The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-09-25
Mfsrellameous.
From The Gift for 1910.
ELEONORA.
by EDoAR A. POE.


/ am of race noted for vigor of fancy and
ardor Of passion. Pyrros is my name. Men
have called me mad; but the question is not yet
settled whether madness be or be not the oftier
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. much that is glorious
whether all that is profound-do not spring from
disease of thought, from moods of mind exalted
at the expense Of the general intellect. They
who dream by day are cognizant OF many things
which escape the dreamers by night. In their
gray visions they obtain glimpses OF eternity,
and thrill, in awaking, to find that they have
been upon the verge of the great secret. In
snatches they learn something of the wisdom
which is of good, and more of that mere know
ledge which is of evil. They penetrate, how
ever rudderless or composites, into the vast
ocean of the light inetIabe, and again. like the
adventures of the Nubian geographer, They
are caught in an ocean of difficulties because
in that they would adventure discovery
We will say then that am mad. grant,
at least, that there two distinct conditions of
my mental existence-the condition of a lucid
reason, not to be disputed, and belonging to the
memory Of events forming the first epoch of my
life; and condition of shadow and doubt, APP
pertaining to the present, and TO the recollection
of what constitutes the second great era of my
being. Therefore, what shall tell Of the earlier
period, believe and to what may relate OF the
later time, give only such credit rs may seem
due; or doubt it altogether; or, if doubt II ye
dare not, then play unto its riddle the Sphynx.
She whom l loved in youth, and of whom
now pen calmly and distinctly these remem-
brances, was the sole daughter Of the only sister
of my mother long departed. Eleonora was the
name of my cousin. We had always dwelled
together, beneath tropical sun, in tn. Valley
of Many Colorcd Grass No ungnided footstep
ever came upon that vale; for it lay singularly
far away up among range Of giant hills that
hung beetling around about il, shutting out the
sunlight from its sweetest recesses NO path
was trodden in its vicinity; and TO reach our
happy home there was need Of putting back with
force the foliage of many thousands of forest
trees, and of crushing to death the gorles Of
many millions Of fragrant flowers. Thus il was
that we lived all alone, knowing nothing OF the
world without the Valley, and my cousin, and
her mother
From the dim regions beyond the mountains
at the upper end of our encircled domain there
crept out narrow and deep river, brighter than
all save Eleonora's eyes and, winding stealth
lily in may courses, it passed away at length
through shadowy gorge among hills still dim
mer than those from which il had issued. We
called il the River of Sience;' for there seem
ed 10 be hushing influence in its flow. No
murmur arose from its bed, and so gently it wan
dered along that the pearly pebbles upon which
we loved TO gaze far down within its bosom,
stirred not at all, but lay in amotionless content,
each in its old station, shining glorously and for
ever.
And the margin of the river, and of the many
dazzling rivulcts that glide through devious ways
into its channel, and the spaces that extended
from the Drinks away down into the depths OF the
streams, until they reached the bed of pebbles at
the bottom-these spot not less than the whole
surface of the valley, from the river TO the noun
tans that girded it in, were carreted all by
soft green grass thick, short, perfectly even and
ila-perfumed but so besprinkled throughout
with the yellow buttercup, the white daisy, the
purple violet, and the ruby-red asphodel, that its
exceeding beauty spoke TO our hearts in loud
tones of the love and Of the glory Of God.
And here and there, in groves about this
grass. like wildernesses of dreams, sprang up
fantastic trees, whose tall, slender stems stood
not upright, but santed gracefully toward the
| light that peered at MONDAY into the centre of
the valley. Their bark was speckled with the
vivid alternate splendors of ebony and silver,
and was smoother than all save the cheeks OF
Eleonora-so that but for the brilliant green Of
| the huge leaves that spread from their SUBMITS
! in long tremuous lines, dallying with the ze-