in this work. A comparison between the first and second edition +of Gill's "<i>Life of Poe</i>" affords a curious study, since in the second +he has carefully corrected the misstatements of the former from my +manuscript.</p> + +<p>My friend, Gen. Roger A. Pryor, late Judge of the Supreme Court of New +York, brought suit against Gill in this matter, but met with so much +trouble and annoyance by reason of the latter's persistence in evading +it, that it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">229</a></span> was finally, at my own earnest request, abandoned.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gill, I am informed, is still living.</p> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Note 2.</span></h4> + +<p>A strange fate was that of the poet's family, all of whom were indebted +to charity for a last resting place.</p> + +<p>His father, David Poe, died in Norfolk in the summer of 1811. His grave +is unknown.</p> + +<p>His mother was buried by charity in Richmond, December 9, 1811.</p> + +<p>His wife was indebted for a grave near Fordham, in New York, to +charitable contributions of friends.</p> + +<p>His sister, Rosalie Mackenzie Poe, died July 14, 1874, and was given a +pauper's grave in the cemetery of the Epiphany Church Home, in +Washington.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Clemm, his mother-in-law, died an inmate of the Church Home +Infirmary, Baltimore, and was buried by the charity of friends in +Westminster churchyard of that city in 1871.</p> + +<p>Poe himself, whose last days were passed in a charitable institute, was +indebted to relatives for a grave.</p> + +<p>Truly a record unparalleled in the annals of Literary History.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3>FOOTNOTES</h3> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">1</span></a> In this historical church it was that Patrick Henry +thrilled the hearts of his hearers with the memorable words, "Give me +liberty or give me death!" and sent them forever "ringing down the +grooves of time."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">2</span></a> The official date of Rosalie Poe's death, on June 14, 1874, +represents her as 64 years of age. This would make her a year and a half +old when adopted by the Mackenzies, in December, 1811.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">3</span></a> Lest my mention of these little anecdotes and certain other +matters should lead the reader to conclude that I am quoting from Gill, +I would refer them to Appendix No. 1 of this volume.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">4</span></a> This account, clipped from a Baltimore paper, was given by +Professor Clarke's son to a Richmond reporter in 1894.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">5</span></a> A letter to Mrs. Holmes Cumming, from a son of the Rev. +Amasa Converse, 1905.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">6</span></a> A pencil sketch of Mrs. Stanard by Poe himself.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">7</span></a> Ingraham.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">8</span></a> Ingram.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">9</span></a> As by also:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i05">"And its eyes have all the seeming</span> +<span class="i0">Of a demon that is dreaming."</span> +</div></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> + +<div class="box"> + +<h3><b>BOOKS YOU MUST READ<br /> +SOONER OR LATER</b></h3> + +<h3><b><i>Reuben: His Book</i></b></h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">By Morton H. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Home Life of Poe + +Author: Susan Archer Weiss + +Release Date: October 13, 2010 [EBook #33930] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOME LIFE OF POE *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Turgut Dincer, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: EDGAR ALLAN POE + + [REPRODUCED FROM A PHOTO GIVEN TO MRS. WEISS BY POE THREE DAYS BEFORE + HE LEFT RICHMOND]] + + + + + THE HOME LIFE OF POE + + BY SUSAN ARCHER WEISS + + BROADWAY PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK 1907 + + _Title Page by Wm. Lincoln Hudson . Cover by Stephen G. Clow_ + + + Copyright, 1907, + BY + SUSAN ARCHER WEISS. + + All rights reserved. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I. PAGE. + First Glimpse of Edgar Poe 1 + + CHAPTER II. + Poe's First Home 9 + + CHAPTER III. + The Allan Home 13 + + CHAPTER IV. + Poe's Boyhood 20 + + CHAPTER V. + Schoolboy Love Affairs 36 + + CHAPTER VI. + Rosalie Poe 41 + + CHAPTER VII. + The Unrest of Youth 44 + + CHAPTER VIII. + In Barracks 52 + + CHAPTER IX. + Poe and Mrs. Allan 57 + + CHAPTER X. + The Closing of the Gate 61 + + CHAPTER XI. + Mrs. Clemm 64 + + CHAPTER XII. + A Pretty Girl with Auburn Hair Whom Poe Loved 70 + + CHAPTER XIII. + Poe's Double Marriage 74 + + CHAPTER XIV. + The Poes in Richmond 82 + + CHAPTER XV. + In New York 88 + + CHAPTER XVI. + The Real Virginia 90 + + CHAPTER XVII. + Poe's Philadelphia Home 94 + + CHAPTER XVIII. + Virginia's Illness 102 + + CHAPTER XIX. + Back to New York 108 + + CHAPTER XX. + Poe and Mrs. Osgood 119 + + CHAPTER XXI. + At Fordham 127 + + CHAPTER XXII. + The Shadow at the Door 137 + + CHAPTER XXIII. + Mrs. Shew 145 + + CHAPTER XXIV. + Quiet Life at Fordham 148 + + CHAPTER XXV. + With Old Friends 154 + + CHAPTER XXVI. + Mrs. Whitman 169 + + CHAPTER XXVII. + Again in Richmond 179 + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + A Morning with Poe--"The Raven" 184 + + CHAPTER XXIX. + Mrs. Shelton 194 + + CHAPTER XXX. + The Mystery of Fate 203 + + CHAPTER XXXI. + After the War 212 + + CHAPTER XXXII. + Poe's Character 219 + + Appendix 227 + + + + +TO THE READER. + + +In considering this book, will the reader especially note that it is not +a "Life" or a "Biography" of Poe, of which too many already exist and to +which nothing can be added after the exhaustive works of Woodbury and +Prof. Harrison. I have not treated Poe in his character of poet or +author, but confined myself to his private home-life, domestic and +social, as I have heard it described by Poe's most intimate friends who +knew him from infancy--some of them my own relatives--and from my own +brief knowledge of him in the last three months of his life. The book +may therefore be considered as a _supplement_ to the more complete +"Lives and Biographies," showing Poe in a character as yet wholly +unknown to the public, but which should be known in order to enable us +to form a correct judgment of his character. I have corrected various +misstatements of writers which, repeated by one from another, have come +to be received as truth. + +I have made no attempt at producing an artistic work, but have treated +the subject as it demands, in a plain and practical manner with regard +to facts apart from idealism of any kind. + + THE AUTHOR. + + + + +HOME LIFE OF POE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +FIRST GLIMPSE OF EDGAR POE. + + +It may be regarded as a somewhat curious coincidence that the first +glimpse afforded us of Edgar Poe is on the authority of my own mother. + +This is the story, as she told it to me: + +"In the summer of 1811 there was a fine company of players in Norfolk, +and we children were as a special treat taken to see them. I remember +the names of Mr. Placide, Mr. Green, Mr. Young and Mr. Poe, with their +wives. I can recall Mrs. Young as a large, fair woman with golden hair; +but my most distinct recollection is of Mrs. Poe. She was rather small, +with a round, rosy, laughing face, short dark curls and beautiful large +blue eyes. Her manner was gay and saucy, and the audience was +continually applauding her. She appeared to me a young girl, but was +past thirty, and had been twice married. + +"At this time," continued my mother, "we were living on Main street, and +my uncle, Dr. Robert Butt, of the House of Burgesses, lived close by, on +Burmuda street. The large, bright garret-room of his house was used by +our little cousins as a play-room, and was separated from that of the +adjoining house by only a wooden partition. One day, when we were +playing here, we heard voices on the other side of the partition, and, +peeping through a small knothole, saw two pretty children, with whom we +soon made acquaintance. Mr. and Mrs. Poe had taken lodgings in this +garret with a little boy and girl and an old Welsh nurse. Sometimes this +woman would say to us, 'Hush, hush, dumplings, don't make a noise,' and +we knew that some one was sick in that room. Most of the time she had +the children out of doors, and in the evenings we would play with them +on the sidewalk. The boy was a merry, romping little fellow, but hard to +manage. One day, when he would persist in playing in the middle of the +street, a runaway horse came dashing around a corner, and I remember how +the nurse rushed toward him, screaming: 'Ho! Hedgar! Hedgar!' snatching +him away at the risk of her own life. + +"This nurse was a very nice old woman, plump, rosy and good-natured. She +wore a huge white cap with flaring frills, and pronounced her words in a +way that amused us. She was devoted to the children, who were spoiled +and wilful. The little girl was running all about, and the boy appeared +about three years old." + +Of this old lady it may be here said that she was really the mother of +Mrs. Poe, whom she called "Betty." As an actress of the name of Arnold, +she had played in various companies in both this country and Europe, +taking parts in which comic songs were sung. Her pretty daughter, +Elizabeth, she had brought up to her own profession, and had married her +early to an actor named Hopkins, who died in October, 1805. Two months +after his death his widow married David Poe, who was at that time a +member of their company; and mean while her mother, Mrs. Arnold, had +bestowed her own hand upon a musician of the romantic name of Tubbs, who +soon left her a widow. Thenceforth she devoted herself to her daughter's +family, remaining with the company and occasionally appearing in some +unimportant part. + +When in the summer of that year of 1811 Mr. Placide's company left +Norfolk to open a season in Richmond, Mr. David Poe was too ill with +consumption to accompany them, and his family remained in Norfolk. He +must undoubtedly have died there; for from that time in all the affairs +of his family his name is not once mentioned, nor is the remotest +allusion made to him. He was probably buried by the city in one of the +obscure suburban cemeteries. By his death the widow was left penniless, +and Mr. Placide, to whose company she still belonged, and who was +anxious to have her services in his Richmond campaign, sent one of his +employees to bring the family to Richmond at his own expense. A room and +board had been engaged for them "at the house of a milliner named Fipps +on Main street," in the low-lying district between Fifteenth and +Seventeenth streets, still known as "_Bird-in-hand_." This room was not +by any means the wretched apartment which it has been described by some +of Poe's biographers. It was not a "cellar," not even a basement room, +but one back of the shop, the family residing above, and must have been +comfortably furnished, for this neighborhood was at this time the +shopping district of the ladies of Richmond, and Mrs. Fipps was probably +a fashionable shopkeeper. Damp Mrs. Poe's room must have been, since +this locality was the lowest point in the city, where, when the river +overflowed its banks, as was frequently the case, the water would rise +to the back doors of the Main street buildings and at times flood the +ground floors. In this room Mrs. Poe contracted the malarial fever then +known as "ague-and-fever," which proved fatal to her. + +Owing to her illness Mrs. Poe, though her appearance was constantly +advertised, did not appear on the stage more than a half dozen times, if +as often. Mr. Placide wrote to her husband's relatives in Baltimore in +behalf of herself and children, but received no satisfactory answer, and +the company kindly gave her a benefit performance. Also, one of the +Richmond papers, the "_Enquirer_," of November 25th, made an appeal "to +the kind-hearted of the city" in behalf of the sick actress and her +little children. This brought to their aid among others Mr. John Allan +and his friend, Mr. Mackenzie. + +Both these gentlemen were engaged in the tobacco business, and being of +Scotch nationality, the feeling of clanship led them to take a special +interest in this family, whom they discovered to be of good Scotch +stock. Everything possible was done for their comfort, and Mrs. Allan +herself came to minister to the sick woman. On her first visit she found +Mrs. Tubbs feeding the children with bread soaked in sweetened gin and +water, which she called "gin-tea," and explained that it was her custom, +in order to "make them strong and healthy." This was little Edgar's +initiation into the habit which became the bane and ruin of his life. + +It soon became evident that Mrs. Poe was very near her end. Pneumonia +set in; and on the 8th of December, 1811, she died. + +The question now was, what was to be done with the children? After a +consultation among all parties, it was agreed that Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. +Allan should take charge of them at their own homes until they should be +claimed by their Baltimore relatives. + +It was a sad scene when the little ones were lifted up to look their +last upon the face of their dead mother, and then to be separated +forever from the grandmother who had so loved and cared for them. In +parting she gave to each a memento of their mother; to the boy a small +water-color portrait of the latter, inscribed, "For my dear little son, +Edgar, from his mother," and to the girl a jewel case, the contents of +which had long since been disposed of. It was all that she had had to +leave them, and with this slender inheritance in their hands the little +waifs were taken away to the homes of strangers. + +On the day following a small funeral procession wended its way up the +steep ascent of Church Hill to the graveyard of St. John's church,[1] +crowning its summit. At that day it was no easy matter to get one whose +profession had been that of an actor buried in consecrated ground; yet +Mr. Mackenzie succeeded in effecting this. The grave was in a then +obscure part of the cemetery, "close against the eastern wall," and +here, after the brief service, the mother of Edgar Poe was laid to rest. + + [1] In this historical church it was that Patrick Henry + thrilled the hearts of his hearers with the memorable words, + "Give me liberty or give me death!" and sent them forever + "ringing down the grooves of time." + +Mrs. Tubbs remained with Mr. Placide's company, and doubtless returned +with them to England and to her own family. + +Six weeks after the death of Mrs. Poe occurred that awful tragedy and +holocaust of the burning of the Richmond theatre, which shrouded the +whole country in gloom. On that night a large and fashionable audience +attended the performance of "_The Bleeding Nun_," eighty of whom +perished in the flames. Mrs. Allen had expressed a wish to attend, with +her sister and little Edgar, but her husband objected and instead took +them on a Christmas visit to the country; so they escaped the tragedy, +as did also the members of Placide's company. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +POE'S FIRST HOME. + + +Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie, on taking charge of the Poe children, entered +into a correspondence with their grandfather, Mr. David Poe, of +Baltimore, in regard to them. He was by no means anxious to claim them. +He represented that he and his wife were old and poor, and that already +having the eldest child, William Henry, upon his hands, he could not +afford to burden himself with the others. Finally he proposed that the +children should be placed in an orphan asylum, where they would be +properly cared for, on hearing of which Mrs. Mackenzie declared that she +would never turn the baby, Rosalie, out of her home, but would bring her +up with her own children; while Mrs. Allan, who was childless and had +become much attached to Edgar, proposed to her husband to adopt him. + +Mr. Allan demurred. His chief objection was that the boy was the child +of actors, and that to have him brought up as his son would not be +advisable for him or creditable to themselves. It required some special +pleading on the part of the lady, and she so far prevailed as that her +husband consented to keep and care for the boy as for a son, but refused +to be bound by any terms of legal responsibility as either guardian or +adoptive parent, preferring to remain free to act in the future as he +might think proper. Mr. Mackenzie pursued the same course with regard to +Rosalie, though each bestowed on his protege his own family name in +baptism. + +There has been much useless discussion among Poe's biographers in regard +to the ages of the children at this time. Woodbury "_calculates_," +according to certain data obtained from a Boston newspaper regarding the +appearance of Mrs. Poe on the stage. "At this time," he says, speaking +of her prolonged absence in 1807, "William Henry _may have_ been born;" +and accordingly fixes Edgar's birth as having occurred two years later, +in 1809. + +Wishing to satisfy myself on this point, I some time since decided to go +to the fountain-head for information, and wrote to Mrs. Byrd, a +daughter of Mrs. Mackenzie, who had been brought up with Rosalie Poe. +Her answer I have carefully preserved and here give _verbatim_: + +"Dear S----.--You ask the ages of Rose and Edgar. He was born in 1808, +Rose in 1810. A remark of his (in answer to an invitation to her +wedding) was that if I had put off my marriage one week it would have +been on his birthday. I was married on the 5th of October.... Their +mother died on the 8th Dec., 1811; and on the 9th the children were +taken to Mr. Allan's and our house.... Their mother was boarding at Mrs. +Fipps', a milliner on Main street. She was Scotch and of good family; +and my father and Mr. Allan had her put away decently at the old Church +on the Hill.... Mr. Poe died first." + +This account of the children's ages is entitled to more weight than +those of his biographers, based upon mere calculation and +"_probabilities_." When the children were baptized as Edgar Allan and +Rosalie Mackenzie, their ages were also recorded, though whether in +church or family records is not known; and it is not likely that Mrs. +Byrd, who was brought up with Rosalie Poe, could be mistaken on this +point. + +Were Woodbury correct in assuming that William Henry, the eldest child, +"_may have_ been born" in October, 1807, and Edgar, January 19, 1809, +it would follow that the latter, when taken charge of by the Allans in +December, 1811, was less than two years old; an impossibility, +considering that his sister was then over one year old and running about +playing with other children. As to Mr. Poe's claim to October 12 as his +birthday, it is not likely that, howsoever often he may have given a +false date to others, he would have ventured upon it to the daughter of +Mrs. Mackenzie, the latter of whom would have detected the error. + +It must be accepted as a final conclusion that, as Mrs. Byrd states, +Edgar was born in 1808 and Rosalie in 1810.[2] Her positive assertion is +proof sufficient against all mere calculation and conjecture; and in +this book I shall hold to these dates as authentic. + + [2] The official date of Rosalie Poe's death, on June 14, 1874, + represents her as 64 years of age. This would make her a year + and a half old when adopted by the Mackenzies, in December, + 1811. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ALLAN HOME. + + +Mr. Allan was at this time thirty-one years of age--a plain, practical +business man, or, as some one has described him, "an honest, hard-headed +Scotchman, kindly, but stubborn and irascible." His wife, some years +younger than himself, was a beautiful woman, warm-hearted, impulsive and +fond of company and amusement. Both were charitable, and though not at +this time in what is called "society," were in comfortable circumstances +and fond of entertaining their friends. + +There was yet another member of the family, Miss Ann Valentine, an elder +sister of Mrs. Allan; a lady of a lovely disposition and almost as fond +of Edgar as was his so-called "mother." She was always his "Aunt Nancy." + +The Allans were at this time living in the business part of the town, +occupying one of a row of dingy three-story brick houses still standing +on Fourteenth street, between Main and Franklin. Mr. Allan had his +store on the ground floor, the family apartments being above. This was +at that time and until long afterward a usual mode of living with some +of the down-town merchants; though a few had already built handsome +residences on Shocko Hill. + +Little Edgar, bright, gay and beautiful, soon became the pet and pride +of the household. Even Mr. Allan grew fond of him, and his wife +delighted in taking him about and showing him off among her +acquaintances. In his baggy little trousers of yellow Nankin or silk +pongee, with his dark ringlets flowing over an immense "tucker," red +silk stockings and peaked purple velvet cap, with its heavy gold tassel +falling gracefully on one shoulder, he was the admiration of all +beholders. His disposition was affectionate and his temper sweet, though +having been hitherto allowed to have his own way, he was self-willed and +sometimes difficult to manage. To correct his faults and as a counter +balance to his wife's undue indulgence, Mr. Allan conscientiously set +about training the boy according to his own ideas of what was best. When +Edgar was "good" he was petted and indulged, but an act of disobedience +or wrong-doing was punished, as some said, with undue severity. To +shield him from this was the aim of the family, even of the servants; +and the boy soon learned to resort to various little tricks and +artifices on his own account. An amusing instance of this was told by +Mrs. Allan herself. Edgar one day would persist in running out in the +rain, when Mr. Allan peremptorily called him in, with the threat of a +whipping. He presently entered and, meekly walking up to his guardian, +looked him in the face with his large, solemn gray eyes and held out a +bunch of switches. "What are these for?" inquired the latter. "To whip +me with," answered the little diplomat; and Mr. Allan had to turn aside +to hide a smile, for the "switches" had been selected with a purpose, +being only the long, tough leaf-stems of the alanthus tree. + +Another anecdote I recall illustrative of the strict discipline to which +Edgar was subject. + +My uncle, Mr. Edward Valentine, who was a cousin of Mrs. Allan, and +often a visitor at her house, was very fond of Edgar; and liking fun +almost as much as did the child, taught him many amusing little tricks. +One of these was to snatch away a chair from some big boy about to seat +himself; but Edgar, too young to discriminate, on one occasion made a +portly and dignified old lady the subject of this performance. Mr. +Allan, who in his anger was always impulsive, immediately led away the +culprit, and his wife took the earliest opportunity of going to console +her pet. As the child was little over three years old, it may be doubted +whether the punishment administered was the wisest course, but it was +Mr. Allan's way, who apparently believed in the moral suasion of the +rod. + +Edgar had no dogs and no pony, and did not ride out with a groom to +attend him, "like a little prince," as a biographer has represented. At +this time the Allans' circumstances were not such as to admit of such +luxuries. As to his appearance in this style at the famous White Sulphur +Springs, that is equally mythical.[3] + + [3] Lest my mention of these little anecdotes and certain other + matters should lead the reader to conclude that I am quoting + from Gill, I would refer them to Appendix No. 1 of this volume. + +There was, however, at least one summer when Edgar was six years of age +in which the Allans were at one of the lesser Virginia springs, and in +returning paid a visit to Mr. Valentine's family, near Staunton. This +gentleman often took Edgar out with him, either driving or seated behind +him on horseback; and on receiving his paper from the country +post-office would make the boy read the news to the mountain rustics, +who regarded him as a prodigy of learning. Thus far he had been taught +by an old Scotch dame who kept an "infant-school," and who then and for +years afterward called him "her ain wee laddie," and to whom as long as +she lived he was accustomed to carry offerings of choice smoking +tobacco. He also learned from her to speak in the broad Scottish +dialect, which greatly amused and pleased Mr. Allan. The boy was at even +this age remarkably quick in learning anything. + +Mr. Valentine also delighted in getting up wrestling matches between +Edgar and the little pickaninnies with whom he played, rewarding the +victor with gifts of money. But there was one thing which no money or +other reward could induce the boy to undertake, and this was to go near +the country churchyard after sunset, even in company with these same +little darkies. Once, in riding home late, Edgar being seated behind Mr. +Valentine, they passed a deserted log-cabin, near which were several +graves, when the boy's nervous terror became so great that he attempted +to get in front of his companion, who took him on the saddle before +him. "They would run after us and pull me off," he said, betraying at +even this early age the weird imagination of his maturer years. + +This incident led to his being questioned, when it was discovered that +he had been accustomed to go with his colored "mammy" to the servants' +rooms in the evenings, and there listen to the horrible stories of +ghosts and graveyard apparitions such as this ignorant and superstitious +race delight in. It is not improbable that the gruesome sketch of the +"_Tempest_" family, one of his earliest published, whose ghosts are +represented as seated in coffins around a table in an undertaker's shop, +and thence flying back to their near-by graves, was not inspired by some +such story heard in Mr. Allan's kitchen. + +Undoubtedly, these ghostly narratives, heard at this early and +impressionable age, served in part to produce those weird and ghoulish +imaginings which characterize some of Poe's writings, and to create that +tinge of superstition which was well known to his friends. He always +avoided cemeteries, hated the sight of coffins and skeletons, and would +never walk alone at night even on the street; believing that evil +spirits haunted the darkness and walked beside the lonely wayfarer, +watching to do him a mischief. Death he loathed and feared, and a corpse +he would not look upon. And yet, as bound by a weird fascination, he +wrote continually of death. + +Edgar Poe, like every other Southern child, had his negro "mammy" to +attend to him until he went to England, to whom and the other servants +he was as much attached as they to him. Indeed, a marked trait of his +character was his liking for negroes, the effect of early association, +and to the end of his life he delighted in talking with them and in +their quaint and kindly humor and odd modes of thought and expression. + +Edgar had been about three years with the Allans when he was again +deprived of a home and sent among strangers. Mr. Allan went on a +business trip to England and Scotland, accompanied by his wife, Miss +Valentine and Edgar; the latter of whom was put to school in London, +where he must have felt his loneliness and isolation. Still, he came to +the Allans in holiday times, and was with them in Scotland for some +months previous to their return to Virginia. Little is known of them +during this absence of five years. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +POE'S BOYHOOD. + + +The Allans returned to Richmond in June, 1820, Edgar being then twelve +years old. Having no house ready for their reception they were invited +by Mr. Ellis, Mr. Allan's business partner, to his home on Franklin, +then as now the fashionable street of the city. + +Mr. Allan at once put Edgar to Professor Clarke's classical school, +where he was in intimate association with boys of the best city +families. + +At the end of this year the Allans removed to a plain cottage-like +dwelling at the corner of Clay and Fifth streets, in a quiet and +out-of-the-way neighborhood. It consisted of but five rooms on the +ground floor and a half story above; and here for some years they +resided. + +Of Poe as a schoolboy various accounts have been given by former +schoolmates, with most of whom he was very popular, while others +represent him as reserved and not generally liked. All, however, agree +that he was a remarkably bright pupil, with, in the higher classes, but +one rival, and that he was high-spirited and the leader in all sorts of +fun and frolic. + +Mrs. Mackenzie's eldest son, John, or "Jack," two years older than +Edgar, though not mentioned by any of Poe's biographers, was the most +intimate and trusted of all his lifelong friends. The two were playmates +in childhood, and schoolmates and companions up to the time of Poe's +departure for the University. Poe always called Mrs. Mackenzie "Ma," and +was almost as much at home in her house as was his sister. + +I remember Mr. John Mackenzie as a portly, jolly, middle-aged gentleman +with a florid face and a hearty laugh. This is what he said of Poe after +the latter's death: + +"I never saw in him as boy or man a sign of morbidness or melancholy; +unless," he added, "it was when Mrs. Stanard died, when he appeared for +some time grieving and depressed. At all other times he was bright and +full of fun and high spirits. He delighted in playing practical jokes, +masquerading, and making raids on orchards and turnip-patches. Oh, yes; +every schoolboy liked a sweet, tender, juicy turnip; and many a time +after the apple crop had been gathered in, we might have been seen, a +half dozen of us, seated on a rail-fence like so many crows, munching +turnips. We didn't object to a raw sweet potato at times--anything that +had the relish of being stolen. On Saturdays we had fish-fries by the +river, or tramped into the woods for wild grapes and chinquepins. It was +not always that Mr. Allan would allow Edgar to go on these excursions, +and more than once he would steal off and join us, though knowing that +he would be punished for it." + +"Mr. Allan was a good man in his way," added Mr. Mackenzie, "but Edgar +was not fond of him. He was sharp and exacting, and with his long, +hooked nose and small keen eyes looking from under his shaggy eyebrows, +always reminded me of a hawk. I know that often, when angry with Edgar, +he would threaten to turn him adrift, and that he never allowed him to +lose sight of his dependence on his charity." + +Edgar, he said, was allowed a liberal weekly supply of pocket money, but +being of a generous disposition and giving treats of taffy and hot +gingerbread to his schoolmates at recess, besides being generally +extravagant, this supply was always exhausted before the week was out, +when he would borrow, and so be kept constantly in debt. He was, +however, very prompt in paying off his debts. + +Mr. Robert Sully, nephew of the distinguished artist, Thomas Sully, and +himself an artist, was through life one of Poe's firmest friends. A boy +of delicate physique and a disposition so sensitive and irritable that +few could keep on good terms with him, he was always in difficulties. "I +was a dull boy at school," he said to me; "and Edgar, when he knew that +I had an unusually hard lesson, would help me out with it. He would +never allow the big boys to teaze me, and was kind to me in every way. I +used to admire and in a way envy him, he was so bright, clever and +handsome. + +"He lived not far from me, just around the corner; and one Saturday he +came running up to our house, calling out, "Come along, Rob! We are +going to the Hermitage woods for chinquepins, and you must come too. +Uncle Billy is going for a load of pine-needles, and we can ride in his +wagon." Now, that showed his consideration; he knowing that I could not +walk the long distances that most boys could, and therefore seldom went +on one of their excursions." + +In one of Poe's biographies is an absurd story to the effect that Mr. +Clarke, his first teacher, once on detecting him robbing a neighbor's +turnip-patch, tied one of the vegetables about his neck as a token of +disgrace, which the boy purposely wore home, when Mr. Allan, in a fury +at this insult to his adopted son, called on the teacher and threatened +him with personal chastisement. It is scarcely necessary at this day to +deny the truth of that story; but the following is what Mr. Clarke +himself says about it in an interview with a reporter in Baltimore some +years after Poe's death, he being at that time nearly eighty years +old.[4] + + [4] This account, clipped from a Baltimore paper, was given by + Professor Clarke's son to a Richmond reporter in 1894. + +"Edgar had a very sweet disposition. He was always cheerful, brimful of +mirth and a very great favorite with his schoolmates. I never had +occasion to speak a harsh word to him, much less to make him do penance. +He had a great ambition to excel." + +He spoke with pride of Edgar as a student, especially in the classics. +He and Nat Howard on one vacation each wrote him a complimentary letter +in Latin, both equally excellent in point of scholarship; but Edgar's +was in verse, which Nat could not write. + +"Whenever Poe came to Baltimore he would not forget to come and see me, +and I would offer him wine. It was the custom, you know. When he became +editor of Graham's Magazine and could afford it, he sent wine to me, +gratis.... I think that as boy and man Edgar loved me dearly. I am sure +I loved him.... Yes; he was a dear, open-hearted, cheerful and good boy; +and as a man he was a loving and affectionate friend to me. I went to +his funeral." + +The old Professor said that Poe's sister, Rosalie, he had seen when her +brother was a pupil of his. "She was at that time about ten years old, +was pretty and a very sweet child." + +Poe, after leaving Professor Clarke's, entered Dr. Burke's classical +school in 1832, where he remained until he went to the University. Here +one of his classmates was Dr. Creed Thomas, a noted Richmond physician, +who died so late as in 1890. In his reminiscences of Poe, published in a +Richmond paper not long before his own death, he says: + +"Poe was one of our brightest pupils. He read and scanned the Latin +poets with ease when scarcely thirteen years of age. He was an apt +student and always recited well, with a great ambition to excel in +everything. + +"Despite his retiring disposition he was never lacking in courage. There +was not a pluckier boy in school. He never provoked a quarrel, but would +always stand up for his rights.... It was a noticeable fact that he +never asked any of his schoolmates to go home with him after school. The +boys would frequently on Fridays take dinner or spend the night with +each other at their homes, but Poe was never known to enter in this +social intercourse. After he left the school ground we saw no more of +him until next day." + +Dr. Thomas spoke of Poe's fondness for the stage. He and several other +of the brightest boys held amateur theatricals in an old building rented +for the purpose. Poe was one of the best actors; but Mr. Allan, upon +learning of it, forbade his having anything to do with these +theatricals, a great grievance to the boy. + +"A singular fact," proceeds Dr. Thomas, "is that Poe never got a +whipping while at Burke's. I remember that the boys used to come in for +a flogging quite frequently--I got my share. Poe was quiet and dignified +during school hours, attending strictly to his studies; and we all used +to wonder at his escaping the rod so successfully." + +He adds that Poe was not popular with most of his schoolmates; that his +manners were retiring and distant. Doubtless there were boys with whom +he did not care to associate, feeling the lack of a congeniality between +himself and them. Then there were the prim and priggish class who looked +with virtuous disapproval on the robber of apple orchards and +turnip-patches, and who in after years never had a good word to say of +Poe, whether as boy or man. + +It will be observed from Dr. Davis' account that the "quiet and +dignified" manner which distinguished Poe in manhood was natural to him +even as a boy. + +As regards his never inviting his schoolmates to accompany him home to +dinner or to spend the night, this would not have been agreeable to +Edgar, who would have preferred having his time to himself for reading +or writing his verses, a volume of which he now began to make up. But he +was by no means deprived of company at home. The Allans, as has been +said, were fond of entertaining their friends, and at their "sociables" +and "tea parties" Edgar was generally required to be present, with one +or two young friends to keep him company, and often he was treated to a +"party" of his own--boys and girls--where a rigid etiquette was +required, though dancing and charades were indulged in. This was Mrs. +Allan's idea of affording him enjoyment and cultivating in him elegant +and graceful manners; but to him it was most distasteful. Throughout his +life he detested social companies. Mrs. Mackenzie, in speaking of the +social restraint under which the Allans at this time sought to keep +Edgar, said that it was very distasteful to the boy, who liked to choose +his companions, and who now, at the age of fifteen, began to be +dissatisfied and to think that he was subject to undue restraint at +home. She often heard him express the wish that he had been adopted by +Mr. Mackenzie instead of by Mr. Allan; and she would talk to him in her +motherly way, endeavoring to impress him with a sense of what he owed to +the latter. His disposition, she said, was very sweet and affectionate, +and he was grateful for any kindness, and always happy to be at her +house as much as he was allowed to be from home. Her son John could +never be persuaded to visit Edgar at his home, so strict was the +etiquette observed at table and in general behavior. She believed that +Mr. Allan, in taking charge of Edgar, had been influenced more by a +desire to please his wife than any real interest in the child, though he +had conscientiously endeavored to do his duty by him. She had once heard +him say that Edgar did not know the meaning of the word _gratitude_; to +which she replied that it could not be expected of children, who were +not able to understand their obligations; and that she did not at +present look for gratitude from Rose, but for affection and obedience. +Mrs. Allan was devoted to Edgar and he was very fond of her. It was she, +Mrs. Mackenzie thought, rather than her husband, who so extravagantly +supplied him with money, seeming to take a pride in his having more than +his schoolmates. She was a good and amiable woman, fond of pleasure +generally, and less domestic in her tastes than either her husband or +sister. + +Mr. John Mackenzie, in speaking of Edgar, bore witness to his high +spirit and pluckiness in occasional schoolboy encounters, and also to +his timidity in regard to being alone at night and his belief in and +fear of the supernatural. He had heard Poe say, when grown, that the +most horrible thing he could imagine as a boy was to feel an ice-cold +hand laid upon his face in a pitch-dark room when alone at night; or to +awaken in semi-darkness and see an evil face gazing close into his own; +and that these fancies had so haunted him that he would often keep his +head under the bed-covering until nearly suffocated. + +The restrictions sought to be placed upon Poe's associations and +amusements served only to render him more democratic. He, with two or +three of his young friends of congenial tastes, were fond of stealing +off for a bath in the river near _Rocketts_ or below _the Falls_, in +company with the hardy, adventurous boys of those localities, who were +known as "river rats." It was from them that he learned to swim, to row +and, when the river was low, to wade across its rocky bed to the willowy +islands and set fish-traps. When in Richmond in after years, he told how +he had met with some of these former companions, and how much he had +enjoyed talking with them about "old times" on the river. + +As regards religious influences and teachings in the Allan home, it does +not appear that Edgar was especially subject to these. Mr. and Mrs. +Allan were members of St. John's Episcopal church and punctilious in all +church observances, and they required of Edgar a strict attendance at +Sunday school and his presence in the family pew during divine service. +But in those days it was not thought necessary for professed Christians +to deny themselves social pleasures. On Sundays luxurious dinners were +provided, to which friends were invited from church, and rides and +drives were indulged in. Edgar was sent to dancing school, and Mrs. +Allan had her dancing entertainments and her husband his card parties, +which were attended by some of the most prominent professional men of +the city; amusements which, as is well known, exposed Episcopalians to +the charge of worldliness by other denominations. At all these +entertainments wine flowed freely. + +I have an impression, too vague to be asserted as fact, that Edgar Poe +was confirmed at the same time with his sister and Mary Mackenzie, at +St. John's church, and by the clergyman who had baptized them. To any +inquiry as to his religious denomination, he always answered, "I am an +Episcopalian." But it was often remarked upon by their friends in +Richmond that neither he nor Rosalie had ever been known to manifest a +sign of religious feeling or of interest in religious things. It was +noticeable in both that, phrenologically considered, the organ of +_veneration_ was so undeveloped as to give a depressed or flat +appearance to the top of the head when seen in profile. And it was known +to Poe's intimate friends that, while he believed in a Supreme Power, he +had no faith in the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ. Hence he was as +a bark at sea with a guiding star in view but no rudder to direct its +course. His eager seeking for truth was ever but a groping in darkness, +with now and then a faint, far-away ray of the light of Truth flashing +upon his sight--as we see in _Eureka_. + +Yet Poe was careful to offer no disrespect to religion, and he was a +frequent attendant at church and a great lover of church music. + +Great injustice has been done the Allans by Poe's biographers in +representing them as responsible for his early dissipation. By all the +story has been repeated of how the child of three or four years was +accustomed to be given a glass of wine at dinner parties and required to +drink the health of the company. + +It was no unusual thing for little children to be taught this trick for +the amusement of company, as from my own recollections I can myself +aver. But the liquor given them was simply a little sweetened wine and +water. As Edgar grew older he was, like other boys in his position--as +the Mackenzies--allowed his glass of wine at table; but no word was ever +heard of his being fond of wine until his return from the University. + +I have heard a Richmond gentleman who was Poe's chum at the University +speak of the latter's peculiar manner of drinking. He was no +_connoisseur_, they said, in either wine or other liquors, and seemed to +care little for their mere taste or flavor. "You never saw him +critically discussing his wine or smacking his lips over its excellence; +but he would generally swallow his glass at a draught, as though it had +been water--especially when he was in any way worried." In this way he +would soon become intoxicated, while his companions remained sober. "He +had the weakest head of any one that I ever knew," said this gentleman, +who attributed his dissipation while at the University, not to a natural +inclination, but to a weakness of will which allowed himself to be +easily influenced by his companions. + +Hitherto we have seen in Poe, the schoolboy, only what was amiable and +lovable; but now, in his sixteenth year, he began to show that beneath +this were springs of bitterness which, when disturbed, could arouse him +to a passion and a power hitherto unsuspected. + +I never heard of but one authentic instance of his being subject to +slight or "snubbing" while a boy on account of his parentage or his +dependent position in Mr. Allan's family, although several writers have +taken it for granted that such was the case. What effect such treatment +would have had upon him is evinced in the instance in question, in which +a young man, a sprig of an aristocratic family, chose to object to +association with the son of actors, and not only made a point of +ignoring him on all occasions, but made offensive allusions to him as a +"charity boy." This last being reported to Edgar, aroused in him a +resentment which found expression in a rhyming lampoon upon "_Don +Pompiosa_," so brimfull of wit, sarcasm and keenest ridicule that it was +circulated throughout the city for some time, though none knew who was +the author. The young man in question could not make his appearance upon +the street without being pointed out and laughed at, with audible +allusions to "_Don Pompiosa_," and was, it was said, at length actually +driven from the town, leaving Poe triumphant. This was the forerunner +of those keen literary onslaughts which in after years made Poe as a +critic the terror of his enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SCHOOLBOY LOVE AFFAIRS. + + +That Poe was, both as boy and man, unusually susceptible to the +influence of feminine charms has been the testimony of all who best knew +him. "I never knew the time," said Mr. Mackenzie, "that Edgar was not in +love with some one." + +Nor was it unusual for me, when a girl, to meet with some comely matron +who would laughingly admit that she had been "one of Edgar Poe's +sweethearts." Neither did he confine his boyish gallantries to girls of +his own age, but admired grown-up belles and young married ladies as +well; though this was probably in a great measure owing to the playful +petting with which they treated the handsome and chivalrous boy-lover. + +But this was a trait which did not meet with the approval of Miss Jane +Mackenzie, sister of the gentleman who adopted Rosalie Poe. This lady, +noted for her elegant manners and accomplishments, kept a fashionable +"Young Ladies' Boarding-School," patronized by the best families of the +State; and many a brilliant belle and admired Virginia matron boasted of +having received her education at "Miss Jane's." As I remember her, she +was tall and stately, prim and precise, and was attired generally in +black silk and elaborate cap and frizette, a very _Lady-Prioress_ sort +of a person. She had the reputation of being exceedingly "strict" in +regard to the manners and conduct of her pupils, and was a contrast to +the rest of her family, all of whom were remarkably genial. + +When Edgar was about fifteen or sixteen he began to make trouble for +Miss Jane. Repeatedly she would detect him in secret correspondence with +some one of her fair pupils, supplemented on his part by offerings of +candy and "original poetry," his sister Rosalie being the medium of +communication. The verses were sometimes compared by the fair recipients +and found to be alike, with the exception of slight changes appropriate +to each; a practice which he kept up in after years. He possessed some +skill in drawing, and it was his habit to make pencil-sketches of his +girl friends, with locks of their hair attached to the cards. + +Poe himself has told of his boyish devotion to Mrs. Stanard, which made +so deep an impression upon the mind and heart of the embryo poet. The +story is well known of how he once accompanied little Robert Stanard +home from school (to see his pet pigeons and rabbits), and how his heart +was won by the gentle and gracious reception given him by the boy's +lovely mother, and the tenderness of tone and manner with which she +talked to him; she knowing his pathetic history. In his heart a chord of +feeling was stirred which had never before been touched; and thenceforth +he regarded her with a passionate and reverential devotion such as we +may imagine the religious devotee to feel for the Madonna. He calls this +"the first pure and ideal love of his soul," and possibly it may in time +have been increased by the knowledge of the doom which hung above and +overtook her at the last--the partial shrouding of the bright intellect, +the effect of a hereditary taint. Indeed, it is probable that on this +account Poe saw very little if anything of Mrs. Stanard in the two +succeeding years, in which time she led a secluded life with her family, +dying in April, 1824, at the age of thirty-one. But the impression had +been made, and remained with him during his lifetime, forming the one +solitary _Ideal_ which pervaded nearly all his poems--the death of the +young, lovely and beloved. This experience was probably the beginning of +those occasional dreamy and melancholy moods about this time noticed by +some of his companions. The living friend of his boyhood's dream became +the "lost Lenore" of his maturer years. + +But though Poe deeply felt the loss of this beloved friend, the story is +not to be accepted that he was accustomed to go at night to the cemetery +where she was buried "and there, prostrate on her grave, weep away the +long hours of cold and darkness." No one who knew Poe in his boyhood, +with his horror of cemeteries, of darkness, and of being alone at night, +would believe this story, first told by Poe himself to Mrs. Whitman, and +by her poetic fancy further embellished. Besides this is the practical +refutation afforded by the high brick wall and locked gates of the +cemetery, with the strict discipline of the Allan home, which would have +made such midnight excursions impossible. + +Another account connected with Mrs. Stanard, and repeated by Poe's +biographers until it has become an article of faith with the public, is +that the exquisite lines "To Helen" were inspired by and addressed to +that lady. If written at ten years of age, as Poe asserts, it will be +remembered that he was at this time at school in London, and it was not +until two years after his return, and when he was thirteen years of age, +that he ever saw Mrs. Stanard. He might have altered the lines to suit +her--his "Psyche," with the pale and "classic face"--and I recall that +the "folded scroll" of the first version was afterward changed to "the +agate lamp within thy hand," as more appropriate to Psyche. Poe never +made an alteration in his poems that was not an improvement. + +Those who knew Mrs. Stanard describe her as slender and graceful, with +regular delicate features, a complexion of marble pallor and dark, +pensive eyes. A portrait of her which was in possession of her son, +Judge Robert Stanard, represented her as a young girl wearing--perhaps +in respect to her Scottish descent--a _snood_ in her dark, curling +hair. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ROSALIE POE. + + +Of Edgar Poe's sister, Rosalie, it may be said that all accounts +represent her as having been, up to the age of ten years, a pretty +child, with blue eyes and rosy cheeks, and of a sweet disposition. +Though evincing nothing of Edgar's talent and quickness at learning, she +was yet a rather better pupil than the average; and it had been Miss +Mackenzie's intention to give her every advantage of education afforded +by her own school, so as to fit her for becoming a teacher. + +But when Rosalie Poe was in her eleventh or twelfth year, a strange +change came over her, for which her friends could never account. Without +having ever been ill, a sudden blight seemed to fall upon her, as frost +upon a flower, and she drooped, as it were, mentally and physically. She +lost all energy and ambition, and thenceforth made little or no progress +in her studies, growing up into a languid and uninteresting girlhood. +Still, she was amiable, generous and devoted to her friends, who were +generally chosen for their personal beauty, and for this reason my +sister was a great favorite with her. To Mrs. Mackenzie she was always +dutiful and affectionate, but her great pride and affection centered in +her brother. She felt painfully, and would often allude to, the +difference between them. Once she said to me, "Of course, I can't expect +Edgar to love me as I do him, he is so far above me." + +A peculiarity of Miss Poe is worth mentioning, because it is one shared +by her brother, and must have been hereditary. She could not taste wine +without its having an immediate effect upon her. She would, after +venturing to take a glass of wine at dinner, sleep for hours, and awaken +either with a headache or in an irritable and despondent mood. As is +well known, the same effect was produced upon Edgar by a moderate +indulgence in drink, such as would not affect another man; and this +hereditary weakness should go far in accounting for and excusing those +excesses of which all the world is unfortunately aware. + +Of the elder brother of Edgar, William Henry, I have heard scarcely any +mention until after Poe's death, and few seemed to know that there was +such a person. It seems, however, that in the summer, when Edgar was +preparing for the University, this brother came to Richmond on a visit +to himself and Rose. Edgar took him around to introduce to his young +lady acquaintances, by one of whom he has been described as handsome, +gentlemanly and agreeable. He died a year or two afterward, leaving some +poems which show him to have been possessed of unusual poetic talent. +Had he lived, he might have rivaled his brother as a poet. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE UNREST OF YOUTH. + + +In the summer of 1825, Mr. Allan, having come into possession of a large +fortune left him by an uncle, purchased and removed to the handsome +brick residence at the corner of Main and Fifth streets, built by Mr. +Gallego, a wealthy Spanish gentleman, and which became known as the +Allan House. + +To own such a residence had long been the desire of Mrs. Allan, and upon +taking possession of the house she furnished it handsomely and commenced +entertaining in a style which rendered them conspicuous in Richmond +society. It was even said that they lived extravagantly; and Edgar, with +abundance of pocket-money, became the envy of his companions. + +But he was not happy. The impatience of restraint of which the +Mackenzies spoke, and the dissatisfaction of which was to him, despite +its luxuries, an uncongenial home, rendered him discontented. The heart +of the boy of fifteen began to pulse with the restlessness of the bird +when it feels the first nervous twitchings of its wings, and his great +desire now was to get away from home and enjoy greater freedom. He would +often, when particularly dissatisfied, speak to the Mackenzies of going +to sea or enlisting in the army. At present, however, he contented +himself with requesting Mr. Allan to send him to the University. + +Mr. Allan did not see the use of a higher education for one whom he +destined for a commercial business, but finally yielded; and Edgar left +Mr. Burke's school and, under a private tutorage, commenced fitting +himself for the University. This period, from June to February 14, 1825, +was the only time, with the exception of two brief intervals, that he +resided in the Allan House. + +On another point, however, he did not so easily have his way. He was +very anxious that his youthful poems should be published in book form, +and importuned Mr. Allan to that effect, but this was a thing with which +the latter had no sympathy. He did consent to go with the boy to hear +what Mr. Clarke's judgment of the verses would be; but finally concluded +that Edgar was too young to publish a book; and so the latter's eager +and ambitious hopes were for the time frustrated. + +Still, this must have been a pleasant summer for him, in the enjoyment +of his new home, with its fine lawn and garden, in place of the cramped +cottage on Clay street, and especially in the knowledge that he was +breaking away from his schoolboy days and assuming something of the +independence of youth. It was at this time that he made the famous swim +of seven miles on James river, from Warwick Park to Richmond, which has +been so much commented upon--showing with what fine athletic powers he +was gifted. + +It was on the 14th of February, 1825, that Poe entered the University; +inscribing on the matriculation book the date of his birth as January +19, 1809, making him sixteen years of age, when he was really seventeen +(born in 1808). This date, it will be observed, agrees with no other +that he has given. + +Of his course at the University his biographers have informed us, on the +authority of professors and students, some of whom credit him with +almost every vice of dissipation, while others defend him from such +imputation. But when he returned home, at the end of the first year, +with a brilliant scholastic record, it became known that Mr. Allan had +been called upon to pay his gambling and other debts, amounting on the +whole to over two thousand dollars. Mr. Allan went on to Charlottesville +to investigate the matter, and scrupulously paid all that he considered +honest debts, refusing to notice the gambling debts. + +Poe, having paid little attention to his personal affairs, was almost as +much surprised as was Mr. Allan at the amount of his indebtedness. He +appeared truly penitent, and frankly so expressed himself to Mr. Allan, +offering to repay the latter by his services in his counting-house. It +was agreed that after the Christmas holidays he should take his place in +the office as clerk. + +This was the beginning of the declension of Poe's social and personal +reputation. By his elders he was severely condemned, while the good +little boys who had formerly looked doubtfully upon the robber of +orchards and turnip-patches now passed him by with sidelong glances and +pursed-up lips. And yet, good cause though Mr. Allan had to be angry--as +he was--we have the following account of Edgar's reception at home when +he returned from the University for the Christmas holidays, a reception +for which he was doubtless indebted to his devoted foster-mother: + +A former schoolmate of his, Charles Bolling, writes to the editor of a +Richmond paper that Mr. Allan, when on a visit to the country, having +given him a cordial invitation to call on him when in Richmond, he, one +evening, near Christmas, went to his house, where he was kindly +received. After sitting awhile, he perceived certain signs as of +preparation for the entertainment of company, and at once rose to leave, +but his host insisted upon his remaining, saying that Edgar had just +come home from the University, and some of his young friends had been +invited to meet him. Bolling replied that he was not in a suitable dress +for company, when Mr. Allan said: "Go up to Edgar's room. He will supply +you with one of his own suits." He found Edgar lying on a lounge +reading, who welcomed him cordially, and, throwing open his wardrobe +doors, placed the contents at his disposal. + +This was a room which, on their removal to their new home, Mrs. Allan +had chosen for Edgar's occupation, furnishing it handsomely, with his +books and pictures arranged in bookcases and on the wall. He took great +pleasure in this apartment, and had always passed much of his time +there. + +When the two youths had attired themselves to their satisfaction, they +repaired to the drawing-room, where Poe did his duty in welcoming his +guests. But after awhile he took Bolling aside and proposed that they +should go down the street and have a spree of their own. To this the +latter very properly objected, saying: "Oh, no; that would never do." +But being urged, finally consented; and they stole away from the company +together. + +This was an assertion of independence which one year previous he would +not have ventured upon. But he was now no longer a schoolboy, but a +University student and, as he claimed, nearly eighteen years of age. +This past year had wrought a great change in him; and he was already in +his heart prepared to break away from the restraint and authority which +he had found so irksome and assert his independence. + +In due time Poe was installed in Mr. Allan's counting-house as clerk, +but had occupied that position but a short time when it became +intolerable to him. He begged Mr. Allan to give him some other +employment, saying that he would rather earn his living in any other +way. Mr. Allan, still angry about the University debts, told him that +he was his own master, and could choose what employment he pleased, but +that henceforth he was not to look to him for assistance. After an angry +scene between the two, Poe packed his traveling bag and, leaving the +Allan house, did not return to it for the space of two years. + +It will be observed that this was no runaway act on Poe's part, as +asserted by biographers. He took an affectionate leave of Mrs. Allan and +Miss Valentine--who supplied him with money--and neither of whom +believed but that he would be back in a few weeks. + +He went to take leave of the Mackenzies, who, all but his friend "Jack," +advised him to return and submit himself to Mr. Allan; but this he would +not, could not, do. He claimed that Mr. Allan had spoken insultingly to +him, and declared that he would no longer be dependent on him. And so he +went forth, as he said, to seek his fortune. + +He made his way to Boston, where the first use to which he put his money +was in publishing a cheap edition of his poems. They were not of a kind +to attract attention, and he never realized a dollar from them. +Ambitious to have them known, he sent a number to his friends in +Richmond and other places South, and the rest turned over to his +publisher, an obscure young man of the name of Thomas, in part payment +of the expense of publishing. + +Then followed a season of wandering in search of employment until, his +money all gone, he had no resource but to enlist in the army, which he +did on May 2, 1827, being then, as he claimed, eighteen (really +nineteen) years of age, but representing himself as twenty-two. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +IN BARRACKS. + + +In the year 1829, my uncle, Dr. Archer, then Post Surgeon at Fortress +Monroe, was one day called to the hospital to attend a private soldier +known as Edgar A. Perry. Finding him a young man of superior manners and +education, his interest was aroused, and his patient, won by his +sympathy, finally confessed that his real name was Edgar A. Poe, and +that he was the adopted son of Mr. John Allan, of Richmond; and also +expressed an earnest desire to leave the army, in which he had now been +for two years, the term of enlistment being five years. + +Dr. Archer informed the commanding officer of these revelations, and as +Perry, _alias_ Poe, had proven himself in all respects a model soldier, +interest in his case was at once aroused. It was suggested that, with +his education and the social position which he had enjoyed, a cadetship +at West Point would be more suited to him than the place of a private +at Fortress Monroe. Poe, in his anxiety to be rid of the army, was +willing enough to accept this proposal, and by the advice of his new +friends wrote to Mr. Allan, informing him of his wishes and asking his +assistance. + +For some time he received no answer; but at length there came a letter +which must have caused his heart a pang of real sorrow. It was from Mr. +Allan, informing him of the death of his wife, and directing him to +apply for a furlough and come on at once to Richmond, where he arrived +two days after her burial. + +Woodbury is mistaken in saying that in all this time Mr. Allan had not +known of Edgar's whereabouts. According to Miss Valentine, Poe never at +any time ceased entirely to correspond with Mrs. Allan, who never, to +her dying day, lost her interest in the boy whom she had loved as a son, +and neither ceased her endeavors to reconcile himself and her husband, +urging Edgar to return and Mr. Allan to receive him. In anticipation of +such result, she kept his room as he had left it, ready for his +occupation at any time that it might suit his wayward fancy to return. + +Mr. Allan talked to Poe seriously, and, finding that his great desire +was to get a discharge from the army, promised to assist him; but only +upon condition of his entering West Point, by which there would be +secured to him an honorable and independent position for life, and Allan +himself be relieved from all responsibility concerning him. But that he +had not entirely forgiven Edgar was evident from a letter to the +latter's commanding officer, wherein he exposes, unnecessarily, perhaps, +the youth's gambling habits at the University, declaring that "he is no +relation of mine whatever, and no more to me than many others who, being +in need, I have regarded as being my care." Poe must have felt this +latter as a humiliation; and it was certainly not calculated to increase +his regard for the writer. + +Poe's career at West Point is well known. At first all went well. One of +his Virginia comrades, Col. Allan Magruder, describes him as of a simple +and kindly nature, but, by reason of his distance and reserve, not +popular with the cadets, and that he at length confined his association +exclusively to Virginians. But the old discontent and impatience of +restraint returned upon him, and after some months he wrote to Mr. Allan +that he wished to leave West Point--a step to which the latter +positively refused his assistance. + +Finding nobody inclined to help him, he resolved to force his discharge. +He purposely neglected his studies and military duties, deliberately +violated the rules, engaged--it was said by some--in all sorts of +disgraceful pranks; and finally was tried by court-martial and, on March +7, 1831, dismissed from the institute. + +It has been naturally inferred that Poe's object in this voluntary +self-sacrifice was simply to free himself from the irksomeness of +military duties which, on trial, he found so opposed to his taste and +inclination. But perhaps the real motive was one which has never yet +been suspected. + +Some time after Poe's death I was informed by a lady that, being in +company where the conversation turned upon the poet and his writings, +one who did not admire the latter remarked that Edgar Poe could have +been of more use to both himself and others by remaining at West Point +and adopting the army as a profession. To this an old army officer, +Capt. Patrick Galt, replied that he had been informed by one who had +been a classmate of Poe that the latter had been driven away from West +Point by the slights and snubs of the cadets on account of his parentage +and his bringing up as an object of charity. West Point, this officer +declared, had in Poe's time been a very hotbed of aristocratic prejudice +and pretension, and, Poe's history being known, these young aristocrats +held themselves aloof, while the more snobbish among them, probably by +reason of his reserve and acknowledged superiority in some respects, did +not hesitate to attempt to humiliate him on occasion. Poe, he said, +probably knew that this odium would in a measure attach to him +throughout his whole military career, and he acted wisely in declining +to expose himself to it. + +Hence the shyness and reserve of which some of his fellow-cadets speak, +and his exclusive association with Virginians, who generally stand by +each other. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +POE AND MRS. ALLAN. + + +In the meantime Mr. Allan had contracted a second marriage, the lady +being a Miss Louisa Patterson, of New Jersey. She was thirty years of +age; not handsome, but of dignified and courteous manners, with large, +strongly-marked features, indicative of decision of character and, as +was said, of a will of her own. Nevertheless, she was amiably inclined, +and as a society leader very tactful and diplomatic. One marked +characteristic of hers was that she never forgave the least slight or +disrespect to herself, though the offender were but a child; and of this +I remember some curious instances in my own acquaintance with her, many +years after the time of which I speak. + +It does not appear how Poe received the news of this marriage; but one +thing seems certain--that, strangely enough, the idea never occurred to +him that it in any way affected his own position in Mr. Allan's house. +He had never received from the latter any word to that effect; Miss +Valentine (his "Aunt Nancy"), with the old servants, who had known, and +served, and loved him from his babyhood, were still there, and doubtless +his room was still being kept, as ever before, ready for his occupation. + +It was therefore with perfect confidence that, upon being dismissed from +West Point, he proceeded to Richmond, having barely enough money to pay +his way, and, sounding the brazen knocker of Mr. Allan's door, greeted +the old servant pleasantly, handing him his traveling bag to be carried +to his room, at the same time asking for Miss Valentine. + +The answer of the servant astonished him. His old room had been taken by +Mrs. Allan as a guest-chamber and his personal effects removed to "the +end-room." This was the last of several small apartments opening upon a +narrow corridor extending on one side of the house above the kitchen and +the servants' apartments. It had at one time been occupied by Mrs. +Allan's maid. + +On receiving this information, Poe was extremely indignant, and, +refusing to have his carpet-bag carried to that room, requested to see +Mrs. Allan. + +The lady came down to the parlor in all her dignity, and answered to his +inquiry that she had arranged her house to suit herself; that she had +not been informed that Mr. Poe had any present claim to that room or +that he was expected again to occupy it. Warm words ensued, and she +reminded him that he was a pensioner on her husband's charity, which +provoked him to more than hint that she had married Mr. Allan from +mercenary motives. This was enough for the lady. She sent for her +husband, who was at his place of business, and who, upon hearing her +account of the interview, coupled with the assertion that "Edgar Poe and +herself could not remain a day under the same roof," without seeing Poe, +sent to him an imperative order to leave the house at once, which he +immediately did. It was told by himself that as he crossed the hall Mr. +Allan hastily entered it from a side-door and called harshly to him, at +the same time drawing out his purse, but that he, without pause or +notice, continued on his way. + +This account of the rupture between Poe and the Allans I heard from the +Mackenzies and Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell, wife of Poe's schoolboy friend, +Dr. Robert G. Cabell, to whom Poe himself related it. The friends of the +Allens gave a much more sensational account of the affair, which was +much discussed, and went the rounds of the city, with such additions and +exaggerations as gossip could invent, until it culminated at length in +the dark picture with which Griswold horrified the world. + +It was to this incident that Poe alluded when he told Mrs. Whitman that +"his pride had led him to deliberately throw away a large fortune rather +than submit to a trivial wrong." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE CLOSING OF THE GATE. + + +When Poe, after leaving Mr. Allan's door, crossed the lawn and passed +out of the gate, can any one realize how momentous was the instant of +time in which the gate closed after him, or what a woeful human tragedy +was in that instant inaugurated? The closing of the gate meant the +shutting out forever of his past life; the clang of the iron latch was +the knell of all that had been bright and pleasant and prosperous in +that life, now lost to him forever. There he stood, homeless, penniless, +friendless, utterly alone in the world, with a pathless future before +him, shadowy, dim, no hand to point him onward and no star to guiden. +From this moment commences the true history of Edgar A. Poe. + + * * * * * + +On leaving the Allan house, Poe went directly to the Mackenzies, the +only place to which he could turn, and spent several days with these +kind friends, discussing what would be best for him to do, now that he +had his own way to make in the world. They advised him to begin by +teaching, until he could see his way more clearly; but Richmond was at +present no place for him, and he decided to go to Baltimore, where his +relatives, knowing the city so well, might be able to assist him. The +Mackenzies gave him what money they could spare, and Miss Valentine, on +hearing where he was, sent more. + +But in Baltimore Poe found himself coldly received by his relatives. +Since his miserable failure at West Point, when his prospects had seemed +so bright and all conspiring for his good, they had lost all faith in +him, and did not propose to trouble themselves on his account. On his +last visit, Neilson Poe, at whose house he was staying, had obtained for +him a place in an editor's office, which after a brief trial Poe threw +up. He now again applied for that place, but failed; as also in his +application for the position of assistant teacher in some academy. And +now commenced that wretched life of wandering, and penury, and, +according to Mr. Kennedy, of actual starvation, which is as sad as any +other such history in literature, with the exception of that of poor +Chatterton. His days were passed in roaming about the streets in search +of employment--anything by which he could obtain food and at night a +miserable place where to rest his weary limbs. He wrote a few stories +which he endeavored to dispose of to editors, but met with no success. + +Many stories have been told in regard to this unhappy period of Poe's +life. One, related by a Richmond man, stated that, being in Baltimore +about the time in question, he one day had occasion to visit a +brick-yard, when there passed him by a line of men bearing the freshly +moulded bricks to the kiln. Glancing at them casually, he was amazed to +recognize among them Edgar Poe. He could not be mistaken, having been +for years familiar with his appearance. Whether Poe recognized him, he +could not say; but when he returned next day he was not there, nor did +any one know of the name of Poe among the laborers. It was the opinion +of this man that he had merely picked up a day's job for a day's need. + +He was said to have been recognized in other equally uncongenial +occupations, but relief was at hand in the time of his sorest need. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MRS. CLEMM. + + +His father's sister, Mrs. Maria Clemm, who had for some years been +living in a New York country town, supporting herself and little +daughter by dressmaking, about this time returned to Baltimore, and +hearing from the Poes of the presence of her brother's son in the city, +commenced a search for him. She found him, at length, ill--really ill; +and at once took him to her own humble home, installing him in a room +which had been furnished for a lodger, and from that hour attended and +cared for him with a true motherly devotion. + +Those who believe in the spirit of the old adage, "Blood is thicker than +water," may imagine what a blessed relief this was to the weary and +almost despairing wanderer. Here he had what he needed almost as much as +he did food--rest; rest for the weak and exhausted body and for the +anxious mind as well. Here, in the quiet little room, he could lie and +dream, in the blissful consciousness that near him were the watchful +eyes and careful hands of his own father's sister, ready to attend to +his slightest want. And from the day on which he first entered her +humble abode Poe was never more to be a homeless wanderer. To him it +proved ever a safe little harbor, a sure haven of refuge and repose in +all storms and troubles that assailed, even to his life's end. + +Mrs. Clemm was at this time a strong, vigorous woman, somewhat past +middle age, and of large frame and masculine features. Her manner was +dignified and well-bred, and she was possessed of abundant +self-reliance, ready resource, and, as must be said, of clever artifice +as well, where artifice was necessary to the accomplishment of a +purpose. Her abode, though plainly and cheaply furnished, was a picture +of neatness and such comfort as she could afford to give it; but her +means were only what could be derived from dressmaking, taking a lodger +or two, and at times teaching a few small children. + +This state of affairs dawned upon Poe as he slowly recovered from his +fever-dreams; and he again became aware of the strong necessity of +further exertion on his part. Mrs. Clemm would not allow him to go to a +hospital. Probably she feared to lose him. In some degree, isolated from +her other kindred, she had in her loneliness found a son, and the +pertinacity with which she thenceforth clung to him was something +remarkable. + +Poe soon resumed his weary search for employment, but for some time +without success. In his hours of enforced idleness at home he found +employment in teaching his little cousin, Virginia, a pretty and +affectionate child of ten years, who, however, was fonder of a walk or a +romp with him than of her lessons. She was devoted to her handsome +cousin, and having hitherto lived with her mother and with few or no +playmates or companions, soon learned to depend upon him for all +pleasure or amusement. They called each other both then and ever after, +"Buddie" and "Sissy," while Mrs. Clemm was "Muddie" to both. + +Of this period of Poe's life in Baltimore, Dr. Snodgrass, a literary +Bohemian of the time, has given us glimpses: + +"In Baltimore, his chief resort was the Widow Meagher's place, an +inexpensive but respectable eating-house, with a bar attached and a room +where the customers could indulge in a smoke or a social game of cards. +This was frequented chiefly by printers and employees of shipping +offices. Poe was a great favorite with the Widow Meagher, a kindly old +Irish woman. On entering there you would generally find him seated +behind her oyster counter, at which she presided; himself as silent as +an oyster, grave and retiring. Knowing him to be a poet, she addressed +him always by the old Irish title of _Bard_, and by this name he was +here known. It was, "Bard, have a nip;" "Bard, take a hand." Whenever +anything particularly pleased the old woman's fancy, she would request +Poe to put it in "poethry," and I have seen many of these little pieces +which appeared to me more worthy of preservation than some included in +his published works. + +It happened that Poe one evening, in his wanderings about the streets, +stopped to read a copy of _The Evening Visitor_ exposed for sale, and +had his attention attracted by the offer of a purse of one hundred +dollars for the best original story to be submitted to that journal +anonymously. Remembering his rejected manuscripts, he at once hastened +home and, making them into a neat parcel, dispatched them to the office +of the _Visitor_, though with little or no hope of their meeting with +acceptance. + +His feelings may therefore be imagined when he shortly received a letter +informing him that the prize of one hundred dollars had been awarded to +his story of "The Gold Bug," and desiring him to come to the office of +the _Visitor_ and receive the money. + +It was on this occasion that Poe made the acquaintance of Mr. J. P. +Kennedy, author of "_Swallow Barn_," who proved such a true friend to +him in time of need. Mr. Kennedy says he recognized in the thin, pale, +shabbily dressed but neatly groomed young man a gentleman, and also that +he was starving. He invited him frequently to his table, presented him +with a suit of clothes and, seeing how feeble he was, gave him the use +of a horse for the exercise which he so much needed. He also obtained +for him some employment in the office of the _Evening Visitor_, whose +editor, Mr. Wilmer, accepted several stories from his pen; and it was +now, evidently, that Poe decided upon literature as a profession. + +Under these favoring conditions Poe rapidly recovered his health and +spirits. Mr. Wilmer, who saw a good deal of him at this time, says that +when their office work was done they would often walk out together into +the suburbs, generally accompanied by Virginia, who would never be left +behind. At the office he was punctual, industrious and his work +satisfactory. In all his association with him he never saw him under the +influence of intoxicants or knew him to drink except once, moderately, +when he opened a bottle of wine for a visitor. + +I once clipped from a Baltimore paper the following article by a +reporter to whom the story was related by "a lively and comely old +lady," herself its heroine. I give it as an illustration of the easy +confidence with which Poe, even in his youth, sought the acquaintance of +women who attracted his attention: + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"A PRETTY GIRL WITH AUBURN HAIR WHOM POE LOVED." + + +"The old lady commenced by saying that she had known Poe quite +intimately when she and her mother were residents of Baltimore, about +1832. She was then seventeen years of age and attending a finishing +school in that city. She confided to me, laughingly, that she was +considered a very pretty girl, with dark eyes and curling auburn hair. + +"The first time she noticed Poe, she said, was once when she was +studying her lesson at the window of her room, which was in the rear of +the house. Looking up, she saw a very handsome young man standing at an +opposite back window on the next street looking directly at her. She +pretended to take no notice, but on the following evening the same thing +occurred. He appeared to be writing at his window, and each time that he +laid aside a sheet he would look over at her, and at length bowed. This +time a school friend was with her, who, in a spirit of fun, returned the +bow. That evening, as the two were seated on the veranda together, this +young man sauntered past and, deliberately ascending the steps of the +adjoining house, spoke to them, addressing them by name. He sat for some +time on the dividing rail of the two verandas, making himself very +agreeable, and the acquaintance thus commenced in a mere spirit of +school-girl fun, was kept up for several weeks, some story being +invented to satisfy the mother. + +"'Of course, it was all wrong,' said the old lady, 'but it was fun, +nevertheless; and we girls could see no harm in it. But one evening, +when Mr. Poe and myself had been strolling up and down in the moonlight +until quite late, my mother desired him not to come again, as I was only +a school girl and the neighbors would talk. So our acquaintance ended +abruptly.' She added that, although they never again met, she always +felt the deepest interest in hearing of him, and had never forgotten her +fascinating boy-lover. + +"Asked if she had ever seen Virginia, she replied: 'Yes, several times, +when she was with her cousin;' that 'she was a pretty child, but her +chalky-white complexion spoiled her.'" + +Mr. Allan died in March, 1834, leaving three fine little boys to inherit +his fortune. + +Some time before his death an absurd story was circulated, which we find +related in the Richmond _Standard_, of April, 1881, thirty-one years +after Poe's death, on the authority of Mr. T. H. Ellis, of Richmond. It +appears that a friend of Poe wrote to the latter that Mr. Allan had +spoken kindly of him, seeming to regret his harshness, and advising him +to come on to Richmond and call on him in his illness. Acting upon this +advice, he, one evening in February, presented himself at Mr. Allan's +door. The rest, as told by Ellis, is as follows: + +"He was met at the door by Mrs. Allan, who, not recognizing him, said +that her husband had been forbidden by his physician to see visitors. +Thrusting her rudely aside, he rapidly made his way upstairs and into +the chamber where Mr. Allan sat in an arm-chair, who, on seeing him, +raised his cane, threatening to strike him if he approached nearer, and +ordered him to leave the house, which he did." + +Woodbury asserts the truth of this story, because, as he says, "Mr. +Ellis had the very best means of knowing the truth." But Ellis was at +this time only a youth of 18 or 20, and had no more opportunity of +knowing the truth than the numerous acquaintances of the Allans' to whom +they related their version of the incident, with never a mention of the +cane. Poe, they said, accused the servant of having delivered his +message to Mrs. Allan and, creating some disturbance, the latter called +to the servant to "drive that drunken man away." Mr. Ellis should have +remembered that Mrs. Allan, to the day of her death, asserted that she +had never but once seen Poe; consequently, this story of the second +meeting between them and of Poe's "rudely thrusting her aside," and +being threatened with the cane, is simply a specimen of the gossip which +was continually being circulated concerning Poe by his enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +POE'S DOUBLE MARRIAGE. + + +How it was that Poe, when a mature man of twenty-seven, came to marry +his little cousin of twelve or thirteen has ever appeared something of a +mystery. + +As understood by his Richmond friends, it appeared that when, in July of +1835, he left Baltimore to assume the duties of assistant editor to Mr. +White of the _Southern Literary Messenger_, Virginia, deprived of her +constant companion, so missed him and grieved over his absence that her +mother became alarmed for her health, and wrote to Poe concerning it; +and that in May of the following year the two came to Richmond, where +Poe and Virginia were married, she being at that time not fourteen years +of age. For this marriage Mrs. Clemm was severely criticised, the +universal belief being that she had "made the match." + +Of any other marriage than this these friends never heard; since it was +only from a letter found among Poe's papers after his death, and the +reluctant admission of Mrs. Clemm, that it became known that a previous +marriage had taken place. + +The marriage records of Baltimore show that on September 22, 1835, Edgar +A. Poe took out a license to marry Virginia E. Clemm. Mrs. Clemm, when +interviewed by one of Poe's biographers, admitted that there had been +such a marriage, and stated that the ceremony had been performed by +Bishop John Johns in Old Christ Church; though of this there is no +mention in the church records. Immediately after the ceremony, she said, +Poe returned to Richmond and to his editorial duties on the _Messenger_. +She vouchsafed no explanation, except that the two were engaged previous +to Poe's departure for Richmond. + +A possible explanation of the mystery may be that Mrs. Clemm, having set +her heart upon keeping her nephew in the family, could think of no surer +means than that of a match between himself and her daughter. When he +left Baltimore for Richmond, in July, she doubtless had her fears; and +then came reports of his notorious love affairs, one of which came near +ending in an elopement and marriage. It was probably then that she +wrote to him about Virginia's grieving for him; following up this letter +with another saying that Neilson Poe had offered to take Virginia into +his family and care for her until she should be eighteen years of age. +This brought a prompt reply from Poe, begging that she would not consent +to this plan and take "Sissy" away from him. + +This last letter is dated August 29. What other correspondence followed +we do not know; but two weeks later, on September 11, 1835, we find Poe +writing to his friend, Mr. Kennedy, the following extraordinary letter, +in which he clearly hints at suicide: + +"I am wretched. I know not why. Console me--for you can. But let +it be quickly, or it will be too late. Convince me that it is worth +one's while to live.... Oh, pity me, for I feel that my words are +incoherent.... Urge me to do what is right. Fail not, as you value +your peace of mind hereafter. + + "EDGAR A. POE." + +This production, which, in whatever light it is viewed, cannot but be +regarded as an evidence of pitiable weakness. Some writer has chosen to +attribute Poe's anguish to the prospect of losing Virginia. But it does +not at all appear that such is the case; for, even if Neilson Poe did +make such an offer, Poe knew well enough that neither Mrs. Clemm nor her +daughter would ever consent to accept it. The whole thing appears to +have been simply a plan of Mrs. Clemm to bring matters to the +satisfactory conclusion which she desired. She possessed over her nephew +then and always the influence and authority of a strong and determined +will over a very weak one; and we here see that in less than two months +after Poe's leaving her house she had carried her point and married him +to her daughter. Having thus secured him, she was content to wait a more +propitious time for making the marriage public. + +There is yet a little episode which may have influenced this affair and +may serve further to explain it. + +When Poe first went to Richmond, Mr. White, as a safeguard from the +temptation to evil habits, received him as an inmate of his own home, +where he immediately fell in love with the editor's youngest daughter, +"little Eliza," a lovely girl of eighteen. It was said that the father, +who idolized his daughter, and was also very fond of Poe, did not forbid +the match, but made his consent conditional upon the young man's +remaining perfectly sober for a certain length of time. All was going +well, and the couple were looked upon as engaged, when Mrs. Clemm, who +kept a watchful eye upon her nephew, may have received information of +the affair, and we have seen the result. + +Does this throw any light upon Poe's pitiful appeal, "Urge me to do what +is right"? Was this why the marriage was kept secret--to give time for a +proper breaking off of the match with Elizabeth White? And it is +certain, from all accounts, that Poe now, at once, plunged into the +dissipation which was, according to general report, the occasion of Mr. +White's prohibition of his attentions to his daughter. It was she to +whom the lines, "_To Eliza_," now included in Poe's poems, were +addressed. + +When I was a girl I more than once heard of Eliza White and her love +affair with Edgar Poe. "She was the sweetest girl that I ever knew," +said a lady who had been her schoolmate; "a slender, graceful blonde, +with deep blue eyes, who reminded you of the Watteau Shepherdesses upon +fans. She was a great student, and very bright and intelligent. She was +said to be engaged to Poe, but they never appeared anywhere together. It +was soon broken off on account of his dissipation. I don't think she +ever got over it. She had many admirers, but is still unmarried." + +Recently I read an article written by Mrs. Holmes Cumming, of +Louisville, Kentucky, in which she spoke of persons and places that she +had seen in Richmond associated with Poe. Among others, she met with a +niece of Eliza White, who, when a child, had often seen Poe at the +latter's home. She remembered having at a party seen him dancing with +Eliza, and how every one remarked what a handsome couple they were. She +had never seen any one enjoy dancing more than Poe did; not but that he +was very dignified, but you could see in his whole manner and expression +how he enjoyed it." Perhaps it was because he had "little Eliza" for a +partner. + +Previous to Poe's first marriage, he had boarded with a Mrs. Poore on +Bank street, facing the Capitol square, and with whose son-in-law, Mr. +Thomas W. Cleland, he held friendly relations. A few weeks after his +first marriage (which was still kept secret) he removed to the +establishment of a Mrs. Yarrington, in the same neighborhood, where, +being joined by Mrs. Clemm and Virginia, they lived together as +formerly, he--as he informed Mr. George Poe--paying out of his slender +salary nine dollars a week for their joint board. This continued until +May of the next year, when the public marriage of Poe and Virginia took +place. + +On this occasion Mr. Thomas Cleland was obliging enough to consent to +act as Poe's surety, and he also secured the services of his own pastor, +the Rev. Amasa Converse, a noted Presbyterian minister. Late on the +evening of May 16, Mr. Cleland, with Mrs. Clemm, Poe and Virginia, left +Mrs. Yarrington's and, walking quietly up Main street to the corner of +Seventh, were married in Mr. Converse's own parlor and in the presence +of his family, Mrs. Clemm giving her full and free consent. The +clergyman remarked afterward that Mrs. Clemm struck him as being +"polished, dignified, and agreeable in her bearing," while the bride +"looked very young." The party then returned to their boarding-house, +where Mrs. Clemm invited the lady boarders to her room to partake of +wine and cake, when it was discovered that it was a wedding +celebration.[5] + + [5] A letter to Mrs. Holmes Cumming, from a son of the Rev. + Amasa Converse, 1905. + +It will be observed that, according to the marriage bond, Virginia was +married under her maiden name of Clemm, thus ignoring the former +ceremony; and that Poe subscribed to the oath of Thomas Cleland that she +was "of the full age of twenty-one years," when in reality she was but +thirteen, having been born August 16, 1822. Thus is shown how pliable +was Poe in the hands of his mother-in-law; and as regards Mr. Cleland, +who was a very pious Presbyterian, it can only be hoped that he never +discovered in what manner he had been imposed upon. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE POES IN RICHMOND. + + +When Poe went to Richmond as assistant editor to Mr. White, it had been +with the expectation of resuming his old place among his former friends +and associates--a prospect which, as he himself stated in a letter to +that gentleman, had afforded him very great pleasure. He had no idea of +the altered estimate in which he was held by some of these, and of the +general prejudice existing against him in consequence of the exaggerated +reports concerning his rupture with the Allans and the later story of +his attempt to force himself into Mr. Allan's presence. It is true that +the Mackenzies, the Sullys, Dr. Robert G. Cabell and his wife, with some +others of the best people, remained his firm friends; but he found +himself without social standing and with but few associates among his +former acquaintances. It was even said that when a leading society lady, +enjoying a literary reputation--the mother of Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell +and Mrs. General Winfield Scott--gave an entertainment to which she +invited the talented young editor of the _Messenger_, two of the most +priggish of these gentlemen declined to attend rather than meet their +former schoolmate, Edgar Poe. + +This state of things must undoubtedly have served to irritate and +embitter one of Poe's proud and sensitive nature, and may have partly +led to the dissipated habits in which he now for the first time began to +indulge--besides, in some measure, influencing the extreme bitterness +and severity, or, as it has been called, _venom_ of the criticism for +which the _Messenger_ began to be noted. Never before had he been +accused of unamiability of disposition, but his temper seems suddenly to +have changed, and he was called "haughty, overbearing and quarrelsome." + +A great and, it is to be feared, irreparable obloquy has attached to +Poe's name through the utterance of a single individual--a Mr. Ferguson, +who was employed as a printer's assistant in the office of the +_Messenger_ at the time of Poe's editorship of that magazine. Not many +years ago, Mr. Ferguson, who is still living, said, in answer to some +inquiry concerning the poet: "There never was a more perfect gentleman +than Mr. Poe when he was sober," but that at other times "he would just +as soon lie down in the gutter as anywhere else." And this assertion has +been taken up by one and another writer until it appears now to be +received as a fixed fact. + +I have often heard this statement indignantly denied by persons who knew +Poe at this time. Howsoever much under the influence of drink he might +be, he was, they say, never at any time or by any person seen staggering +through the streets or lying in a gutter. On the contrary, he was +extremely sensitive about being seen by his friends, and especially +ladies, under the influence of drink. + +Poe himself, long after this time, while denying the charge of general +dissipation, confessed that while in Richmond he at long intervals +yielded to temptation, and after each excess was invariably for some +days confined to his bed. And now, in addition to other charges against +him, was that of neglecting his wife and being frequently seen in +attendance on other women; a point on which his motherly friend, Mrs. +Mackenzie, more than once felt herself called upon to remonstrate with +him. He would be, for a week at a time, away from his home, putting up +at various hotels and boarding-houses, and spending his money freely, +instead of, as formerly, committing it to the keeping of his +mother-in-law. Mrs. Clemm, descending from the dignity of a boarder, +tried to open a boarding-house of her own, but failed; and she now +rented a cheap tenement on Seventh street and went back to her +dressmaking, letting out rooms, and probably taking one or two boarders. +But it was seldom that her son-in-law was to be found here; though +always, after one of his excesses, he would seek its seclusion until fit +to again appear in public. + +Mr. Hewitt, who was about this time in Richmond, says that he heard a +great deal of gossip about Poe's love affairs; and describes him as, at +this time, of remarkable personal beauty--"graceful, and with dark, +curling hair and magnificent eyes, wearing a Byron collar and looking +every inch a poet." An old gentleman, a distinguished lawyer, once +undertook his defence, saying: "Poe is one of the kind whom men envy and +calumniate and women adore. How many could resist the temptation?" + +The Mackenzies spoke of Virginia at this time--now fourteen years of +age--as being small for her age, but very _plump_; pretty, but not +especially so, with sweet and gentle manners and the simplicity of a +child. Rose Poe, now twenty-six years of age, would sometimes take her +young sister-in-law to spend an afternoon at the Mackenzies, where she +appeared as much of a child as any of the pupils, joining in their +sports of swinging and skipping rope. On one occasion her +husband--"Buddy"--came unexpectedly to bring her home, when she +scandalized Miss Jane Mackenzie by rushing into the street and greeting +him with the _abandon_ of a child. + +Nearly twenty years after this time there were persons living on Main +street who remembered having almost daily seen about the Old Market, in +business hours, a tall, dignified looking woman, with a market basket +on one arm, while on the other hung a little girl with a round, +ever-smiling face, who was addressed as "Mrs. Poe"! She, too, carried a +basket. + +Whatsoever was the cause of Poe's discontent, he never appeared happy or +satisfied while in Richmond. His dissipated habits grew upon him, with a +consequent neglect of editorial duties, which sorely tried the patience +of his good and kind friend, Mr. White, to whom, it must be admitted, +Poe never appeared sufficiently grateful. Whether Mr. White was +compelled at length to reluctantly discharge him, or whether, as Mr. +Kennedy says, Poe himself gave up his place as editor of the +_Messenger_, thinking that with his now established literary reputation +he could do better in the North, is not clear; but in the summer of 1838 +he left Richmond and, with his family, removed to New York. + +Mrs. Clemm, at least, could not have been averse to the move; for it +seems certain that there was a general prejudice against her on account +of her having made or consented to the match between her little daughter +and a man of Poe's age and dissipated habits. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +IN NEW YORK. + + +Of Poe's business and literary affairs in New York, and subsequently in +Philadelphia, his biographers have fully informed us, but with little or +no mention of his home life or his family. All that we can gather +concerning the latter is that never at any time were their circumstances +such as would enable them to dispense with the utmost economy of living, +and that, as regarded the practical everyday business affairs of life, +Poe was almost as helpless and dependent upon his mother-in-law as was +his child-wife. But for this devoted mother, what could they have +done?--those two, whom she rightly called her "children." + +Poe was sadly disappointed in his hopes of obtaining literary employment +in New York, and but for Mrs. Clemm's opening a boarding-house on +Carmine street, an obscure locality, the family might have starved. +Here, however, he seems to have turned over a new leaf, for one of the +boarders, a Mr. Gowans, a book-seller on the next street, declares that +in the eight months of his residence at Mrs. Clemm's, and a daily +intercourse with Poe, he never saw him otherwise than "sober, courteous, +and a perfect gentleman." Being a stranger in New York, he was removed +from the temptations which had assailed him in Richmond, and this fact +should be noted as a proof that, when left to himself, he showed no +inclination to indulge in dissipation. Of Virginia, Poe's wife, then +fifteen years of age, this gallant old bachelor says, in the exaggerated +style of flattery common in those days: "Her eyes outshone those of any +houri, and her features would defy the genius of a Canova to imitate. +Poe delighted in her round, childlike face and plump little figure." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE REAL VIRGINIA. + + +As regards the nature of Poe's affection for his wife, I have often +recalled an expression of Mr. John Mackenzie when, after the poet's +death, a group of his friends were familiarly discussing his character. +One doubted whether Poe had ever really loved his wife; to which Mr. +Mackenzie replied: "I believe that Edgar loved his wife, but not that he +was ever in love with her--which accounts for his constancy." + +I have heard other men say that it was impossible that Poe, at the age +of twenty-seven, could have felt for the child of twelve, with whom he +had played and romped in the familiar association of home life and the +free intercourse of brother and sister, aught of the absorbing and +idealizing passion of love. At most, said they, there could have been +but the tender and protective affection of an elder brother or cousin; +which, as Mr. Mackenzie remarked, was in one of Poe's temperament the +best guarantee for its continuance. + +Apart from the disparity of age, there was no congeniality of mind or +character to draw these two into sympathy. Virginia was not mentally +gifted, and Poe once, after her death, remarked to Mrs. Mackenzie that +she had never read half of his poems. When writing, he would go to Mrs. +Clemm to explain his ideas or to ask her opinion, but never to Virginia. +She was his pet, his plaything, his little "Sissy," whose sunny temper +and affectionate disposition brightened and cheered his home. + +"She was always a child," said a lady who knew her well. "Even in person +smaller and younger looking than her real age, she retained to the last +the shy sweetness and simplicity of childhood." + +It would certainly appear that Poe's child-wife never attained to the +full completeness of the nature and affections of a mature woman. She +was never known to manifest jealousy of the women whom he so notoriously +admired; neither did scandals disturb nor his neglect estrange her. Mrs. +Clemm would sometimes, as in duty bound, take him to task for his +irregularities, but no word of reproach ever escaped Virginia. She +regarded him with the most implicit and childlike trust; and certainly +it seems that Poe, of all men, knew how, by endearing epithets and +eloquent protestations, to win a woman's confidence--as will presently +appear. + +But, naturally, this was not the kind of affection to satisfy one of +Poe's impassioned and poetic nature. He craved a woman's love, and the +sympathetic appreciation of talented women, in whose companionship, as +Mrs. Whitman assures us, he delighted. What he did not find in Virginia +he sought elsewhere. In special he missed in her that understanding and +appreciation of his genius which he found in some other women. She loved +and admired her handsome and fascinating husband, but never appeared to +take pride in his genius or his fame as a poet. + +The accounts of Virginia's beauty, say those who knew her personally, +have been greatly exaggerated by Poe's biographers, who, taking their +impressions from the description of Mr. Gowans already mentioned, have +painted the poet's child-wife in the most glowing colors. The general +idea of her is like that which Mr. Woodbury expresses: "A sylph-like +creature, of such delicate and ethereal beauty that we almost expect to +see it vanish away, like one of Poe's own creations." + +But the real Virginia was neither delicate nor ethereal. She is +described by those who knew her at the age of twenty-two as looking more +like a girl of fifteen than a woman grown, with, notwithstanding her +frail health, a round, full face and figure, full, pouting lips, a +forehead too high and broad for beauty, and bright black eyes and +raven-black hair, contrasting almost startlingly with a white and +colorless complexion. Her manner and expression were soft and shy, with +something childlike and appealing. "She was liked by every one," says +Mr. Graham. A decided _lisp_ added to her child-likeness. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +POE'S PHILADELPHIA HOME. + + +Poe, disappointed in his hopes of success in New York, left that city +and, in the summer of 1839, removed to Philadelphia, then the literary +center of the United States. + +Of his business experiences while here--his successes and +disappointments--his quarrels with certain editors and literary men and +his friendly relations with others, his biographers have informed us. +But it is in his home and private life that we are interested. + +Their financial circumstances at this time must have been deplorable, +for they had to borrow money to enable them to remove to Philadelphia. +Under the circumstances, to take board was impracticable; and it appears +from the reminiscences of certain neighbors, that they for some time +occupied very poor lodgings in an obscure street in the vicinity of a +market. But Poe was much more successful here than in New York, and we +find them in the following spring established in a home of their own in +a locality known as _Spring Garden_, a quiet suburb far from the dust +and noise of the city. + +Some one has recently taken pains to hunt out with infinite patience and +perseverance this house, which the Poes occupied for nearly five years. +It was an ordinary framed Dutch-roofed building, with but three rooms on +the ground floor, and under the eaves little horizontal strips of +windows on a level with the floor, which could scarcely have admitted +light and air. But there was, when they took possession, a bit of grassy +side yard which had once been part of a garden, and a porch over which +grew a straggling rose-bush. This latter Mrs. Clemm's skillful hands +carefully pruned and trained, thus winning for the humble abode the +title still applied to it of "The poet's rose-embowered cottage," to +which some enthusiast has added, "Where Poe and his idolized Virginia +dreamed their divine dream of love." + +To a lady who was at this time a resident of Spring Garden we are +indebted for a glimpse of the Poes in this their quiet and half-rural +abode. + +"Twice a day, on my way to and from school," she said, "I had to pass +their house, and in summer time often saw them. In the mornings Mrs. +Clemm and her daughter would be generally watering the flowers, which +they had in a bed under the windows. They seemed always cheerful and +happy, and I could hear Mrs. Poe's laugh before I turned the corner. +Mrs. Clemm was always busy. I have seen her of mornings clearing the +front yard, washing the windows and the stoop, and even white-washing +the palings. You would notice how clean and orderly everything looked. +She rented out her front room to lodgers, and used the middle room, next +to the kitchen, for their own living room or parlor. They must have +slept under the roof. We never heard that they were poor, and they kept +pretty much to themselves in the two years we lived near them. I don't +think that in that time I saw Mr. Poe half a dozen times. We heard he +was dissipated, but he always appeared like a gentleman, though thin and +sickly looking. His wife was the picture of health. It was after we +moved away that she became an invalid." + +Mrs. Clemm, she added, was a dress and cloak maker; and she thinks that +Mrs. Poe assisted her, as she would sometimes see the latter seated on +the stoop engaged in sewing. "She was pretty, but not noticeably so. She +was too fleshy." + +This account refers to a time when Poe was assistant editor of _The +Gentleman's Magazine_, and the family were enjoying a degree of peace +and prosperity such as they never subsequently knew. + +Poe lost this position, according to Mr. Burton, the editor-in-chief, by +indulgence in dissipated habits. In replying to this charge, he wrote to +a friend, Mr. Snodgrass, that "on the honor of a gentleman" he had not, +since leaving Richmond, tasted anything stronger than cider, and that +upon one occasion only. In this he was borne out by the testimony of +Mrs. Clemm, who asserted, "I know that for years he never tasted even a +glass of wine." Mr. Burton, in making the charge, adds: "I believe that +for eighteen months previous to this time he had not drank." Still, the +severity and, one might say, almost cruelty of his personal criticisms +continued, and nothing could exceed the bitterness of his vituperation +against those by whom, as he conceived, he had been wronged or unjustly +treated. Mr. Burton, in replying, in a forbearing and even kindly +manner, to a very abusive letter from him, advised him to "lay aside +his ill-feeling against his fellow-writers, and to cultivate a more +tolerant and kindly spirit." He even proposed that Poe should resume his +place upon the magazine, but this he proudly declined, and continued to +contribute his brilliant stories to other periodicals. These attracted +the attention of Mr. Graham, who had just established the magazine which +bore his name, and who offered him the editorship, which Poe accepted, +and gave to it his best work. Under his management it prospered +wonderfully, and soon became the leading periodical of the country. + +Still, with a good salary and a brilliant literary reputation, Poe was +dissatisfied. The old restlessness and discontent returned. What he +desired was a magazine of his own, for which he might be at liberty to +write according to his own will. His independent and ambitious spirit +revolted at being limited to certain bounds and controlled by what he +considered the narrow views of editors. We find him as early as June 26, +1841, writing to Mr. Snodgrass: "Notwithstanding Graham's unceasing +civility and real kindness, I am more and more disgusted with my +situation." It ended at length in his resigning the editorship of +_Graham's_ and devoting himself to writing for other publications, a +step which was the beginning of a long period of financial and other +troubles. + +From Col. Du Solle, editor of "_Noah's New York Sunday Times_," who as a +resident of Philadelphia about that time knew Poe well, I gained some +information concerning him. His dissipation, the Colonel said, was too +notorious to be denied; and that for days, and even weeks at a time, he +would be sharing the bachelor life and quarters of his associates, who +were not aware that he was a married man. He would, on some evenings +when sober, come to the rooms occupied by himself and some other writers +for the press and, producing the manuscript of _The Raven_, read to them +the last additions to it, asking their opinion and suggestions. He +seemed to be having difficulty with it, said Col. Du Solle, and to be +very doubtful as to its merits as a poem. The general opinion of these +critics was against it. + +The irregular habits of this summer resulted in the fall (1839) in a +severe illness, the first of the peculiar attacks to which Poe during +the rest of his life was at intervals subject. On recovering, he devoted +himself to the realization of a plan for establishing a magazine of his +own, to be called "_The Penn Magazine_," and wrote to Mr. Snodgrass that +his "prospects were glorious," and that he intended to give it the +reputation of using no article except from the best writers, and that in +criticism it was to be sternly, absolutely just with both friends and +foe, independent of the medium of a publisher's will." In these last +words we read the whole secret of his past dissatisfaction and of his +future aspiration as an editor. + +The _Penn Magazine_ was advertised to appear on January 1, 1841, but +this scheme was balked by a financial depression which at that time +occurred throughout the country. + +But who will not sympathize with Poe and admit that, considering the +disappointments to which he was continually subject, and the constant +humiliation and drawback of the poverty which met him on every hand, +balking each movement and design--together with the ill-health from +which he was now destined to be a constant sufferer--his faults and +failures should not be treated with every possible allowance? If he were +naturally weak, and lacking in the strength and firmness of will to +determinately resist obstacles and discouragements, we see in it the +effect of the heredity, apparent in his sister; and consequently so much +greater is his claim to be leniently judged. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +VIRGINIA's ILLNESS. + + +In all this time of which we have spoken, embracing a period of several +years, Mrs. Clemm and her daughter continued their quiet life at the +cottage, the former doing what she could toward the support and comfort +of the family. But a great affliction was to befall them, in the +dangerous illness of Virginia, now in her twenty-first year, who had the +misfortune, while singing, to break a small blood-vessel. She had +already developed signs of consumption, and from this time forth +remained more or less an invalid, subject to occasional hemorrhages, +but, from all accounts, losing none of her characteristic cheerfulness +and light-heartedness. + +Poe was at this time still engaged in the editorship _of Graham's +Magazine_, and it is now that we begin to hear of him in the character +of "a devoted husband, watching beside the sick bed of an idolized +wife," with which the world is familiar. Certainly the condition of the +helpless creature who so clung to him, and the real danger which +threatened her, was calculated to awaken all the tenderness of his +nature. + +"She could not bear the slightest exposure," wrote Mr. Harris in _Hearth +and Home_, "all needed the utmost care and all those conveniences as to +apartment and surroundings which are so important in the case of an +invalid. And yet the room where she lay for weeks, hardly able to +breathe except as she was fanned, was a little place with the ceiling so +low over the narrow bed that her head almost touched it." + +Mr. Graham tells how he saw Poe "hovering around his wife's couch with +fond fear and tender anxiety, _shuddering visibly_ at her slightest +cough;" and mentions his driving out with them one summer day, and of +the husband's "watchful eyes eagerly bent on the slightest change in +that beloved face." + +Another literary friend of Poe's who visited the family in this time of +trial, Mr. Clarke, tells of his once taking his little daughter with +him, knowing Virginia to be fond of the companionship of children; and +as a proof of the latter's light-heartedness relates how the little girl +was induced to sing a comic song, which Virginia received with "peal +after peal of merry laughter." + +The reminiscences of these kindly gentlemen who, at Poe's own request, +called upon him, regarding the poet and his family, are of the most +flattering character. Poe in his own home was the perfection of graceful +courtesy, and Mrs. Clemm amiably dignified, with a countenance when +speaking of "her children" almost "saint-like in its expression of +patience and motherly devotion." Of Virginia, Mr. Harris says, "She +looked hardly more than fourteen, was soft, fair and girlish." He says, +furthermore, that Mrs. Poe, whom he had not known previous to her +misfortune, had up to that time "possessed a voice of marvelous +sweetness and a harp and piano," which leads an English writer to +represent the poet's wife as "an accomplished musician, with the voice +of a St. Cecilia." This is a specimen of the exaggeration to which +"biographers" sometimes lend themselves, to be taken up by those who +follow and received by the public as fact. + +Poe now again interested himself in getting up a magazine, to which he +gave the name of "_The Stylus_" and there seemed an even more brilliant +prospect than before of its success. He wrote a prospectus, and went to +Washington to obtain subscriptions from President Tyler and the +Cabinet, but was taken ill, the result, it was said, of his meeting with +a convivial acquaintance; and Mrs. Clemm being notified thereof, on his +return to Philadelphia met him at the railroad station and took him home +in safety from further possible temptation. Owing partly to this +indiscretion, _The Stylus_ was again a failure; and the matter being +known throughout the city, did not add to Poe's personal reputation. + +Now, also, just as for the first time, Poe began to be mentioned in the +character of a devoted husband, there arose a widespread scandal +concerning a handsome and wealthy lady whom, it was said, he accompanied +to Saratoga, and who was paying his expenses there. But while the story +appears to have been so far true, it certainly admits of a different +construction from that given by the gossips. Poe was at this time in +wretched health, hardly able to attend to his literary work, and in +consequence the financial condition of himself and family was +deplorable. What more probable than that some kind friend of his, seeing +the absolute necessity to him of a change, should have invited him to be +her guest at the quiet summer resort near Saratoga to which she was +going? It was a more delicate and, for him, a safer way than to have +supplied him with money on his own account. The lady, it was said, had +her own little turn-out, in which they daily drove into Saratoga; and +this exercise, with the mineral waters, the nourishing food and other +advantages of the place, doubtless secured to him the benefits which his +friend desired. + +It is impossible to believe that Poe could so have defied public opinion +as to have voluntarily given cause for a scandal of this nature, for +which the gossip of a public watering place should alone be held +responsible. + +Poe now again applied himself to his writing, but, for some reason, with +but little success. In desperation he hastily finished the manuscript of +_The Raven_ and offered it to Graham, who, not satisfied as to its +merits as a poem, declined it, but expressed a willingness to abide by +the decision of a number of the office employees, clerks and others, +who, being called in, sat solemnly attentive and critical while Poe read +to them the poem. Their decision was against it, but on learning of the +poet's penniless condition and that, as he confessed, he had not money +to buy medicine for his sick wife, they made up a subscription of +fifteen dollars, which was given, not to Poe himself, but to Mrs. Clemm, +"for the use of the sick lady." + +This account, given in a New York paper by one of the office committee +many years after the poet's death, has been denied by a Mr. William +Johnston, who was at that time an office-boy in Graham's employ. He says +that he was present at the reading of the poem, and that no subscription +was taken up. This may have been done subsequently, without his +knowledge. Of Poe, he spoke in the most enthusiastic terms of admiration +and affection, as the kindest and most courteous gentleman that he had +ever met with; prompt and industrious at his work, and having always a +pleasant word and smile for himself. He never, in the course of Poe's +engagement with Graham, saw him otherwise than perfectly sober. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +BACK TO NEW YORK. + + +Poe, discouraged, and with the old restlessness upon him, suddenly +resolved to leave Philadelphia. On the 6th of April, 1844, he started +with Virginia for New York, leaving Mrs. Clemm to settle their affairs +in general. + +Most fortunately for Poe's memory, there remains to us a letter written +by him to Mrs. Clemm, in which he gives her an account of their journey. +It is of so private and confidential a nature, and speaks so frankly and +freely of such small domestic matters as most persons do not care to +have exposed to strangers, that in reading it one feels almost as if +violating the sacredness of domestic privacy. But I here refer to it as +showing Poe's domestic character in a most attractive light: + + "NEW YORK, Sunday morning, April 7, + just after breakfast. + +"MY DEAR MUDDIE: We have just this moment done breakfast, and I now sit +down to write you about everything.... In the first place, we arrived +safe at Walnut street wharf. The driver wanted me to pay him a dollar, +but I wouldn't. Then I had to pay a boy a levy to put the trunks in the +baggage car. In the meantime I took Sis into the Depot Hotel. It was +only a quarter-past six, and we had to wait until seven.... We started +in good spirits, but did not get here until nearly three o'clock. Sissy +coughed none at all. When we got to the wharf it was raining hard. I +left her on board the boat, after putting the trunks in the ladies' +cabin, and set off to buy an umbrella and look for a boarding-house. I +met a man selling umbrellas, and bought one for twenty-five cents. Then +I went up Greenwich street and soon found a boarding-house.... It has +brown-stone steps and a porch with brown pillars. "Morrison" is the name +on the door. I made a bargain in a few minutes and then got a hack and +went for Sis. I was not gone more than half an hour, and she was quite +astonished to see me back so soon. She didn't expect me for an hour. +There were two other ladies on board, so she wasn't very lonely. When we +got to the house we had to wait about half an hour till the room was +ready. The cheapest board that I ever knew, taking into consideration +the central situation and the _living_. I wish Kate (Virginia's pet cat, +'Catalina') could see it. She would faint. Last night for supper we had +the nicest tea you ever drank, strong and hot; wheat bread and rye +bread, cheese, tea-cakes (elegant), a good dish (two dishes) of elegant +ham and two of cold veal, piled up like a mountain and large slices; +three dishes of the cakes, and everything in the greatest profusion. No +fear of our starving here. The land-lady seemed as if she could not +press us enough, and we were at home directly. Her husband is living +with her, a fat, good-natured old soul. There are eight or ten boarders, +two or three of them ladies--two servants. For breakfast we had +excellent flavored coffee, hot and strong, not too clear and no great +deal of cream; veal cutlets, elegant ham-and-eggs and nice bread and +butter. I never sat down to a more plentiful or a nicer breakfast. I +wish you could have seen the eggs, and the great dishes of meat. I ate +the first hearty breakfast I have eaten since we left our little home. +Sis is delighted, and we are both in excellent spirits. She has coughed +hardly any and had no night-sweat. She is now mending my pants, which I +tore against a nail. I went out last night and bought a skein of silk, +a skein of thread, two buttons and a tin pan for the stove. The fire +kept in all night. We have now got four dollars and a half left. +To-morrow I am going to try and borrow three dollars, so that I may have +a fortnight to go upon. I feel in excellent spirits and have not drank a +drop, so that I hope soon to get out of trouble. The very instant that I +scrape together enough money I will send it on. You can't imagine how +much we both miss you. Sissy had a hearty cry last night because you and +Catalina weren't here. We are resolved to get two rooms the first moment +we can. In the meantime it is impossible that we can be more comfortable +or more at home than we are. Be sure to go to the P. O. and have my +letters forwarded. It looks as if it were going to clear up now. As soon +as I can write the article for Lowell, I will send it to you and get you +to get the money from Graham. Give our best love to Catalina." + + (Signature cut out here.) + +In this letter, written as simply and as unreservedly as that of a child +to its mother, we see Poe himself--Poe in his real nature. Not the poet, +with his studied affectation of gloom and sadness; not the critic, +severe in his judgment of all that did not agree with his standard of +literary excellence, and not even the society man, wearing the mask of +cold and proud reserve--but Poe himself; Poe the man, shut in from the +eyes of the world in the privacy of his home life and the companionship +of his own family. Who could recognize in this gentle, kindly and tender +man, with his playful mood and his affectionate consideration for those +whom he loved--even for _Catalina_--the "morbid and enigmatical" being +that the world chooses to imagine him--the gloomy wanderer amid "the +ghoul-haunted regions of Weir," the despairing soul forever brooding +over the memory of his lost Lenore? And how readily he yields himself to +the enjoyment of the moment; how cheerful he is in a situation which +would depress any other man--a stranger in a strange city, just making a +new start in life, with "four dollars and a half" to begin with! Surely +there is something most pathetic in all this as we see it from Poe's own +unconscious pen; with the purchase of the twenty-five-cent umbrella to +shield "Sissy" from the rain, the two buttons and the skein of thread, +and, ever mindful of Sissy's comfort, the tin pan for the stove. The +picture is invaluable as enabling us to understand the true characters +of Poe and his wife and the peculiar relations existing between +them--Virginia, trustful, loving and happy, and Poe, all kindness and +protective tenderness for his little "Sissy." We look upon it as a +life-like photograph, clear and distinct in every line; Poe with the +traces of care and anxiety for the time swept away from his face, and +Virginia--as she is described at this time--a woman grown, but "looking +not more than fourteen," plump and smiling, with her bright, black eyes +and full pouting lips. It is Poe himself who reveals her character as no +other has done, when he says that, though "delighted" with her new +experience and situation, she yet "had a hearty cry," childlike, missing +her mother and her cat. + +It would have been well for them could they have remained at this model +"cheap" boarding-house, where they were so well provided for. But it was +beyond their means, with board for three persons; and so they look about +for "two rooms," and when ready send for Mrs. Clemm and Catalina. Two +rooms for the three; in one of which Mrs. Clemm must perform all her +domestic operations of cooking and laundering, for, as we afterwards +learn, Poe was indebted to his mother-in-law for that "immaculate linen" +in which, howsoever shabby the outer garments, he invariably appeared. +And despite the threadbare suit, he was always, it was said, as well +groomed and scrupulously neat as the most fastidious gentleman could be. + +That in New York Poe did not at first succeed according to his +expectations is rendered evident by the fact that in the following +October, he being ill, Mrs. Clemm applied to N. P. Willis for some +employment for him, who gave him a place in his office as assistant +editor. Willis says that Mrs. Clemm's countenance as she pleaded for her +son-in-law was "beautiful and saintly by reason of an evident complete +giving up of her life to privation and sorrowful tenderness" for those +whom she loved. Of Poe, he says that he was "a quiet, patient, +industrious and most gentlemanly person, commanding the utmost respect +and good feeling of every one." He also says, in speaking of a lecture +which he delivered about this time before the _New York Lyceum_, and +which was attended by several hundred persons: "He becomes a desk; his +beautiful head showing like a statuary embodiment of Discrimination--his +accent like a knife through water." + +It was now--in January, 1845--that _The Raven_ was published in the +_Evening Mirror_, taking the world by storm. Probably no one was more +surprised at its immediate success than was Poe himself, who, as he +afterwards stated to a friend, had never had much opinion of the poem. +He now found himself elevated to the highest rank of American literary +fame, and with this his worldly fortune should also have risen, yet we +find him going on in the same rut as before, writing but little for the +magazine and for that little being poorly paid--too poorly to enable the +family to live in any degree of comfort. From one cheap lodging to +another they removed, with such frequency as to suggest to us the +suspicion that their rent was not always ready when due. + +But after some time the old discontent returned upon Poe. Willis and the +_Mirror_ were too narrow for him; and he sought and was fortunate enough +to obtain a place on the _Broadway Journal_, at that time the leading +journal of the day, and of which he was soon appointed assistant editor. + +With a good salary, the family were now enabled to live in more comfort. +They rented a front and back room on the third story of an old house on +East Broadway, which had once been the residence of a prosperous +merchant, but had long ago been given over to the use of poor but +respectable tenants. It was musty and mouldy, but here they were +elevated somewhat above the noise and dust of the street, and had +sunlight and a good view from the narrow windows. + +It was here that, late one evening, Mr. R. H. Stoddard, whose sarcastic +pen is so well known, called on Poe instead of at his office, to inquire +the fate of a certain "_Ode_" which he had sent to the _Broadway +Journal_ for publication. Necessarily he was received in the front room, +which was Virginia's. The following is his account of the visit: + +"Poe received me with the courtesy habitual with him when he was +himself, and gave me to understand that my _Ode_ would be published in +the next number of his paper.... What did he look like?... He was +dressed in black from head to foot, except, of course, that his linen +was spotlessly white.... The most noticeable things about him were his +high forehead, dark hair and sharp, black eye. His cousin-wife, always +an invalid, was lying on a bed between himself and me. She never +stirred, but her mother came out of the back parlor and was introduced +to me by her courtly nephew." + +Stoddard is here mistaken in his description of Poe's eyes. They were +neither sharp nor black, but large, soft, dreamy eyes, of a fine +steel-gray, clear as crystal, and with a jet-black pupil, which would in +certain lights expand until the eyes appeared to be all black. Stoddard +continues: + +"I saw Poe once again, and for the last time. It was a rainy afternoon, +such as we have in our November, and he was standing under an awning +waiting for the shower to pass over. My conviction was that I ought to +offer him my umbrella and go home with him, but I left him standing +there, and there I see him still, and shall always, poor and penniless, +but proud, reliant, dominant. May the gods forgive me! I never can +forgive myself." + +In April, five months after this time, Poe's old habits unfortunately +returned upon him. Mr. Lowell one day, in passing through New York, +called to see him, when Mrs. Clemm excused his "strange actions" by +frankly stating that "Edgar was not himself that day." She afterward +made the same statement to Mr. Briggs, whose assistant editor Poe was, +and who writes, June, 1845, to Lowell: "I believe he had not drank +anything for more than eighteen months until the last three months, and +concludes that he would have to dispense with his services. The matter +was settled, however, by Poe's proposing to buy the _Broadway Journal_, +hoping to make of it in a measure what he had desired for the _Stylus_. +The prospect seemed to promise fair enough for its success, and Mr. +Greeley and Mr. Griswold each generously contributed a sum of fifty +dollars; but the plan finally failed for want of sufficient funds, +George Poe, to whom Edgar applied, remembering his former unpaid loan, +making no response to his appeal. This was another great disappointment +to Poe, just as on former occasions his hopes seemed on the point of +realization. Thus, in whatsoever direction he turned, grim poverty faced +and frowned him down. Surely, it was enough to discourage him; and yet +to the end of his life he eagerly followed this illusive hope. + +Mrs. Clemm, too, who had in this time been trying to support the family +by keeping a boarding-house, also met with her disappointments. For some +reason her boarders never remained long with her, and the family, who +had removed to obscure lodgings on Amity street, now found themselves in +one of their frequent seasons of poverty and distress. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +POE AND MRS. OSGOOD. + + +It was a fortunate day when Mrs. Clemm, hunting about the suburbs of the +great city for a cheap place of abode, discovered the little cottage at +Fordham, a country railroad station some miles from New York. + +It was but an humble place at best, an old cottage of four rooms, in +ill-repair; but the rent was low, the situation--on the summit of a +rocky knoll--pleasant, affording fine views of the Harlem river; and +there was pure air, plenty of outdoor space, and that famous cherry +tree, now, in the month of May, in full and fragrant bloom. A few +repairs were made, and Mrs. Clemm's vigorous hands, with the assistance +of soap and water and whitewash, soon transformed the neglected abode +into a miracle of neatness and order. Checked matting hid the worn +parlor floor, and the cheap furniture which they had brought with them +looked better here than ever it had done in the cramped and stuffy +rooms of the city. Outside a neglected rose-bush was trained against the +wall, supplying Virginia with roses in its season. Her room was above +the parlor, at the head of a narrow staircase; a low-ceiled apartment, +with sloping walls and small, square windows; and it was here at a desk +or table near his wife's sick bed that most of Poe's writing was now +done. + +In the preceding winter Virginia's health had apparently greatly +improved, and her illness was not of so serious a nature as to confine +her entirely to the house or to interfere with the social or literary +engagements of her husband, who was, as poet, lecturer, editor and +critic, at the zenith of his fame. In this time he had attended the +_soirees_ of Miss Lynch and others of the literary class, once or twice +accompanied by his wife. At these he made the acquaintance of Mrs. +Hewitt, Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith and Mrs. E. F. Ellet, with others of +the "starry sisterhood of poetesses," as they were called by some +poetaster of the day, with each of whom he in succession formed one of +the sentimental platonic friendships to which he was given. All these, +however, were destined to yield to the superior attractions of a sister +poetess, Mrs. Frances Sergeant Osgood, wife of the artist of that name. + +Mrs. Osgood, at this time about thirty-years of age, is described by R. +H. Stoddard as "A paragon--not only loved by men, but liked by women as +well." Attractive in person, bright, witty and sweet-natured, she won +even the splenatic Thomas Dunn English and the stoical Greeley, whose +approval of her was as frankly expressed as was his denunciation of the +"ugliness, self-conceit and disagreeableness" of her friend, the +transcendentalist, Margaret Fuller. + +Poe, who had written a very flattering notice of Mrs. Osgood's poems--in +return for which she addressed him some lines in the character of +_Israefel_--obtained an introduction and visited her frequently. Also, +at his request, she called upon his wife, and friendly relations were +soon established between them. To her, after Poe's death, we are +indebted for a characteristic picture of the poet and his wife in their +home in Amity street; and which, though almost too well known for +repetition, I will here give as a specimen of his home life: + +"It was in his own simple yet poetical home that the character of Edgar +Poe appeared to me in its most beautiful light. Playful, affectionate, +witty, alternately docile and wayward as a petted child, for his young, +gentle and idolized wife and for all who came, he had, even in the midst +of the most harassing literary duties, a kind word, a pleasant smile, a +graceful and courteous attention. At his desk, beneath the romantic +picture of his loved and lost Lenore'[6] patient, assiduous, +uncomplaining, tracing in an exquisitely clear chirography and with +almost superhuman swiftness the lightning thoughts, the rare and radiant +fancies as they flowed through his wonderful brain. For hours I have +listened entranced to his strains of almost celestial eloquence. + + [6] A pencil sketch of Mrs. Stanard by Poe himself. + +"I recollect one morning toward the close of his residence in this city, +when he seemed unusually gay and light-hearted, Virginia, his sweet +wife, had written me a pressing invitation to come to them, and I, who +never could resist her affectionate summons, and who enjoyed his society +far more in his own home than elsewhere, hastened to Amity street. I +found him just completing his series of papers called "_The Literati of +New York_." 'Now,' said he, displaying in laughing triumph several +little rolls of narrow paper (he always wrote thus for the press), 'I am +going to show you by the difference of length in these the different +degrees of estimation in which I hold all you literary people. In each +of these one of you is rolled up and fully discussed. Come, Virginia, +and help me.' And one by one they unfolded them. At last they came to +one which seemed interminable. Virginia laughingly ran to one corner of +the room with one end and her husband went to the opposite with the +other. 'And whose linked sweetness long drawn out is that?' said I. +'Hear her,' he cried; 'just as if her little vain heart didn't tell her +it's herself.'" + +From this account--the exaggerated phrases of which will be noted--it +would appear that a great degree of intimacy existed between Poe and his +fair visitor, when he could in his own home--the two tiny rooms in Amity +street--write "hour after hour" undisturbed by her presence. Virginia +was delighted with her new friend, but Mrs. Clemm, noting these frequent +and lengthy visits, regarded her with a suspicious eye. Too well she +knew of the platonic friendships of her Eddie; but there appeared +something in this affair beyond what was usual, and, in fact, gossip +had already begun to link together their names. Mrs. Osgood herself +seems to have relied upon Mrs. Poe's frequent invitations and fondness +for her society as a shield against meddlesome tongues, but in vain--for +not only were the jealous and vigilant eyes of Poe's mother-in-law bent +upon her, but those of the "starry sisterhood" as well. There was a +flutter and a chatter in the literary dovecote, and at length one of the +starry ones--Mrs. Ellet--concluded it to be her bounden duty to inquire +into the matter. Calling at Fordham one day, in Poe's absence, she and +Mrs. Clemm, who had probably never before met, engaged in a confidential +discussion, in the course of which the irate mother-in-law showed the +visitor a letter from Mrs. Osgood to Poe (one wonders how she got +possession of that letter), the contents of which were so opposed to all +the latter's ideas of propriety that it was clear that something would +have to be done. Eventually two of the starry ones--of whom one was +Margaret Fuller--waited upon Mrs. Osgood, whom they advised to +commission them to demand of Poe the return of her letters, which, +strangely enough, she did, though probably only as a conciliatory +measure. Poe, in his exasperation at this unwarrantable intermeddling, +remarked significantly that "Mrs. Ellet had better come and look after +her own letters;" upon which she sent to demand them. But he meantime +had cut her acquaintance by leaving them at her own door without either +written word or message; very much, we may imagine, as Dean Swift strode +into Vanessa's presence and threw at her feet her letter to Stella. + +This was either in May or early June, shortly after their removal to +Fordham. Poe had no idea of allowing this episode to interfere with his +visits to Mrs. Osgood, and the gossip continued, until, to avoid further +annoyance, she left New York and went to Albany on a visit to her +brother-in-law, Dr. Harrington. + +On the 12th of June we find Poe writing an affectionate note to his +wife, explaining why he stays away from her that night, and concluding +with: + +"Sleep well, and God grant you a peaceful summer with your devoted + + "EDGAR." + +A few days after this, toward the end of June, he was in Albany, making +passionate love to Mrs. Osgood. In dismay she left that city and went to +Boston, whither he followed her; and again to Lowell and Providence, +giving rise to a widespread scandal, which caused the lady infinite +trouble and distress. But Mrs. Osgood, brilliant, talented and virtuous, +was also kind-hearted to a fault, and where her feelings and sympathies +were appealed to, amiably weak. Instead of indignantly and determinately +rejecting Poe's impassioned love-making, she says she pitied him, argued +with him, appealed to his reason and better feelings, and, in special, +reminded him of his sick wife, who lay dying at home and longing for his +presence. Finally, she returned to Albany; and Poe, ill at a hotel, +wrote urgently to Mrs. Clemm for money to pay his board bill and take +him back to Fordham. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +AT FORDHAM. + + +It was at this time, in the summer of 1845, that Poe's sister, Miss +Rosalie Poe, went on a visit to her brother, whom she had not seen in +ten years. On her return home, and for years thereafter, she was +accustomed to speak of this visit; and it was a curious picture which +she gave of the life of the poet and his family in the humble little +cottage on Fordham Hill. + +Poe was away when she arrived--presumably in his insane pursuit of Mrs. +Osgood. Miss Poe told of "Aunt Clemm's" distress and anxiety on his +account, and of how she "scraped together every penny" and borrowed +money from herself to send to Edgar, who, she said, had been taken ill +while on a business trip. There were no provisions in the house +scarcely, and she herself, both then and at various other times, would +purchase supplies from the market and grocers' wagons which passed; for +there were no stores at the little country station of Fordham. + +Miss Poe told of her brother's arrival at home, and of how she overheard +Mrs. Clemm administering to him a severe "scolding." He was so ill that +he had to be put to bed by Mrs. Clemm, who sat up with him all night +while he "talked out of his head" and begged for morphine. After some +days he was better, and walked about the house and sat under the pine +trees crowning a rocky knoll within calling distance of the house--ever +a constant and favorite retreat of his, affording fine views of the +river and neighboring country. + +One day, still weak and ill, he sat at his desk and looked over his +papers. Mrs. Clemm then took his place, and wrote at his dictation. Aunt +Clemm, said Rosalie, could exactly imitate Edgar's writing. On the +following day she filled her satchel with some of these papers and went +to the city, whence she returned late in the evening, quite after dark, +with a hamper of provisions and medicines to Virginia's great delight, +who had feared some mishap to her mother and cried accordingly. Miss Poe +believed that this hamper was a present from some one, but Aunt Clemm +was very reserved toward her in regard to her affairs. She knew, she +said, that Mrs. Clemm had never liked her, but Edgar and Virginia were +kind. + +From this time Poe wrote industriously, seldom going to town, but +sending his mother-in-law instead. Several times Mrs. Clemm gave her +niece some "copying" to do, but this was not to her a very gratifying +task, and when, on her return home, she was asked what it was about, had +not the least idea! She always insisted that _Anabel Lee_ was written at +this time, as she repeatedly heard Edgar read it to Mrs. Clemm and also +to himself, and recognized it when it was published two years afterward. +A curious picture was that which she gave of the poet's reading his +manuscript to his mother-in-law while the latter sat beside his desk +inking the worn seams of his and her own garments; or of Poe, seated on +a "settle" outside the kitchen door, also reading to her some of his +"rare and radiant fancies," while she presided over the family laundry. +He seems to have been constantly appealing to her sympathy with his +writing, but never to Virginia. + +According to Miss Poe, Mrs. Clemm was at this time dependent for her own +earnings on her sewing and fancy knitting, with pretty knick-knacks, +which she disposed of at a certain "notion store." Virginia, too, when +well enough, liked this kind of work. They had few visitors, for Mrs. +Clemm, too busy for gossip, made a point of discouraging calls from the +neighbors, with the exception of two or three families of better class +than most of those surrounding them. These latter were a half-rural +people, keeping dairies and cultivating market gardens. + +Miss Poe spoke of Virginia's cheerfulness. Nothing ever disturbed her. +"She was always laughing." She liked to have children about her; and +they came every day, bringing their dolls and playthings, with little +offerings of fruit and flowers from their home gardens. She taught them +to cut out and make their dolls' dresses, and would sometimes be very +merry with them. She did not appear to suffer, said Miss Poe--did not +lose flesh, and had always a hearty appetite, eating what the others +ate, though very fond of nice things, especially candy. Her mother and +Edgar petted her like a baby. "Aunt Clemm and Virginia," declared Miss +Poe with conviction, "cared for nobody but themselves and Edgar." +Virginia was at this time twenty-four years of age. + +It was not to be wondered at that, as Miss Poe said, her brother, +immediately after his return, remained at home, seldom going into town, +but sending his mother to dispose of his manuscripts. It has been said +that when he did make his appearance in the city and among his usual +business haunts, he found himself everywhere coldly received, in +consequence of the notorious episode with Mrs. Osgood, for whom it was +known he had left his sick wife. His literary enemies, of whom he had +made many by his keen criticisms, made the most of this charge against +him, in addition to that of dissipated habits, to which he now gave +himself up with a recklessness which he had never before shown. + +Poe afterward attempted to defend himself against this reproach and the +whole scandal of this season by attributing its excesses to his grief +and anxiety on account of his wife, whom, he says, he "loved as man +never loved before," a phrase the extravagance of which betrays its +insincerity. He describes how through the years of her illness he "loved +her more and more dearly and clung to her with the most desperate +pertinacity, until he became insane, with intervals of horrible +sanity.... During these fits of absolute unconsciousness I drank." And +thus he endeavors to explain away his pursuit of Mrs. Osgood! + +It cannot but be noted that in all Poe's accounts of himself, and +especially of his feelings, is a palpable affectation and exaggeration, +with an extravagance of expression bordering on the tragic and +melo-dramatic; a style which is exemplified in some of his writings, and +may be equally imaginative in both cases. + +Mrs. Osgood also, in her "_Reminiscences_," after Poe's death, sought to +clear both him and herself from the scandal of that summer by writing of +the affection and confidence existing between himself and his wife--"his +idolized Virginia"--as she saw them in their home, and declares her +belief that his wife was the only woman whom he had ever really loved. +In this we do not feel disposed to question her sincerity. Touching the +slander against herself, she wrote to a friend: + +"You have proof in Mrs. Poe's letters to me and Poe's to Mrs. Ellet, +either of which would fully establish my innocence.... Neither of them, +as you know, were persons likely to take much trouble to prove a woman's +innocence, and it was only because she felt that I had been cruelly +wronged by _her mother_ and Mrs. Ellet that she impulsively rendered me +this justice." + +Of course, the letter of Mrs. Poe here referred to was written at the +suggestion of her husband, but it is curious to observe how frankly and +_naively_ Mrs. Osgood--not now writing for the public--expresses her +real opinion of Poe and his wife. + +Mrs. Osgood goes on to say: "Oh, it is too cruel that I, the only one of +all those women who did _not_ seek his acquaintance, should be sought +out after his death as the only victim to suffer from the slanders of +his mother." + +From this it would appear that _after Poe's death_ the old scandal was +revived, and by Mrs. Clemm herself. About this time she was having +frequent interviews with Dr. Griswold in regard to Poe's papers, which +she had handed over to him for use in the _Memoirs_ upon which he was +engaged. Naturally, Mrs. Clemm, who seems never to have forgiven Mrs. +Osgood for the troubles of that unfortunate first summer at Fordham, +would express herself freely to Griswold, who was a warm friend and +admirer of Mrs. Osgood. Was it on account of such utterances that +Griswold wrote to Mrs. Whitman: + +"Be very careful what you say to Mrs. Clemm. She is not your friend or +anybody's friend, and has no element of goodness or kindness in her +nature, but whose heart is full of wickedness and malice." + +Mrs. Osgood was a lovely and estimable woman, and if she did allow her +admiration of Poe and her warm-hearted sympathy with one of a kindred +poetic nature to impulsively carry her beyond the bounds of a strictly +platonic friendship, it was in all innocence on her part, and did not +lose her the good opinion of those who knew her. The blame was all for +Poe and the feeling against him intense. + +Undoubtedly the impression which she made on Poe was something beyond +what he ordinarily experienced toward women. In my own acquaintance with +him he several times spoke of her, and always with a sort of grave and +reverential tenderness--as one may speak of the dead, or as he might +have spoken of the lost friend of his boyhood, Mrs. Stanard. Although, +as Mrs. Osgood says, Poe and herself never met in the few remaining +years of their lives, yet several of his poems, without any real attempt +at disguise, express his remembrance of her. It was to her that the +lines "_To F----_" were addressed, after their parting: + + "Beloved, amid the earnest woes + That crowd around my earthly path-- + (Dear path, alas! where grows + Not e'en one thornless rose)-- + My soul at last a solace hath + In dreams of thee--and therein knows + An Eden of calm repose. + + "And thus thy memory is to me + Like some enchanted far-off isle + In some tumultuous sea; + Some ocean throbbing far and free + With storms--but where meanwhile + Serenest skies continually + Just o'er that one bright island smile." + +In "_A Dream_" he thus again alludes to her: + + "That holy dream, that holy dream, + When all the world was chiding, + Hath cheered me like a lovely beam + A lonely spirit guiding. + + "What though that light through storm and night + Still trembles from afar? + What could there be more purely bright + Than truth's day-star?" + +About the same time he wrote the lines, "_To My Mother_," the only one +of his poems in which he alluded to his wife, concluding with the +couplet: + + "By that infinitude which made my wife + Dearer unto my soul than its own life." + +It will be observed that the sentimental things, in both prose and +verse, which Poe has written concerning his love for his wife--and they +are but two or three at most--were written immediately after his affair +with Mrs. Osgood and the universal charge against him that he had +deserted a dying wife for her sake. It is impossible that at this remote +period of time it could be understood how seriously--from all +contemporaneous accounts--Poe's reputation was affected by this +unfortunate episode; especially at the North, where it was best known. + +When Miss Poe left Fordham, in July, she carried with her a letter from +Mrs. Clemm to Mr. John Mackenzie, soliciting pecuniary aid for Edgar on +plea of his wretched health. Mr. Mackenzie was at this time married and +with a family of his own, but he never lost his interest in his old +friend or ceased to assist him so far as was in his power. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE SHADOW AT THE DOOR. + + +During the winter and succeeding summer matters did not improve at the +cottage. Poe, with health completely shattered and spirits horribly +depressed, remained at home with his sick wife for the most part, only +occasionally arousing himself to write. A lady, who was at this time a +little girl and one of Virginia's visitors, afterward told a reporter of +how she would sometimes see Mr. Poe writing at his table in the upstairs +room, and how as each sheet was finished he would paste it on to the +last one, until it was long enough to reach across the floor. Then she +would venture to roll it up for him in a neat cylinder, taking care not +to disturb him. Sometimes, when he was not employed, he would tell the +children blood-curdling stories of ghouls and goblins, when his eyes +would light up in a wonderful manner. "I lost my heart to those +beautiful eyes," she said. + +Mrs. Clemm continued to make the rounds of the editors' offices with +these manuscripts, but met with little success. Poe's mind was not at +its brightest. He was not in a writing mood; and, as has been since +observed, he was reduced to the expedient of rewriting and altering +certain smaller articles and offering them to the more obscure papers +and journals. Mrs. Clemm, in the midst of her manifold duties, could do +but little with her sewing in the way of support for the family. So her +furniture went, piece by piece, the furniture which Miss Poe had so +often described--the parlor box-lounge upon which she slept; the +dining-table, which stood in the midst of the room, ready for the meal +which was so seldom placed upon it; the large engraving above the +mantelpiece, and the collection of sea-shells--all disappeared, until +the once cosey little apartment presented a bare and poverty-stricken +appearance. Mrs. Gove, one of the literary women of the day, described +it as being furnished with only a checked matting, a small corner-stand, +a hanging-shelf of books and four chairs. + +Years afterward, when strangers would visit the cottage at Fordham, they +would hear from the neighbors pathetic accounts of the family during +this summer of 1846. + +"We knew that they were poor," said one, "but they tried to keep it to +themselves. Many a time I have wanted to send them things from my +garden, but was afraid to do so." + +One old dame said to a New York reporter: "I've known when they were out +of provisions, for then Mrs. Clemm, who always seemed cheerful, would +come out with a basket and a shining case-knife and go 'round digging +greens (dandelions). Once I said to her, says I, 'Greens may be took too +frequent.' 'Oh, no,' says she, smiling, 'they cool the blood, and Eddie +likes them.'" + +Thus poor Mrs. Clemm, with her assumed cheerfulness, would seek to +produce the impression that their dinner of wild herbs was a matter of +choice instead of necessity. + +Another neighbor said to a visitor: "I never saw checked matting last as +theirs did. There was nothing upstairs but an old cot in a little +hall-room or closet, where Mrs. Clemm slept, and an old table and chair +and bed in the next room, where Mr. Poe wrote. But you could eat your +dinner off the two floors." + +The testimony of still another was: "In the kitchen she had only a +little stove, a pine table and a chair; but the floor was as white as +the table, and the tins as bright as silver. I don't think that she had +more than a dozen pieces of crockery, all on a little shelf in the +kitchen. The only meat I've ever known them to have was a five-cent bone +for soup or a few butcher's trimmings for a stew; but it seemed Mrs. +Clemm could make a little of anything go twice as far as other people +could." + +In the early part of this summer Virginia's health appeared better than +usual. A neighbor who lived nearest them said to a visitor to Poe's old +home: "In fine weather that summer--the summer before she died--we could +sometimes see her sitting at her front door, wrapped up, with her +husband or mother beside her, Mr. Poe reading a paper and Mrs. Clemm +knitting. Most times there would be one or two children along, and Mr. +Poe would play ball with them while his wife laughingly looked on. She +looked like a child herself, hardly taller than they were. Well--no; she +wasn't exactly pretty. She looked _too spooky_, with her white face and +big, black eyes; but she was interesting looking, and we felt sorry for +her--and for them all, for that matter. You could see they had known +better days." + +As the summer wore on, and the first autumn breezes shook the leaves +from the cherry tree, a change came over Virginia. Mrs. Clemm wrote to +Miss Poe that unless she could go to her relations at the South--a thing +not to be thought of--she would not live through the winter. Eddie's +health was completely broken, and unless she herself remained strong +enough to take care of them both, all would have to go to the +poor-house. These letters were generally indirect appeals for pecuniary +aid. Through similar pathetic accounts given by Mrs. Clemm to editors to +whom she offered manuscripts, the condition of the poet and his family +became known and was commented upon by the public papers, to Poe's great +indignation, who took occasion in an anonymous communication to deny its +truth. But that it was no time for pride to stand in the way of dire +necessity is evident from the account of Mrs. Gove on her first visit to +the cottage late in that fall. One can hardly realize a condition of +things such as she described--the bare and fireless room, the bed with +its thin, white covering and the military cloak--a relic of the West +Point days--spread over it, and the sick woman, "whose only means of +warmth was as her husband held her hands and her mother her feet, while +she herself hugged a large tortoise-shell cat to her bosom." And the +thin, haggard man, suffering like his wife from cold and the lack of +nourishing food, but who yet received his visitor with such courtly +elegance of manner, was the author of _The Raven_, with which the world +was even then being thrilled! + +It was a blessed day for the distressed family that on which, about the +last of October, Mrs. Shew came to the now bleak little cottage on the +hill and, like a ministering angel, devoted herself to caring for and +comforting them--not only as regarded their material wants but with kind +and encouraging words as well. With a sufficient competence and the +medical education given her by her father, she was enabled thus to +devote herself to the service of those who could not afford the +attendance of a regular physician. + +Not only did she supply them with medicine, but with careful nursing and +proper food prepared by her own hands in Mrs. Clemm's little kitchen. +Mrs. Gove collected sixty dollars, with which their other wants were +supplied; so that during the months of November and December the family +were more comfortably situated than was usual with them. But meantime +Virginia rapidly declined, until it became evident that her frail life +was very near its close. + +On the day before her death Poe, in mortal dread of that awful _shadow_ +which had been so long in its approach and now stood upon their +threshold, wrote urgently to Mrs. Shew to come and pass the night with +them. "My poor Virginia still lives, though failing fast." She came, in +time to take leave of the dying wife. + +One of Poe's biographers[7] has stated that on the day previous to Mrs. +Poe's death she requested Mrs. Shew to read two letters from the second +Mrs. Allen exonerating Poe from having ever caused a difficulty in her +house. To those who knew Mrs. Allan and had heard from herself and her +family the frequent accounts of that occurrence--accounts never +retracted by her to her dying day--this statement is not worth a +moment's consideration. The only question is, Who wrote those letters, +and how is it that they were never made public or again heard of? And +who could have imposed upon the dying woman a task such as this, instead +of themselves taking the responsibility? + + [7] Ingraham. + +From this incident, if the account be true, it would appear that +Virginia was gentle, obedient and submissive to the last. On the day +following--January 3, 1847--her innocent, childlike spirit passed away +from earth. + +She was in the twenty-sixth year of her age. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +MRS. SHEW. + + +With the death of his wife a great horror and gloom fell upon Poe. The +blow which he had for years dreaded had at length fallen. That which he +had feared and loathed above all things--the monster, Death--had entered +his home and made it desolate. As a poet, he could delight in writing +about the death of the young and lovely, but from the dread reality he +shrank with an almost superstitious horror and loathing. It was said, on +Mrs. Clemm's authority, that he refused to look upon the face of his +dead wife. He desired to have no remembrance of the features touched by +the transforming fingers of death. + +Mrs. Shew still kindly ministered to him, endeavoring also to arouse him +from his gloom and encourage him to renewed effort. But it seemed at +first useless. He had no hope or cheering beyond the grave, and it was +at this time that he might appropriately have written: + + "A voice from out of the future cries + 'On! on!' but o'er the past-- + Dim gulf--my spirit hovering lies, + Mute, motionless, aghast." + +Mrs. Shew, a thoroughly practical woman of sound, good sense and +judgment, and with so little of the aesthetic that she confessed to Poe +that she had never read his poems, nevertheless took a friendly interest +in him and felt for him in his loneliness. To afford him the benefit of +a change, she took him as her patient to her own home and commissioned +him to furnish her dining-room and library according to his own taste. +She also encouraged him to write, placing pen and paper before him and +bidding him to try; and in this way, it is claimed by one account, "_The +Bells_" came to be written, or at least begun. Under the influence of +cheerful society, comfort and good cheer, Poe's health and spirits +improved, and on his return home he again commenced writing. Soon, +however, a relapse occurred, and his kind friend and physician found it +necessary to resume her visits to Fordham. For all this Poe was +grateful, but, unfortunately, he was more; and at length on a certain +day he so far betrayed his feelings that Mrs. Shew then and there +informed him that her visits to him must cease. On the day following she +wrote a farewell letter, in which she gave him advice and directions in +regard to his health, warning him of its precarious state, and of the +necessity of his abandoning the habits which were making a wreck of him +mentally and physically. She advised him as the only thing that could +save him to marry some good woman possessed of sufficient means to +support him in comfort, and who would love him well enough to spare him +the necessity of mental overwork, for which he was not now fitted. + +It may be here remarked that of all the women that we know of to whom +Poe offered his platonic devotion, Mrs. Shew was the only one by whom it +was promptly and decidedly rejected. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +QUIET LIFE AT FORDHAM. + + +The beginning of this year was a dreary time at the cottage at Fordham. +The resources of the family, which had been generously contributed to, +mostly by strangers and anonymously, were now exhausted, and Poe, still +ill and in wretched spirits, was not capable of the exertion necessary +to replenish them. In the preceding summer he had by a severe criticism +of Thomas Dunn English aroused the ire of that gentleman, who revenged +himself in an article for which Poe brought a suit of libel, recovering +damages to the amount of two hundred and fifty dollars--a welcome boon +in a time of need. He remained at home, applying himself to his writing, +and, mindful of Mrs. Shew's advice, abstained from stimulants and took +regular exercise on the country roads about Fordham. His frequent +companion in these walks was a priest of St. John's College, near +Fordham, who, being an educated and intellectual man, must have proven +a most congenial and welcome acquaintance. This priest, who seems to +have known Poe well, declares that he "made a superhuman struggle +against starvation," and speaks of him as a gentle and amiable man, +easily influenced by a kind word or act. + +Most of his time, said Mrs. Clemm, was passed out of doors. He did not +like the loneliness of the house, and would not remain alone in the room +in which Virginia had died. When he chose to write at night, as was +sometimes the case, and was particularly absorbed in his subject, he +would have his devoted mother-in-law sit beside him, "dozing in her +chair" and at intervals supplying him with hot coffee, or Catalina, his +wife's old pet, perched upon his knee or shoulder, cheering him with her +gentle purring. Virginia's death seemed to have drawn these three more +closely together. They could thenceforth often be seen walking up and +down the garden-walk, Poe and his mother, arm-in-arm, or with their arms +about each other's waists, and Catalina staidly keeping pace with them, +rubbing and purring. Mrs. Clemm told Stoddard how, when Poe was about +this time writing "_Eureka_," he would walk at night up and down the +veranda explaining his views and dragging her along with him, "until her +teeth chattered and she was nearly frozen." It is to be feared that he +was not always sufficiently considerate of his indulgent mother-in-law. + +Poe soon experienced the benefits of his restful and temperate life. +Health and spirits improved, and he began to take an interest in the +everyday things about him. As spring advanced, he and Mrs. Clemm laid +out some flower beds in the front garden and planted them with flowers +and vines given by the neighbors, until when in May the cherry tree +again blossomed the little abode assumed quite an attractive appearance. +Upon an old "settle" left by a former tenant, and which Mrs. Clemm's +skillful hands had mended and scrubbed and stained into respectability +and placed beneath the cherry tree as a garden-seat, Poe might now often +be seen reclining; gazing up into the branches, where birds and bees +flitted in and out, or talking and whistling to his own pets, a parrot +and bobolink, whose cages hung in the branches. A passer-by was +impressed by the picture presented quite early one summer morning of the +poet and his mother standing together on the green turf, smilingly +looking up and talking to these pets. Here, on the convenient _settle_, +on returning from one of his long sunrise rambles, he would rest until +summoned by his mother to his frugal breakfast. + +I have at various times heard persons remark that in reading the life of +a distinguished man they have desired to know some of the lesser details +of his daily life--as, how did he dress? what did he eat? We have all +been interested in learning that General Washington liked corn bread and +fried bacon for breakfast; that Sir Walter Scott was fond of "oaten +grills with milk," and that Wordsworth's favorite lunch was bread and +raisins. As regards Poe, we must go back to his sister's account of what +his morning meal consisted of while she was at Fordham--"a pretzel and +two cups of strong coffee;" or, when there was no pretzel, the crusty +part of a loaf with a bit of salt herring as a relish. Poe had the +reputation of being a very moderate eater and of preferring simple +viands, even at the luxurious tables of his friends. He was fond of +fruit, and his sister said of buttermilk and curds, which they obtained +from their rural neighbors. But we recall his enjoyment of the "elegant" +tea-cakes at the Morrisons on Greenwich street and the fried eggs for +breakfast. + +A lady who as a little girl knew Poe and his mother at this time said to +a correspondent of the _New York Commercial Advertiser_: "We lived so +near them that we saw them every day. They lived miserably, and in +abject poverty. He was naturally improvident, and but for the neighbors +they must have starved. My mother sent many a thing from her storeroom +to their table. He was not a man who drank in the common acceptation of +the term, but those were days when wine ran like water, and not to serve +it would seem niggardly. I remember that one day 'Muddie,' as Mr. Poe +called Mrs. Clemm, came to our house and asked us not to offer wine to +Edgar, as his head was weak, but that he did not like to refuse it." + +As an illustration of the fascination which Poe possessed, even for +strangers, is the following letter from Mr. John DeGalliford, of +Chattanooga, Tenn., to this same New York correspondent: + +"I am drawn to you by your defense of Edgar A. Poe. I love him, though I +met him but once. It was in September, 1845. I was sitting on a pile +watching our bark that was moored to the pile. A quiet, neatly-dressed +gentleman came up to me and asked me numberless questions in regard to +our seafaring life. He was so lovable in his conversation that I never +forgot him, and I prize the memory of those few hours of his sweet talk +with me and hold it sacred to his memory. He could not have been a +drinking man, for his looks did not show it. On my telling that I was a +runaway boy from Kentucky, he took some scraps of paper from his pocket +and took notes, saying that he could make a nice story of what I had +told him. I took him aboard the bark and showed him a pet monkey I had +brought from Natal. He ate a piece of biscuit and drank some cold +coffee, and said he would come again and see me and get acquainted with +my captain. This was years ago, and I am now an old man, seventy-three +years old, but I can remember, word for word, all that passed." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +WITH OLD FRIENDS. + + +It must be admitted that Poe, after his affair with Mrs. Osgood and the +severe illness which followed, was never again what he had been. With +health and spirits impaired, his intellect had in a great measure lost +its brilliant creative power--its inspirations, as we may call it--and +thenceforth his writings were no longer the spontaneous and +irrepressible impulse of genius, but the product of mental effort and +labor. In special had his poetic talent in a measure deserted him, as is +evident in his latest poems, with one or two exceptions. Recognizing +this condition--and with what a pang we may imagine--he recalled Mrs. +Shew's advice in regard to a second marriage, and, admitting its wisdom, +began to look about for a suitable matrimonial partner. Finally his +choice fell upon Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman, of Providence, Rhode Island, +one of the "poetesses" of the time, and the most brilliant of them all. + +A consideration which doubtless chiefly influenced him in this choice +was that Mrs. Whitman, being a lady of literary taste and independent +means, would be likely to take an interest in the _Stylus_, the hope of +establishing which he had never abandoned, and would assist him in +carrying out his plans in regard to it. + +Of Mrs. Whitman, at this time about forty-five years of age, I have the +following account from a lady--Mrs. F. H. Kellogg--whose mother was an +intimate friend and near neighbor of hers in Providence: + +"She was considered very eccentric--impulsive and regardless of +conventionalities. She dressed always in white, and on the coldest +winter evenings, with snow on the ground, would cross over to our house +in thin slippers and with nothing on her head but a thin, gauzy, white +scarf. She probably thought this aesthetic--and perhaps it was. There was +one thing which I must not omit to mention, because it was a part of +herself--_ether_. The scent accompanied her everywhere. It was said she +could not write except under its influence, but of this I do not know." + +As an illustration of her impulsive ways, Mrs. Kellogg says: + +"I was one evening, when a little girl, sitting on the front steps when +she and her sister, Miss Powers, crossed over to our house. They went +into the parlor, and I heard Mrs. Whitman ask my sister to sing for her +_The Mocking Bird_. She appreciated my sister's beautiful singing, but +on this occasion, while she was in the very midst of '_Listen to the +Mocking Bird_,' suddenly a cloud of white rushed past me like a tornado, +and I heard Mrs. Whitman's voice exclaiming excitedly, '_I have it! I +have it!_' Of course, we were all astonished and could not understand it +at all, until Miss Powers afterward explained it to us. It seems that +the beautiful music and singing had excited in her some poetic thought +or idea; and, regardless or forgetful of conventionalities, she had +impulsively rushed home to put it in writing, or perhaps in poetry, +before it should vanish away." + +Miss Sarah Jacobs, one of Griswold's "_Female Poets_," and a friend of +Mrs. Whitman, describes her as small and dark, with deep-set dreamy eyes +"that looked above and beyond but never _at_ you;" quick, bird-like +motions, and as being a believer in occult influences, as Poe himself +professed to be. "For all the sweet, poetic fragrance of her nature, she +took an interest in common things. She was wise, she was witty; and no +one could be long in her presence without becoming aware of the sweet +and generous sympathy of her nature." + +Up to this time Poe and Mrs. Whitman had never met, though Mrs. Osgood +says that the lady had written to him and sent him a valentine, of which +he had taken no notice. This was against him in his present venture, but +he was not discouraged. He set about his courtship in his usual manner, +by addressing to Mrs. Whitman (June 10) some lines--"_To +Helen_"--commencing: + + "I saw thee once--once only;--" + +supposed to commemorate his first sight of her as, passing her garden +"one July midnight," he beheld her robed in white, reclining on a bank +of violets, with her eyes raised heavenward. + + "No footsteps stirred; the hated world all slept, + Save only thee and me. Oh, heaven--oh, God! + How my heart beats in coupling those two words-- + Save only _thee and me_!" + +So, he continues, he gazed entranced until--the hour being past midnight +and a storm-cloud threatening--the lady very properly arose and +disappeared from his sight; all but her eyes. These remained and +followed him home, and had followed him ever since: + + "----two sweetly scintillant + Venuses; unextinguished by the sun." + +All this must have been very gratifying to Mrs. Whitman--if she believed +in it--but, remembering her neglected valentine, she was in no haste to +acknowledge the poetic offering, and Poe, after waiting some weeks, had +his attention drawn in another direction. + +He had written to his friend, Mr. Mackenzie, concerning his matrimonial +aspirations, and he now received an answer, suggesting that he come to +Richmond and try his fortune with an old-time school-girl sweetheart, +Miss Sarah Elmira Royster, now a rich "Widow Shelton," who had several +times of late inquired after him and sent her "remembrances." + +Animated by this new hope, he, late in the summer of 1847, proceeded to +Richmond, where he visited among his friends and called upon Mrs. +Shelton, but especially paid attention to a pretty widow, a Mrs. Clarke. +This lady, when a resident of Louisville, Kentucky, many years after +Poe's death, gave to the editor of a paper some reminiscences of him at +this time. + +"The good lady was deeply interested that the world might think well of +Poe, and grew warm on the subject of his wrongs. She claimed that the +poet was a Virginian, and, like most Virginians, she is very proud of +her State. She wondered where Gill had gotten the material for Poe's +vindication. She had first met Poe at the Mackenzies, when he was editor +of the _Southern Literary Messenger_, and he afterward boarded at the +same hotel as herself; but she saw most of him on his visit to Richmond +previous to his last. He was then at her house daily, and sometimes two +or three times a day. He came there, as he said, to rest. + +"If there happened to be friends present he was often obliging enough +to read, and would sometimes read some of his own poems; but he would +never read _The Raven_ unless he felt in the mood for it. When in +Richmond he generally stayed with the Mackenzies at _Duncan Lodge_, and +would drive in with them at any time. One day he came in with his sister +and two of the Mackenzies and stopped with me. There were some other +people present, and he read _The Raven_ for us. He shut out the daylight +and read by an astral lamp on the table. When he was through all of us +that had any tact whatever spared our comments and let our thanks be +brief; for he was most impatient of both." + +Of Poe's reading, Mrs. Clark spoke with enthusiasm. "It was altogether +peculiar and indescribable," she said. "I have heard _The Raven_ read by +his friend, John R. Thompson, and others, but it sounded so strange and +affected, compared with his own delivery. Poe had a wonderful +voice--rich, mellow and sweet. I cannot give you any idea of it. Edwin +Booth sometimes reminds me of him in his eyes and expression, but Poe's +voice was peculiar to himself. I have never heard anything like it. He +often read from Shelley and other poets. One day he pointed out to me +in one of Shelley's poems what he considered the truest characteristic +of hopeless love that he knew of: + + "'The desire of the moth for the star, + Of the night for the morrow.' + +"I enjoyed a good deal of his society during that visit in 1847. On his +last visit I saw less of him. He was then said to be engaged to a Mrs. +Shelton. Some said he was marrying her for her money. There was a good +deal of gossip at that time concerning Poe. His intemperate habits +especially were exaggerated and made the most of by those who did not +like him, while his companions in dissipation escaped unnoticed. When he +was in company at a party for instance--you might see a little of him in +the earlier part of the evening, but he would presently be off +somewhere. Then his eccentricities; I think that when a very young man +he imitated Byron." + +Mrs. Clarke said she had seldom seen a good likeness of Poe. The best +she had cut from an old magazine. "This engraving," she said, showing +it, reflects at once the fastidiousness and the virility characteristic +of his temperament. All the others have an expression pitiably weak. +His worst calumniators could hardly desire for him a harder fate than +the continual reproduction of that feeble visage. When he had money he +was lavish and over-generous with it. He was always refined. You felt it +in his very presence. And as long as I knew him, and as much as I was +with him, I never saw him in the least intoxicated. I have seen him when +he had had enough wine to make him talk with even more than his usual +brilliancy. Indeed, to talk in a large general company, some little +stimulant was necessary to him. Dr. Griswold says he was arrogant, +dogmatic and impatient of contradiction. I have heard him engage in +discussions frequently; oftenest with diffidence, always with +consideration for others. In a large company it was only when +exhilarated with wine that he spoke out his views and ideas with any +degree of self-assertion." + +Mrs. Clarke said that his sister, Rosalie, was rather pretty and +resembled himself somewhat in appearance, but "was as different as +possible in mental capacity. She was amiable, patient and +sweet-tempered, but as a companion wholly tiresome and monotonous. She +seemed to have had little or no individuality or force of character. She +thought a great deal of her brother, but during the greater part of +their lives they had seen nothing of each other. The family of Mr. +Mackenzie treated her affectionately and kindly, and until the breaking +up of the household she remained with them, and then went to Baltimore +to her relatives, the Poes. I don't know what became of her afterwards." + +Mrs. Clarke speaks of Poe's reading and lectures during his first visit +to Richmond; but these were mere small social entertainments at the +houses of various acquaintances. He really gave but one public lecture +during this visit to Richmond. One evening at Mrs. Mackenzie's she said +to him: "Edgar, since people appear so eager to hear you repeat _The +Raven_, why not give a public recital, which might benefit you +financially?" Being further urged, he finally yielded. One hundred +tickets were advertised, at fifty cents each, and the music hall of the +fashionable Exchange Hotel engaged for the occasion. On the appointed +evening Poe stepped upon the platform to face an audience of _thirteen_ +persons, including the janitor and several to whom complimentary tickets +had been presented. Of these was Mrs. Shelton, who occupied a seat +directly in front of the platform. Poe was cool and selfpossessed, but +his delivery mechanical and rather hurried, and on concluding he bowed +and abruptly retired. One of the audience remarked upon the unlucky +number of thirteen; and Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell commented indignantly +upon the indifference of the Richmond people to "their own great poet." +Poe was undoubtedly in a degree mortified, not at the indifference +manifested, but at the picture presented by the large and brilliantly +lighted hall and himself addressing the group of thirteen which +constituted the audience. But his failure may be explained by the fact +that in this month of August the _elite_ and educated people of the city +were mostly absent in the mountains and by the sea-shore; and the +weather being extremely sultry, few were inclined to exchange the cool +breezes of the "city of the seven hills" for a crowded and heated +lecture room, even to hear _The Raven_ read by its author. + +During this visit of Poe to Richmond, I, with my mother and sister, was +away from home, in the mountains, and we thus missed seeing him. On our +return shortly after his departure, we heard various anecdotes +concerning him, one or two of which I subjoin as illustrative of his +natural disposition. + +One evening, quite late, an alarm of fire was raised, and all the young +men of Duncan Lodge, accompanied by Poe, hastened to the scene of +disaster, about a mile further in the country. Finding a great crowd +collected, and that their services were not required, they sat on a +fence looking on, and it was past midnight when they thought of +returning home. Gay young Dr. "Tom" Mackenzie remarked that it would +never do to return in their immaculate white linen suits, as they would +be sure to get a "wigging" from the old ladies for not having helped to +put out the fire, and, besides, they were all hungry, and he knew how +they could get a good supper. With that he seized a piece of charred +wood and commenced besmirching their white garments and their hands and +faces, including Poe's. Arriving at home in an apparently exhausted +condition, they were treated by Mrs. Mackenzie herself, who would not +disturb her servants, to the best that the pantry afforded, nor was the +trick discovered until the following day. Mrs. Mackenzie laughed, but +from Mrs. Carter, the mother of two of the culprits, and who was gifted +with eloquence, they got the "wigging" which they had been anxious to +avoid. And from accounts, Poe enjoyed it all immensely. + +A lady told me that one evening, going over to Duncan Lodge, her +attention was attracted by the sound of voices in the garden, where she +beheld all the young men in the broad central alley engaged in the +classic game of "leapfrog." When it came to Mr. Poe's turn, she said, +"he took a swift run and skimmed over their backs like a bird, seeming +hardly to touch the ground. I never saw the like." Mr. Jones, Mrs. +Mackenzie's son-in-law, who was rather large and heavy, came to grief in +his performance, and no one laughed more heartily than did Poe. + +Was this the melancholy, morbid, "weird and wholly incomprehensible +being" that the world has pictured the author of _The Raven_? Among +these youthful spirits and his old friends, the depressing influences of +his late life and home--the poverty, the friendlessness--seemed to +vanish, and his real disposition reasserted itself. Pity that it could +not have been always so. I am convinced that a great deal of Poe's +unhappiness and apparent reserve and solitariness was owing to his +obscure home life, which kept him apart from all genial social +influences. At the North, wherever seen out of his business hours, he +appears to have been "alone and solitary, proud and melancholy +looking," says one, who had no idea of the loneliness of spirit, the +lack of genial companionship, which made him so. With a few he was on +friendly terms, but of intimate friends or associates he had not one so +far as is known. + +Of the Mackenzies, so closely associated with Poe during his lifetime, +I may be allowed to say that a more attractive family group I have +rarely known. Beside those I have mentioned were the two youngest +members, "Mr. Dick" and Mattie or "Mat"--wayward, generous, warm-hearted +Mat, indifferent to people's opinion and heedless of conventionalities. +She cared for nothing so much as her horse and dog, and spent an hour +each day in the stables, while her aunt, Miss Jane, would exclaim in +despair: "I don't know what to do with Martha. I cannot make a lady of +her;" to which she would answer with a satisfied assurance that nature +had never intended her to be a lady. + +But about this time--in October--Mat was married. There are ladies +living who have heard from their mothers, at that time young girls, +accounts of this famous wedding. The festivities were kept up for full +two weeks, with ever-changing house parties, and each evening music and +dancing, with unbounded hospitality. Miss Jane Mackenzie, upon whom the +family chiefly depended, and whose fortune they expected to inherit, was +gone on a visit to her brother in London; but she had given Mat a +liberal sum wherewith to celebrate her wedding. Sadly my thoughts pass +from this gay time over the next ten years or so to the time of "the +war" and the changes which it brought to this family and to us all. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +MRS. WHITMAN. + + +Poe was still in Richmond, presumably courting the widow Shelton, though +in so quiet a manner that it attracted little or no attention, when he +unexpectedly received from Mrs. Whitman, who seems to have repented of +her silence, a letter or poem of so encouraging a nature that he +immediately left Richmond and proceeded to New York. Here he obtained a +letter of introduction to Mrs. Whitman, which he on the following day +presented to that lady at her home in Providence. The next evening he +spent in her company, and on the succeeding day asked her to marry him! + +Receiving no definite answer, he, on his return to New York, sent her a +letter in which, alluding to his previous intention of addressing Mrs. +Shelton, he says: + +"Your letter reached me on the very day on which I was about to enter +upon a course which would have borne me far away from you, sweet, sweet +Helen, and the divine dream of your love." + +A few weeks later, when he had obtained from her a conditional promise +of marriage, he again wrote--a letter in which he clearly alludes to his +still cherished design of establishing the _Stylus_, from which he +anticipates such brilliant results. Thus he artfully and apparently for +the first time seeks to interest her in the scheme. + +"Am I right, dearest Helen, in the impression that you are ambitious? If +so, and if you will have faith in me, I can and will satisfy your +wildest desires. It would be a glorious triumph for us, darling--for you +and me ... to establish in America the sole unquestionable +aristocracy--that of the intellect; to secure its supremacy, to lead and +control it. All this I can do, Helen, and will--if you bid me _and aid +me_." + +Aware of her belief in occult and spiritual influences, he tells her +that once, on hearing a lady repeat certain utterances of hers which +appeared but the secret reflex of his own spirit, his soul seemed +suddenly to become one with hers. "From that hour I loved you. I have +never seen or heard your name without a shiver, half of delight, half of +anxiety. The impression left upon my mind was that you were still a +wife." (No such scruple had disturbed him in the case of Mrs. Osgood and +others.) He goes on thus artfully to explain the incident of his +declining Mrs. Osgood's offer of an introduction to Mrs. Whitman while +in Providence. "For this reason I shunned your presence. You may +remember that once, when I passed through Providence with Mrs. Osgood, I +positively refused to accompany her to your house. I dared neither go, +or say why I could not. I dared not speak of you, much less see you. +_For years_ your name never passed my lips, while my soul drank in with +a delirious thirst all that was uttered in my presence respecting you." + +It will be observed that he is here speaking of a time when his wife, +whom he "loved as man never before loved," was yet living; and also when +he was giving himself up to his unreasoning passion for Mrs. Osgood, +whom he had followed to Providence. + +After this, who shall undertake to defend Poe from the charge of +insincerity and dissimulation? + +Mrs. Osgood calls Poe's letters "divinely beautiful." We cannot tell how +Mrs. Whitman was affected by them, but certainly her whole course +exhibits her in a constant struggle between her own inclination and the +influence of friends who desired to save her from the match with Poe. As +early as January 21, 1848, it was known to the public that an engagement +existed between the two, and I have the authority of Mrs. Kellogg for +the statement that during the summer of that year Mrs. Whitman three +times renewed this engagement and was as often compelled to break it, +owing to his unfortunate habits. The last engagement was made on his +solemnly vowing reformation; on which a day was fixed for the marriage +and the services of a clergyman bespoken by Poe himself, who thereupon +wrote to Mrs. Clemm desiring her to be ready to receive himself and his +bride--at Fordham! + +One may imagine the dismay of poor Mrs. Clemm when she read this letter +and looked around the humble home with its low-ceiled upstairs room, +which had been Virginia's; the pine kitchen table and her dozen pieces +of crockery. For once her strong mind and resourceful talent must have +failed her. How was she to accommodate the fastidious bride of her most +inconsiderate son-in-law? How even provide a wedding repast against +their arrival? But happily she was spared the horror of such an +experience, for on the appointed day Poe arrived at Fordham alone, +though in a state of nervous excitement, which necessitated days and +even weeks of careful nursing on the part of his patient and +long-suffering mother-in-law. + +This final separation between the two--for they never again met--was +caused by Poe's intemperance at his hotel in Providence on the day +previous to that appointed for his marriage. He had delivered a lecture +which was enthusiastically applauded, and on his return to the hotel he +found himself surrounded by an admiring crowd, whose hospitalities he at +first resolutely declined, but with his usual weakness of will, finally +yielded to. Of the stormy scene when, on the following day, Mrs. Whitman +finally and decisively refused to marry him, she has herself given an +account, representing Poe as alternately pleading and "raving" in his +unwillingness to accept her decision. But there can be no question but +that he was at this time either in some degree mentally unbalanced or in +such a state physically as that the least excess would serve to excite +his mind beyond its normal condition and render him partly +irresponsible. Of this we have proof in the fact of his intention of +taking his proposed bride to Fordham. + +That Mrs. Whitman was really interested in her gifted and eccentric +suitor is evident, and in her heart she was loyal to him, as is shown by +her defence of him after his death, and also by the lines which she +addressed to him some months after their separation, entitled, "_The +Isle of Dreams_." Most of her poems written after this time had some +reference to him; and it is worthy of note that no woman whom Poe +professed to love ever lost her interest in him. The fascination which +he exerted over them must have been something extraordinary. + +As regards Poe's feelings toward Mrs. Whitman, it is evident from the +beginning that there was no real love on his part. He expressed no +regret at the ending of his "divine dream of love," but seems rather to +have experienced toward her a degree of resentment which thus found +expression in a letter to a friend: + +"From this day forth I shun the pestilential society of literary women. +They are a heartless, unnatural, venomous, dishonorable set, with no +guiding principle but inordinate self-esteem. Mrs. Osgood is the only +exception I know of." + +This tirade was doubtless excited partly by a scandal just now started +by one of the literary set in question concerning Poe and a young +married lady of Lowell. While delivering a lecture in that city he had +been hospitably entertained at her home, where he spent several days, +with the usual result of contracting a sentimental friendship with the +charming hostess, whom he calls "Annie." During the latter part of his +engagement to Mrs. Whitman his visits and attentions to this lady did +not escape the notice of the "literary set," and a scandal was at once +started by one of them, who drew the attention of "Annie's" husband to +the matter. He accepted Poe's explanation and his proposal rather to +give up the society of these friends than to be the cause of trouble to +them, saying: + +"I cannot and will not have it upon my conscience that I have interfered +with the domestic happiness of _the only being on earth whom I have +loved at the same time with purity and with truth_." + +Certainly an extraordinary avowal to be made to the lady's husband; and +we ask ourselves to how many women had he made a similar declaration? + +We have seen that when Poe for the last time left Mrs. Whitman's he went +direct to Fordham, where, said Mrs. Clemm, he raved about "Annie," and +even sent to her, reminding her of the "holy promise which he had +exacted from her in their hour of parting, that she would come to him on +his bed of death," and now claiming the fulfilment of that promise. +Whether or not she complied does not appear; but it is more than likely +that the lines, "_For Annie_," were suggested by his fever-dreams of her +presence, first written while still half-delirious, and subsequently +slightly altered to their present form. This piece, with the lines, "_To +My Mother_," after being declined by all the more prominent magazines, +finally appeared in the cheap "_Boston Weekly_," and must have been a +surprise to "Annie" and her husband. + +But there was one woman of the "literary set" who showed that she at +least was not deserving of the sweeping condemnation wherewith the irate +poet had visited them. This was Mrs. Anna Estelle Lewis, a young poetess +who, with her husband, was on friendly terms with Poe, and whose poems +he had favorably noticed. Poe was still, mentally and physically, in a +state which rendered him incapable of writing, and the condition at +Fordham was deplorable. Suspecting this state of things, Mrs. Lewis and +her husband invited Poe to visit them at their home in Brooklyn, and Mr. +Lewis says that thenceforth they frequently had both himself and Mrs. +Clemm to stay with them. It was this kindly couple that R. H. Stoddard +so sharply satirizes in his "_Reminiscences_" of Poe, while accepting an +evening's hospitality at their home after the poet's death. On this +occasion he met with Mrs. Clemm, of whom he has given a pen picture of +which we instinctively recognize the life-likeness. We can see the good +lady seated serenely among the company in her "black bombazine and +conventional widow's cap," lightly fingering her eye-glasses, as was her +company habit, and with her strongly marked features wearing that +"benevolent" smile which was characteristic of her most amiable moods. +"She assured me," says Stoddard, "that she had often heard her Eddie +speak of me--which I doubted--and that she believed she had also heard +him speak of the stripling by my side--which was an impossibility.... +She regretted that she had no more autographs to dispose of, but hinted +that she could manufacture them, since she could exactly imitate her +Eddie's handwriting; and this she told as though it had been to her +credit." + +Deeply chagrined at the ending of his affair with Mrs. Whitman, and +consequent disappointment in regard to the _Stylus_, Poe now, encouraged +by his mother-in-law, again turned his thoughts to Mrs. Shelton. + +It was in July that he and Mrs. Clemm left Fordham, he to proceed to +Richmond, and she, having let their rooms until his return, to stay with +the Lewises. Mr. Lewis says that it was at his front door that Poe took +an affectionate leave of them all; Mrs. Clemm, ever watchful and careful +against possible temptation or pitfalls by the way, accompanying him to +the boat to see him off. In parting from her he spoke cheeringly and +affectionately. "God bless you, my own darling Muddie. Do not fear for +Eddie. See how good I will be while away; and I will come back to love +and comfort you."[8] + + [8] Ingram. + +And so, smiling and hopeful, the devoted mother stood upon the pier and +watched to the last the receding form which she was never again to +behold. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +AGAIN IN RICHMOND. + + +When Poe came to Richmond on this visit, he went first to Duncan Lodge, +but afterward, for sake of the convenience of being in the city, took +board at the old _Swan Tavern_, on Broad street, once a fashionable +hostelry, but at this time little more than a cheap, though respectable, +boarding-house for business men. Broad street--so named from its unusual +width--extended several miles in a straight line from Chimberazo Heights +and Church Hill on the east, where Mrs. Shelton had her residence, to +the western suburbs, where Duncan Lodge and our own home of "_Talavera_" +were situated. This was the route which Poe traversed in his visits to +Mrs. Shelton. There were no street cars in those days, hacks were +expensive, and the walk from "the Swan" to Church Hill was long and +fatiguing. Poe would break his journey by stopping to rest at the office +of Dr. John Carter, a young physician who had recently hung out his +sign, about half-way between those two points. + +During the three months of his stay in Richmond we saw a good deal of +Poe. He appeared at first to be in not very good health or spirits, but +soon brightened up and was invariably cheerful, seeming to be enjoying +himself. I do not know to what it was to be attributed, unless to his +increased fame as a poet, but certainly his reception in Richmond at +this time was very different from what it had been two years previously. +He became the fashion; and was _feted_ in society and discussed in the +papers. His friend, Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell--a first cousin of Mrs. +Allan--inaugurated the evening entertainments to which people were +invited "to meet Mr. Poe." It was generally expected that at these +gatherings he would recite _The Raven_, and this he was often obliging +enough to do, though we knew that it was to him an unwelcome task. In +our own home, no matter who were the visitors, we would never allow this +request to be made of him after he had on one occasion gratified us by a +recital. I remember on this occasion being disappointed in his manner of +delivery. I had expected some little graceful and expressive action, +but he sat motionless as a statue except that at the line, + + "_Prophet! cried I, thing of evil!_" + +he slightly erected his head; and again, in repeating: + + "Get thee back into the tempest and the night's plutonian shore!" + +he turned his face suddenly though slightly toward the outer darkness of +the open window near which he sat, each time raising his voice. He +explained his own idea to be that any action served to attract the +attention of the audience from the poem to the speaker, thus detracting +from the effect of the former. I was told how, at one of these +entertainments, Poe was embarrassed by the persistent attentions of a +moth or beetle, until a sympathetic old lady took a seat beside him and, +with wild wavings of a huge fan, kept the troublesome insect at a +distance. This mingling of the comic with the tragic element rather +spoiled the effect of the latter, and though Poe preserved his dignity, +he was perceptibly annoyed. + +I never saw Mr. Poe in a large company, but was told that on such +occasions he invariably assumed his mask of cold and proud reserve, not +untouched by an expression of sadness, which was natural to his features +when in repose. It was then that he "looked every inch a poet." In +general companies he disliked any attempt to draw him out, never +expressing himself freely, and at times manifesting a shyness amounting +almost to an appearance of diffidence, which was very noticeable. + +A marked peculiarity was that he never, while in Richmond, either in +society or elsewhere, made any advance to acquaintance, or sought an +introduction, even to a lady. Aware of the estimation in which his +character was held by some persons, he stood aloof, in proud +independence, though responding with ready courtesy to any advance from +others. Ladies who desired Mr. Poe's acquaintance would be compelled to +privately seek an introduction from some friend, since he himself never +requested it, and it was observed that he preferred the society of +mature women to that of the youthful belles, who were enthusiastic over +the author of _Lenore_ and _The Raven_. + +Mr. Poe spent his mornings in town, but in the evenings would generally +drive out to Duncan Lodge with some of the Mackenzies. He liked the +half-country neighborhood, and would sometimes join us in our sunset +rambles in the romantic old Hermitage grounds. Those were pleasant +evenings at Duncan Lodge and Talavera, with no lack of company at either +place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +A MORNING WITH POE AND "THE RAVEN." + +(A Leaf from a Journal.) + + +One pleasant though slightly drizzly morning in the latter part of +September I sat in our parlor at Talavera at a table on which were some +new magazines and a vase of tea roses freshly gathered. Opposite me sat +Mr. Poe. A basket of grapes--his favorite fruit--had been placed between +us; and as we leisurely partook of them we chatted lightly. + +He inquired at length what method I pursued in my writing. The idea was +new to me, and on my replying that I wrote only on the impulse of a +newly conceived idea, he proceeded to give me some needed advice. I must +make a _study_ of my poem, he said, line by line and word by word, and +revise and correct it until it was as perfect as it could be made. It +was in this way that he himself wrote. And then he spoke of _The +Raven_. + +He had before told me of the difficulties which he had experienced in +writing this poem and of how it had lain for more than _ten years_ in +his desk unfinished, while he would at long intervals work on it, adding +a few words or lines, altering, omitting and even changing the plan or +idea of the poem in the endeavor to make of it something which would +satisfy himself. + +His first intention, he said, had been to write a short poem only, based +upon the incident of an _Owl_--a night-bird, the bird of wisdom--with +its ghostly presence and inscrutable gaze entering the window of a vault +or chamber where he sat beside the bier of the lost _Lenore_. Then he +had exchanged the Owl for the Raven, for sake of the latter's +"_Nevermore_"; and the poem, despite himself, had grown beyond the +length originally intended. + +Does not this explain why the Raven--though not, like the Owl, a +night-bird--should be represented as attracted by the lighted window, +and, perching "upon the _bust of Pallas_," which would be more +appropriate to the original Owl, Minerva's bird? Also, we recognize the +latter in the lines: + + "By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore."[9] + + [9] As by also: + + "And its eyes have all the seeming + Of a demon that is dreaming." + +Poe, in adopting the Raven, evidently did not obliterate all traces of +the Owl. + +Of these troubles with the poem he had before informed me, and now, in +answer to a remark of mine, he said, in effect: + +"_The Raven_ was never completed. It was published before I had given +the final touches. There were in it certain knotty points and tangles +which I had never been able to overcome, and I let it go as it was." + +He told how, toward the last, he had become heartily tired of and +disgusted with the poem, of which he had so poor an opinion that he was +many times on the point of destroying it. I believe that his having +published it under the _nom de plume_ of "_Quarles_" was owing to this +lack of confidence in it, and that had it proven a failure he would +never have acknowledged himself the author. He feared to risk his +literary reputation on what appeared to him of such uncertain merit. + +He now, in speaking of the poem, regretted that he had not fully +completed before publishing it. + +"If I had a copy of it here," he said, "I could show you those knotty +points of which I spoke, and which I have found it impossible to do away +with," adding: "Perhaps you will help me. I am sure that you can, if you +will." + +I did not feel particularly flattered by this proposal, knowing that +since his coming to Richmond he had made a similar request of at least +two other persons. However, I cleared the table of the fruit and the +flowers and placed before him several sheets of generous foolscap, on +which I had copied for a friend _The Raven_ as it was first published. +He requested me to read it aloud, and as I did so, slowly and carefully, +he sat, pencil in hand, ready to mark the difficult passages of which he +had spoken. + +I paused at the third line. Had I not myself often noted the incongruity +of representing the poet as pondering over _many_ a volume instead of a +single one? I glanced inquiringly at Mr. Poe and, noting his unconscious +look, proceeded. When I reached the line, + + "And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor;" + +he gave a slight shiver or shrug of the shoulders--an expressive motion +habitual to him--and the pencil came down with an emphatic stroke +beneath the six last words. + +This was one of the hardest knots, he said, nor could he find a way of +getting over it. "_Ember_" was the only word rhyming with the two +preceding lines, but in no way could he dispose of it except as he had +done--thus producing the worst line in the poem. + +We "pondered" over it for awhile and finally gave it up. + +(But I may here mention that I have since, in studying the poem, made a +discovery which, strangely enough, seems never to have occurred to the +author. This was that in this particular stanza he had unconsciously +reversed the order or arrangement of the lines, placing those of the +triple rhymes first and the rhyming couplet last. Thus all his long +years of worry over that unfortunate "_ember_" had been unnecessary, +since the construction of the verse required not only the omission of +the word as a rhyme, but of the whole line of + + "And each separate dying ember;" + +when the succeeding objectionable words, + + "Wrought its ghost upon the floor," + +could have been easily altered; and the addition of a third line to the +succeeding couplet would have made the stanza correct.) + +Our next pause was at the word "_beast_," through which he ran his +pencil. + + "Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above my chamber door." + +"I must get rid of that word," he said; "for, of course, no beast could +be expected to occupy such a position." + +"Oh, yes; a mouse, for instance," I suggested, at which he gave me one +of his rare humorous smiles. + +Leaving this point for future consideration, we passed on to a more +serious difficulty. + + "This and more I sat divining, + With my head at ease reclining + On the cushion's velvet _lining_, with the lamplight gloated o'er." + +The knotty point here was in the word "lining"--a blunder obvious to +every reader. Poe said that the only way he could see of getting over +the difficulty was by omitting the whole stanza. But he was unwilling to +give up that "violet velvet" chair, which, with the "purple silken +curtain," he considered a picturesque adjunct to the scene, imparting to +it a character of luxury which served as a relief to the more sombre +surroundings. I had so often heard this impossible "lining" criticised +that when he inquired, "Shall I omit or retain the stanza?" I ventured +to suggest that it might be better to give up the stanza than have the +poem marred by a defect so conspicuous. For a moment he held the pencil +poised, as if in doubt, and I have since wondered what would have been +his decision. + +But just here we were interrupted by the tumultuous entrance of my +little dog, Pink, in hot pursuit of the family cat. The latter took +refuge beneath the table at which we were seated, and there ensued a +brisk exchange of duelistic passes, until I called off Pink and Mr. Poe +took up the cat and, placing her on his knee, stroked her soothingly, +inquiring if she were my pet. Upon my disclaiming any partiality for +felines, he said, "I like them," and continued his gentle caressing. +(Was he thinking of _Catalina_, his wife's pet cat, which he had left at +home at Fordham, and which after her death had sat upon his shoulder as +he wrote far into the night? Recalling his grave and softened +expression, I think that it must have been so. But at that time I had +never heard of Catalina.) + +But now came the final and most difficult "tangle" of all--the blunder +apparent to the world--the defect which mars the whole poem, and yet is +contained in but a single line: + + "And the lamplight o'er him streaming casts his shadow on the floor." + +Poe declared this to be hopeless, and that it was, in fact, the chief +cause of his dissatisfaction with the poem. Indeed, it may well excite +surprise that he, so careful and fastidious as to the completeness of +his work, should have allowed _The Raven_ to go from his hands marred by +a defect so glaring, but this is proof that he did indeed regard it as +hopeless. + + * * * * * + +When Mr. Poe left us on this September morning he took with him this +manuscript copy of _The Raven_; which, however, he on the following day +handed to me, begging that I would keep it until his return from New +York. I found that he had marked several minor defects in the poem, one +of which was his objection to the word "shutter," as being too +commonplace and not agreeing with the word "lattice," previously used. + +He remarked, before leaving for New York, that he intended having _The +Raven_, after some further work upon it, published in an early number of +the _Stylus_. I do not doubt but that, had he lived, he would have made +it much more perfect than it now is. + +After his death his friend, Mr. Robert Sully, the Richmond artist, was +desirous of making a picture of the _Raven_, but explained to me why it +could not be done--all on account of that impossible "shadow on the +floor." Of course, said he, to produce such an effect the lamplight must +come from above and behind the bust and the bird. No; it was +impracticable." + +This set me to thinking; and the result was that I, some time after, +went to Mr. Sully's studio and said to him: "How would it do to have a +glass transom above the door; one of those large fan-shaped transoms +which we sometimes find in old colonial mansions, opening on a lofty +galleried hall?" + +It would do, he said. Indeed, with such an arrangement, and the lamp +supposed to be suspended from the hall ceiling, as in those old +mansions, there would be no difficulty with either the poem or the +picture. And we were both delighted at our discovery, and thought how +pleased Poe would have been with the idea--so effective in explaining +that mysterious shadow on the floor. + +Mr. Sully commenced upon his picture, but died before completing it. + + * * * * * + +This manuscript copy of _The Raven_, with all its pencil-marks, as made +by Mr. Poe on that September morning, remained in my possession for many +years. It is yet photographed upon my memory, with all the details here +given from an odd leaf of a journal which I kept about that time--the +quiet parlor, the outside drizzle, the books, the roses, and the face +and figure of Mr. Poe as he gravely bent over that manuscript copy of +his immortal poem of _The Raven_. + +Had he no premonition that even then a darker shadow than that of the +_Raven_ was hovering over him? It was one of the last occasions on which +I ever saw him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +MRS. SHELTON. + + +Poe's first visits on his arrival in Richmond had been to Mrs. Shelton, +and it soon became known that an engagement existed between them, +although they were never seen together in public, and Poe on all +occasions denied the engagement. Yet morning after morning the curious +neighbors were treated to a sight of the poet ascending the steps of the +tall, plain, substantial looking brick house on the corner of Grace +street, facing the rear of St. John's church, and had they watched more +closely they might at times have seen another figure following in its +footsteps. This was Rosalie Poe, who, delighted at her brother's +engagement, and being utterly without tact or judgment, would present +herself at Mrs. Shelton's door shortly after his own arrival, as she +said, for the pleasure of seeing the couple together. Once she surprised +them at a _tete-a-tete_ luncheon at which "corned beef and mustard" +figured; but on another occasion Mrs. Shelton met and informed her that +Mr. Poe had a headache from his long walk and was resting on the parlor +sofa, where she herself would attend to him, and so dismissed her, to +her great indignation. Not alone to Mrs. Shelton's were these +"shadowings" of her brother confined, but if she at any time knew of his +intention to call at some house where she herself was acquainted, she +would as likely as not make her own appearance during his visit; or, in +promenading Broad street, he would unexpectedly find himself waylaid and +introduced to some prosy acquaintance of his sister. It required Mrs. +Mackenzie's authority to relieve him from these annoyances. There was, +however, something pathetic in the sister's pride in and affection for a +brother from whom she received but little manifestation of regard. He +treated her indulgently, but, as she herself often said, in her homely +way, "Edgar could never love me as I do him, _because he is so far above +me_." + +About the middle of August Mrs. Shelton's interested neighbors observed +that the poet's visits to her suddenly ceased; and then followed a +report that the engagement was broken, and that a bitter estrangement +existed between the two. Mr. Woodbury, Poe's biographer, doubts this, +and declares that, "We have no evidence that such was the case;" but we, +who were on the spot, as it were, and had opportunity of judging, _knew_ +that the report was true. Miss Van Lew, the famous "war postmistress" of +Richmond, once said to me as, standing on the porch of her house, she +pointed out Mrs. Shelton's residence: "I used at first to often see Mr. +Poe enter there, but never during the latter part of his stay in +Richmond. It seemed to be known about here that the engagement was +off.... Gossip had it that Mrs. Shelton discarded him because persuaded +by friends that he was after her money. All her relatives are said to be +opposed to the match." + +From Poe's own confidential statement to Mr. John Mackenzie, who had +first suggested the match with Mrs. Shelton, it appears that money +considerations was really the cause of the trouble. Mrs. Shelton had the +reputation of being a thorough business woman and very careful and +cautious with regard to her money. Poe was at this time canvassing in +the interests of the _Stylus_, in which he received great encouragement +from his friends, but when he applied to Mrs. Shelton it is certain that +she failed to respond as he desired. She had no faith in the success of +his plan, neither any sympathy with its purpose. Also, in discussing +arrangements for their marriage, she announced her intention of keeping +entire control of her property. Poe himself broke their engagement. Next +there arose a difficulty concerning certain letters which the lady +desired to have returned to her and which he declined to give up, except +on condition of receiving his own. Possibly each feared that these +letters might some time fall into the hands of Poe's biographers. If +they were written during his courtship of Mrs. Whitman, and when still +uncertain of the result, he appears to have been keeping Mrs. Shelton in +reserve. + +Mrs. Shelton, during a few days' absence of Poe at the country home of +Mr. John Mackenzie, came to Duncan Lodge and appealed to Mrs. Mackenzie +to influence Poe in returning her letters. I saw her on this occasion--a +tall, rather masculine-looking woman, who drew her veil over her face as +she passed us on the porch, though I caught a glimpse of large, shadowy, +light blue eyes which must once have been handsome. We heard no more of +her until some time about the middle of September, when suddenly Poe's +visits to her were resumed, though in a very quiet manner. It seems +certain that the engagement was then renewed, and that Mrs. Shelton must +have promised to assist Poe in his literary enterprise; for from that +time he was enthusiastic in regard to the _Stylus_ and what he termed +its "assured success." He even commenced arranging a _Table of Contents_ +for the first number of the magazine; and Mrs. Mackenzie told me how he +one morning spent an hour in her room taking from her information, notes +and _data_ for an article which he intended to appear in one of its +earliest numbers. He was in high spirits, and declared that he had never +felt in better health. This was after an attack of serious illness, due +to his association with dissipated companions. Tempted as he was on +every side and wherever he went in the city, it was not strange that he +had not always the strength of will to resist; and twice during this +visit to Richmond he was subject to attacks somewhat similar to those +which he had known at Fordham, and through which he was now kindly +nursed by his friends at Duncan Lodge. + +Poe gave but one public lecture on this visit to Richmond--that on "The +Poetic Principle"--and of this most exaggerated accounts have been +given by several writers, even to the present day, they representing it +to have been a great financial success. One recent lecturer remarks upon +the strangeness of the fate when, just as the hitherto impecunious poet +was "about returning home with five thousand and five hundred dollars in +his pocket, he should have been robbed of it all." The truth of the +matter is that but two hundred and fifty tickets were printed, the price +being fifty cents each, and, as Dr. William Gibbon Carter informed me, +there were by actual count not more than one hundred persons present at +the lecture, some being holders of complimentary tickets. Another +account says there were but sixty present, but that they were of the +very _elite_ of the city. Considering that from the proceeds of the +lecture all expenses of hall rent had to be paid, we cannot wonder at +Poe's writing to Mrs. Clemm, "My poor, poor Muddie, I am yet unable to +send you a single dollar." + +I was present at this lecture, with my mother and sister and Rose Poe, +who as we took seats reserved for us, left her party and joined us. I +noticed that Poe had no manuscript, and that, though he stood like a +statue, he held his audience as motionless as himself--fascinated by +his voice and expression. Rose pointed out to me Mrs. Shelton, seated +conspicuously in front of the platform, facing the lecturer. This +position gave me a good view of her, with her large, deep-set, +light-blue eyes and sunken cheeks, her straight features, high forehead +and cold expression of countenance. Doubtless she had been handsome in +her youth, but the impression which she produced upon me was that of a +sensible, practical woman, the reverse of a poet's ideal. And yet she +says "Poe often told her that she was the original of his lost +_Lenore_." + +When Poe had concluded his lecture, he lightly and quickly descended the +platform and, passing Mrs. Shelton without notice, came to where we were +seated, greeting us in his usual graceful manner. He looked pleased, +smiling and handsome. The audience arose, but made no motion to retire; +watching him as he talked and evidently waiting to speak to him; but he +never glanced in their direction. Rose, radiantly happy, stood drawn up +to her full height, and observed, "Edgar, only see how the people are +staring at the poet and his sister." I believe it to have been the +proudest moment of her life, and one which she ever delighted to +recall. This occurred during the period of estrangement between Poe and +Mrs. Shelton. + +Quite suddenly, in the latter part of September, Poe decided to go to +New York. His object was, as he himself declared, to make some +arrangements in regard to the _Stylus_, though gossip said to bring Mrs. +Clemm on to his marriage. + +It is difficult to get a clear idea of the relation between Poe and Mrs. +Shelton, owing to the contradictory statements of the two. Undoubtedly +they must have met during Poe's first visit to Richmond, and he tells +Mrs. Whitman that he was about to address the lady when her own letters +caused him to change his mind. And yet Mrs. Shelton speaks of their +meeting on his last visit as though it had been the first since their +youthful acquaintance. As she entered the parlor, she says, on his first +call, "I knew him at once," and, as the pious and practical woman that +she was, she adds, "I told him that I was on my way to church, and that +I allowed nothing to interfere with this duty." She says also in her +_Reminiscences_, "I was never engaged to him, but there was an +understanding;" and yet, on his death, she appeared in public attired in +deepest widow's weeds. That she was devoted to him appears from her own +letter to Dr. Moran when informed by him of Poe's death, "He was dearer +to me than any other living creature." Poe himself, writing to Mrs. +Clemm, says: "Elmira has just returned from the country. I believe that +she loves me more devotedly than any one I _ever_ knew." He adds, +apparently in allusion to his marriage, "Nothing has yet been arranged, +and it will not do to hurry matters," concluding with, "If possible, I +will get married before leaving Richmond." + +On his deathbed in Washington he said to Dr. Moran, "Sir, I was to have +been married in ten days," and requested him to write to Mrs. Shelton. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE MYSTERY OF FATE. + + +One evening--it was Sunday, the 2d of October--Dr. John Carter was +seated alone in his office when Poe entered, having just paid a farewell +visit to Mrs. Shelton before leaving in the morning for New York. He +remarked to Dr. Carter that he would probably stop for one day in +Baltimore, and perhaps also in Philadelphia, on business; would like to +remain longer, but had written to Mrs. Clemm to expect him at Fordham +some time this week. He would be back in Richmond in about a fortnight. + +While talking, he took up a handsome malacca sword-cane belonging to Dr. +Carter and absently played with it. He looked grave and preoccupied; +several times inquired the hour, and at length rising suddenly, remarked +that he would step over to Saddler's restaurant and get supper. He took +the cane with him, Dr. Carter understanding from this circumstance and +his not taking leave, that he would presently return on his way to the +_Swan_, where he had left his baggage. He did not, however, reappear; +and on the next morning Dr. Carter inquired about him at Saddler's. The +proprietor said that Poe and two friends had remained to a late hour, +talking and drinking moderately, and had then left together to go aboard +the boat, which would start at four o'clock for Baltimore. He said that +Poe, when he left, was in good spirits and quite sober; though this last +may be doubted, since he not only forgot to return Dr. Carter's cane but +to send for his own baggage at the Swan Some persons have insisted that +Poe must have been drugged by these men, who were strangers to Mr. +Saddler, and there was even a sensational story published in a Northern +magazine to the effect that Poe had been followed to Baltimore by two of +Mrs. Shelton's brothers, and there, after having certain letters taken +from him, beaten so severely that he was found dying in an obscure +alley. This story was first started by Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith in one +of the New York journals, though it does not appear from what source she +derived her information. No denial was made or notice taken of it by +Mrs. Shelton's friends, and the story gradually died out. + +For over forty years the mystery of the tragic death of the poet +remained a mystery, strangely and persistently defying all attempts at +elucidation. But within the last few years there has appeared in a St. +Louis paper a communication which professes to give a truthful account +of the circumstances connected with the poet's death, and which wears +such an appearance of probability that it is at least worth considering. + +This letter, which is addressed to the editor of the paper, is from a +certain Dr. Snodgrass, who represents himself to have been for many +years a resident of Dakota. He says that on the evening of October 2, +1849, being in Baltimore, he stepped into a plain but respectable +eating-house or restaurant kept by an Irish widow, where, to his +surprise, he met with Poe, whom he had once been accustomed to meet +here, but had not seen for some years. After taking some refreshment, +they left the place together, but had not proceeded far when they were +seized upon by two men, who hurried them off to some place where they +were, with several others, kept close prisoners through the night and +following day, though otherwise well treated. It was the eve of a great +municipal election, and the city was wild with excitement. Next evening +the kidnappers, having drugged their captives, hurried them to the +polls, where they, in a half-conscious condition, were made to vote over +and over again. The doctor, it appears, was only partially affected, but +Poe succumbed utterly, and at length one of the men said, "What is the +use of dragging around a dead man?" With that, they called a hack, put +Poe within it, and ordered the driver to take him to the Washington +Hospital. + +Dr. Snodgrass says positively: "I myself saw Poe thrust into the hack, +heard the order given, and saw the vehicle drive off with its +unconscious burden." + +Thus--if this account may be relied upon--ended the strange, sad tragedy +of the poet's life; none stranger, none sadder, in all the annals of +modern literature. + +Dr. Snodgrass intimates that his reason for so long a delay in making +this story known was his unwillingness to have his own part in the +affair exposed, and with the notoriety which its connection with the +poet would render unavoidable. But now, he says, in his old age, and +having outlived all who knew him at the time, this consideration is of +little worth to him. If the story be not true, we cannot see why it +should have been invented. At least, it cannot, at the present day, be +disproved, and it certainly appears to be the most probable and natural +explanation of the poet's death that has been given. It agrees also with +Dr. Moran's account of Poe's condition when he was received at the +hospital, and with the latter's earnest assurance that he himself was +not responsible for that condition, and also with his requesting that +Dr. Snodgrass be sent for. The kidnappers had probably exchanged his +garments for others as a means of disguise, intending to restore them +eventually. They at least did not take from him the handsome malacca +cane which was in his grasp when he reached the hospital; and which +which would tend to prove that he was not then altogether unconscious. +This cane was, at Dr. Carter's request, returned to him by Mrs. Clemm, +to whom Dr. Moran sent it. His baggage, left at the Swan, was sent by +Mr. Mackenzie to Mrs. Clemm, disproving the story that it had been +stolen from him in Baltimore. + +In addition to the above, we find another and very similar account, +apparently by the same Dr. Snodgrass, in the "_San Francisco Chronicle_ +of August 31," the date of the year not appearing on the clipping from +which I make the following extracts: + +"You say that Poe did not die from the effects of deliberate +dissipation?" asked the _Chronicle_ reporter. + +"That is just what I do mean; and I say further that he died from the +effects of deliberate murder." + +The author of this assertion was a well-known member of this city's +advanced and inveterate Bohemia; a gentleman who has long since retired +from the active pursuits of his profession and spends his old age in +dreamy meditation, frequenting one of the popular resorts of the craft, +but mingling little in their society. When joining in their +conversation, it is generally to correct some errors from his +inexhaustible mine of reminiscences, and on these occasions his words +are few and precise. + +"Then you knew something of the poet, Doctor?" + +"I was his intimate associate for years. Much that biographers have said +of him is false, especially regarding his death. Poe was not an habitual +drunkard, but he was a steady drinker when his means admitted of it. +His habitual resort when in Baltimore was the Widow Meagher's place, on +the city front, inexpensive, but respectable, having an oyster and +liquor stand, and corresponding in some respects with the coffee shops +of San Francisco. Here I frequently met him." + +"But about his death?" + +"The mystery of the poet's death had remained a mystery for more than +forty years when there appeared in a Texas paper an article from the pen +of the editor, in which he gave a letter from a Dr. Snodgrass professing +to reveal the truth of the matter. + +"About the time that this article was published there appeared one in +the San Francisco _Chronicle_ by a reporter of that paper, telling of an +interview which he had with this same Dr. Snodgrass, of whom he says: +'He was a well-known literary Bohemian of this city who long ago gave up +his profession and is spending his old age in a state of dreamy +existence from which he is seldom aroused except to correct some error +concerning people and things of past times, of which he possesses a mine +of reminiscences.'" + +The Doctor, denying that Poe had died from dissipation, gave an account +of the manner of his death as he knew it, corresponding in all +particulars with that given by him to the Texas editor. In conclusion, +he said: + +"Poe did not die of dissipation. I say that he was deliberately +murdered. He died of laudanum or some other drug forced upon him by his +kidnappers. When one said, 'What is the use of carrying around a dying +man?' they put him in a cab and sent him to the hospital. I was there +and saw it myself." + +"Poe had been shifting about between Baltimore, Philadelphia and New +York for some years. Once he had been away for several months in +Richmond, and one evening turned up at the widow's. I was there when he +came in. Then it was drinks all round, and at length we were real jolly. +It was the eve of an election, and we started up town. There were four +of us, and we had not gone half a dozen squares when we were nabbed by +policemen, who were looking up voters to "coop." It was the practice in +those days to seize people, whether drunk or sober, and keep them locked +up until the polls were opened and then march them to every precinct in +control of the party having the coop. This coop was in the rear of an +engine-house on Calvert street. It was part of the plan to stupefy the +prisoners with drugged liquor. Next day we were voted at thirty +different places, it being as much as one's life was worth to rebel. Poe +was so badly drugged that he had to be carried on two or three rounds, +and then the gang said it was no use trying any longer to vote a dead +man and must get rid of him. And with that they shoved him into a cab +and sent him away." + +"Then he died from dissipation, after all?" + +"Nothing of the kind. He died from the effects of laudanum or some other +poison forced on him in the coop. He was in a dying condition when being +voted twenty or thirty times. The story told by Griswold and others of +his being picked up in the street is a lie. I saw him thrust into the +cab myself." + +And Mrs. Clemm? + +When she received Poe's letter bidding her to expect him at Fordham that +week, she hastened thither to set her house in order for his reception. +Day after day she watched and waited, but he did not come. And at +length, when the week had passed, she one evening sat alone in the +little cottage around which and through the naked branches of the cherry +tree the October wind was sighing, and in anguish of spirit wrote to +"Annie": + +"Eddie is dead--_dead_." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +AFTER THE WAR. + + +In the fall of 1865--the year which saw the conclusion of the unhappy +war--I returned to Richmond and to my old home of Talavera, which I had +not seen in four years. + +What a shock to me was the first sight of it! In place of the pleasant, +smiling home, there stood a bare and lonely house in the midst of +encircling fortifications, still bristling with dismantled +gun-carriages. Every outbuilding had disappeared. All the beautiful +trees which had made it so attractive--even the young cedar of Lebanon, +which had been our pride--were gone; greenhouses, orchard, vineyard, +everything, had been swept away, leaving only a dead level overgrown +with broom-straw, amidst which were scattered rusted bayonets and a few +hardy plants struggling through the trampled ground. The place was no +longer "_Talavera_," but "_Battery 10_." + +In this desolate abode I remained some time, awaiting the arrival of +our scattered family, and with no protectors save a faithful old negro +couple. Each evening we would barricade as well as we could the entrance +to the fort, as some slight protection against the hordes of newly freed +negroes who roamed the country, living on whatever they could pick up. + +One evening when we had taken this precaution, some one was heard +calling without, and, mounting the ramparts, I beheld a forlorn looking +figure in black standing upon the outer edge of the trench. It proved to +be Rosalie Poe; and when I had brought her into the light and warmth of +the fire, I saw how changed and ill she appeared. She told me of the +Mackenzies. Mrs. Mackenzie was dead. "Mat" (Mrs. Byrd) was a widow, with +a beautiful young daughter, and her brother, Mr. Richard, was in +wretched health. Miss Jane Mackenzie had died in England, leaving her +fortune to her brother, residing there, and the destruction of the war +had completed the poverty of the family. They lived on a little place in +the country, with a cow and a garden as their chief means of support. +"They have to work for a living now," Rose said, forlornly; "but I am +not strong enough to work. I am going to Baltimore, to my relations +there, and see what they can do for me." + +I inquired after young Dr. Mackenzie, gay, handsome, genial "Tom," whom +everybody loved. + +"Tom is dead," said Rose, sadly. "He died of camp-fever and bad food. +When he came home he had only the clothes which he wore, and a neighbor +gave us something to bury him in." + +With a pang I thought of the gay wedding at Duncan Lodge, and the happy +faces that had been there assembled. + +When Rose left me, I could but hope that she would be kindly received by +her relatives in Baltimore. But some months thereafter, being in New +York, I received from her a number of photographs of her brother, which +she begged of me to dispose of for her benefit at one dollar each. Mrs. +M. A. Kidder, of Boston, kindly interested herself in the matter, but +wrote me that she met with but poor success, at even the reduced price +of twenty-five cents, people saying that they had not sufficient respect +for Poe's character to care to possess his portrait. I found it to be +nearly the same in New York. And meantime Rose wrote me every few days. + +"DEAR S----: Haven't you got anything for me yet? Do try and do +something for me, for I am worse off now than ever. I walk about the +streets all day" (trying to dispose of her brother's pictures), "and at +night have to look for a place to sleep. I feel like a lost sheep." + +Thus the sister of Edgar A. Poe, in the year 1868, wandered homeless and +friendless through the streets of Baltimore, as more than thirty years +previous her brother had done. + +We heard long afterward that, through some kind Northern lady, she +applied for admittance to the _Louise Home_, in Washington, which Mr. +Corcoran was willing to grant, but that certain of his "guests"--ladies +who had formerly occupied high social positions--were of opinion that, +considering Miss Poe's eccentricities, she would be better suited and +better satisfied in a less pretentious establishment. Finally she was +received into the "_Epiphany Church Home_," in Washington, where she +seems to have enjoyed a good deal of liberty, being often seen riding on +the street cars and visiting the offices of wealthy business men, who, +if they did not care to possess a photograph of Poe, were yet willing to +assist his penniless sister. It was never known what she did with the +money so collected; but from a letter to Mrs. Byrd, it would appear +that her intention was to purchase a grave for herself near that of her +brother. Mrs. Byrd wrote to me: "I think Poe's friends might lay Rose in +a grave beside him. It has always been her dearest wish." + +Rosalie Poe died suddenly, with a letter in her hand but that moment +received, and which, when opened, proved to be from Mr. George W. +Childs, enclosing a check for fifty dollars; doubtless in answer to an +application for aid. + +They gave her a pauper's grave in the cemetery of the Epiphany Church +Home. The record of her death by the Board is: + +"_Rosalie Poe. Died June 14, 1874. Aged 64._" + +Some years after the death of Rose Poe, I received a visit from Mrs. +Byrd, whom I had not seen since the war, and we talked over times past +and present. It had been Rosalie's own choice, she said, to go to +Baltimore. She did not like the country or the hard life which they were +leading. She must have collected considerable money, but never told +where she kept it; nor was it ever found. + +She told me about her family. Her pretty daughter had married a poor man +in preference to a rich one who had offered, and they had two beautiful +babies and were very happy. Her brother Richard was infirm and able to +do but little work. They had a little place in the country, where they +raised their own vegetables, and sent poultry and eggs to market. She +and her son-in-law did all the hard work about the place. "I wash and +cook for six persons," said she, cheerily. "Yes," she continued, in her +old quaint way, "we are poor, but respectable, and I am more content +than ever I was at Duncan Lodge. I feel that I have something to live +for, and the working life suits me. Yes, we are happy; although there +are not two tea-cups in the house of the same pattern." + +She spoke of Poe, whom she considered to have been always unjustly +treated. Everybody could see what his faults were, but few gave him +credit for his good qualities--his generous nature and kindly and +affectionate disposition, especially as exemplified in the harmony +always existing between himself and his wife and mother-in-law. While +giving the latter full credit for her devotion to Edgar, her impression +was that, except in the matter of his dissipation, her influence over +him had not been for good. Her mother and brother, John, believed that +the marriage with Virginia had been the greatest misfortune of his +life, and that he himself, while patiently resigning himself to his lot, +had come to regard it as such. + +Some ten years after the death of Poe I received from Mrs. Clemm a +letter giving a pathetic account of her homelessness and poverty. But, +she added, she had been offered a home with her relatives at the South; +and she appealed to me, as a friend of her "Eddie," to assist her in +raising the money necessary to pay her expenses thither. A similar +appeal she made to other of Poe's former friends; but we heard of her +afterward as an inmate of the Church Home Infirmary in Baltimore, where +she died in 1871, having outlived her son-in-law some twenty-two years. +It is a curious coincidence that the building in which she died was the +same in which, as the Washington Hospital, Poe had breathed his last. + +Her grave is in Westminster cemetery, and in sight of Poe's monument. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +POE'S CHARACTER. + + +In order thoroughly to understand Poe, it is necessary that one should +recognize the dominant trait of his character--a trait which affected +and in a measure overruled all the rest--in a word, _weakness of will_. + +"Unstable as water," is written upon Poe's every visage in characters +which all might read; in the weak falling away of the outline of the +jaw, the narrow, receding chin, and the sensitive, irresolute mouth. +Above the soul-lighted eyes and the magnificent temple of intellect +overshadowing them, we look in vain for the rising dome of _Firmness_, +which, like the keystone of the arch, should strengthen and bind +together the rest. Lacking this, the arch must be ever tottering to a +fall. + +To this weakness of will we may trace nearly every other defect in Poe's +character, together with most of the disappointments and failures in +whatsoever he undertook. He lacked the resolution and persistence +necessary to battle against obstacles, to persevere to the end against +opposition and discouragement, and to resist temptations and influences +which he knew would lead him astray from the object which he had at +heart. In this way he lost many a coveted prize when it seemed almost +within his grasp. + +The accepted opinion is that Poe's dissipation was his chief fault, as +it was that to which was owing his ruin in the end. But even this was +the effect chiefly of weakness of will. He was not by nature inclined to +evil, but the contrary; and we have seen that, when left to himself and +not exposed to temptation, he was, from all accounts, "sober, +industrious and exemplary in his conduct." But he lacked firmness to +resist the temptation which, more than in the case of most men, assailed +him on every side. + +Dr. William Gibbon Carter has told me how, when Poe was in Richmond on +his last visit, and doing his best to remain sober, he would in his +visits and strolls about the city be constantly greeted by friends and +acquaintances with invitations to "take a julep." It was the custom of +the time. Poe, said Dr. Carter, in one morning declined twenty-four such +invitations, but finally yielded; and the consequence was the severe +illness which threatened his life whilst in the city. The effect of one +glass on him, said the Doctor, was that of several on any other man. +Often he was tempted to drink from an amiable reluctance to decline the +offered hospitality. + +A marked peculiarity of Poe's character was the restless discontent +which from his sixteenth year took possession of and clung to him +through life, and was to him a source of much unhappiness. It was not +the discontent of poverty or of ungratified worldly ambition, but the +dissatisfaction of a genius which knows itself capable of higher things, +from which it is debarred--the desire of the caged eagle for the +wind-swept sky and the distant eyrie. He was not satisfied with being a +mere writer of stories. He believed that, with a broader scope, he could +wield a powerful influence over the literary world and make a record for +strength, brilliancy and originality of thought which would render his +name famous in other countries as in this. His desire was to set +established rules and conventionalities at defiance, and to be fearless, +independent, dominant in his assertion of himself and his ideas and +convictions. As an editor writing for other editors, he found himself +trammeled by what he called their narrowness and timidity. He must be +his own master, his own editor; and hence his lifelong dream and desire +took form in the conception of the Stylus--that _ignis fatuus_ which he +pursued to the last day of his life--uncertain, elusive, yet ever +eagerly sought, and always ending in disappointment and bitterness of +soul. Time and again it seemed within his grasp, and, as he exultantly +proclaimed, "his prospects glorious," when, by his own weakness of will, +it was lost to him. + +Undoubtedly, one of the chief factors in the non-success of Poe's life +and its consequent unhappiness was his marriage. + +Setting aside the poetic imaginings which have been and doubtless will +continue to be written concerning this marriage as one of idylic mutual +love and "idolatry," the story, in the light of established facts, +resolves itself into a very prosaic one. + +Mr. John Mackenzie, Poe's lifelong and only intimate and confidential +friend, never hesitated to say that had Poe been left to himself the +idea would never have occurred to him of marrying his little +child-cousin. In no transaction of his life was his pitiable weakness +more manifest than in this feeble yielding of himself to the dominant +will of a mother-in-law. + +Had Poe remained single or have married another than Virginia, his +regard for her would have continued just what it had been in the +beginning and what it remained to the end--the affection of a brother or +cousin for a sweet and lovable child. But no one can believe that Poe's +nature could have found its satisfying in such a marriage; and, in fact, +whatsoever sentimental things he may have written concerning it, his +whole conduct goes to prove its insincerity. + +Poe was of all men one who most craved and needed the love and sympathy +of a woman of a nature kindred to his own--a woman of talent and +qualities of mind and heart to appreciate his genius and all that was +best in him; one who would be to him not only a congenial companion, but +a "helpmeet" as well. Had he married one of Mrs. Osgood's tender +sensibilities and feminine charm, or Mrs. Whitman, with her talent and +strong character, or even a woman of the practical good sense and +judgment of Mrs. Shew, who knew so well how to care for him mentally and +physically--Poe would have been a different man. + +But his imprudent and, as it has been called, unnatural marriage, cut +him off from what would probably have been the highest happiness of his +life, with its accompanying worldly and social advantages, and bound him +down to a life of unceasing toil, penury and helplessness. It deprived +him of a social position and social enjoyment; for his poverty-stricken +"home" was never one to which he could invite his friends; and he +himself seems never to have found in it any real pleasure, but to have +regarded it merely as a haven of refuge in seasons of distress. But as +the years went by and, despite his incessant toil, his life and his home +grew more cheerless and poverty-stricken, he became hopeless and in a +measure reckless. It is to be noted that it was only after the death of +his wife that he appeared to recover anything like hope or energy. Then +his prospects suddenly brightened in the love of a good and talented +woman who could have made his life happy and prosperous, when, owing to +his miserable weakness of will in yielding to temptation, for which +there was no excuse, it was all at once swept from his grasp. + +Mr. John Mackenzie might well have said, as he did, that Poe's marriage +was the greatest misfortune of his life and as a millstone around his +neck, holding him down against every effort to rise. But perhaps not +even this close friend knew how keenly the poet must have felt the +narrowness of his life, the sordidness of his home, and the humiliation +of his poverty. Patiently and uncomplainingly he bore his unhappy lot; +and it is to be noted to his credit that howsoever he might at times go +astray, no word or act of unkindness toward the wife and mother who +loved him was ever known to escape from him. + +It will be seen from all that has here been written, in the light of +prosaic truth, that Poe's real character was one very different from +that which it has pleased the world in general to ascribe to +him--judging him as it does by the character of his writings as a poet. +The folly of such judgment, and the extent to which it was until +recently carried, is simply surprising. It is true that he appeared to +have but one ideal--the death of a woman young, lovely and beloved--and +that ideal in the imagining of the world resolved itself into the +personality of his wife. She, they concluded, was the original of all +the Lenores, and Anabel Lees, and Ullalumes, which inspired his +melancholy and despairing lyre; and in its gloom and hopelessness they +could see nothing but the expression of the poet's own nature. As well +have accused Rembrandt of being gloomy and morose because he painted in +dark colors. Like the artist, Poe loved obscure and sombre ideas and +conceptions, and he delighted in embodying these in his poems as much as +Rembrandt did in transferring his own to canvas. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +NO. 1. + +Lest the reader should be under the impression that much of what I +relate concerning Poe's childhood and certain circumstances connected +with his early youth is taken from Gill's _Life of Poe_, I will make an +explanation. + +At the time when the first edition of Gill's work was issued I was +engaged in writing what I intended to be a little book concerning Poe, +compiled from my own personal knowledge of him and what I had been told +by others. In some way Gill heard of this, and wrote to me, coolly +requesting to be allowed to see my manuscript, which I, of course, +excused myself from doing. Again and again he wrote, saying that he +"merely wished to see exactly what I had written." In self-defence, +I finally sent him the first part or chapter of the manuscript, he +promising to return it as soon as read. After some weeks it was returned +to me, without a word accompanying; and at the same time a second +edition of Gill's "_Life_" was issued--the first having been +suppressed--in which, to my surprise, I found copious extracts from my +manuscript. All those little anecdotes of Poe's childhood were thus +appropriated, with more important matter--such as Poe's dissipation when +in Richmond and his enlisting in the army, both of which Gill had in his +first edition positively denied; and this he made use of as though it +had been his own original material. My book was, of course, ruined, and +all that I could do was, some years after, to write "_The Last Days of +Poe_," published in _Scribner's Magazine_, though even from this Gill +made "_Notes_" for the Appendix of his second or third edition. + +Some of the material thus appropriated by Gill I have reclaimed and +inserted in this work. A comparison between the first and second edition +of Gill's "_Life of Poe_" affords a curious study, since in the second +he has carefully corrected the misstatements of the former from my +manuscript. + +My friend, Gen. Roger A. Pryor, late Judge of the Supreme Court of New +York, brought suit against Gill in this matter, but met with so much +trouble and annoyance by reason of the latter's persistence in evading +it, that it was finally, at my own earnest request, abandoned. + +Mr. Gill, I am informed, is still living. + + +NOTE 2. + +A strange fate was that of the poet's family, all of whom were indebted +to charity for a last resting place. + +His father, David Poe, died in Norfolk in the summer of 1811. His grave +is unknown. + +His mother was buried by charity in Richmond, December 9, 1811. + +His wife was indebted for a grave near Fordham, in New York, to +charitable contributions of friends. + +His sister, Rosalie Mackenzie Poe, died July 14, 1874, and was given a +pauper's grave in the cemetery of the Epiphany Church Home, in +Washington. + +Mrs. Clemm, his mother-in-law, died an inmate of the Church Home +Infirmary, Baltimore, and was buried by the charity of friends in +Westminster churchyard of that city in 1871. + +Poe himself, whose last days were passed in a charitable institute, was +indebted to relatives for a grave. + +Truly a record unparalleled in the annals of Literary History. + + * * * * * + + + + +BOOKS YOU MUST READ + +SOONER OR LATER + + +_Reuben: His Book_ + +BY MORTON H. PEMBERTON. + +Cloth, Gilt lettering, 12mo. Postpaid, $1.00. 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