St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-02
THE LESSON OF a WASTED LIFE.

OIueT anu ldulllg ucaIsS the most BeaullIQl
and divine scene on earth"
THE LESSON OF \ WASTED LIFE.
One of the last literary productions of the
late DIR. PRIME was a critical review of the
| life of EDGAR ALLEN Poe. The only time
that DR.. PRIME came in contact with the
poet whose works are filed with such weird,
4 grotesque imagery was forty years ago,
when they served together on a committee
to examine essays of the young ladies in
Rutgers institute. OF that meeting Dr.
PRIME said: Although the platform on
which we stood was filed with invited
guests, the face of no one of them, excep
PoE's, remains an image in my memory.
His figure, his stature the expression on
his lip, his eyes, hair, even his dress. are
diStin; Il Impressions while | could not now
certify to the presence of the elegant preSi-
dent, Dr.. FERRIS, or any other individual"
DIR. PRIMES estimate of Poe is that he
would have been great if ne had been good.
He regarded him as the most brilliant. faS-
cin2ting and remarkable writer of his age,
although his conception of the nature and
value of beauty was wrong and his analysis
SAtSh Api NUN DNihE Nitdi. INN. III spite
Of his genius, PoE's life was worse
than wasted. And all this waste
and ruin and failure came from
want of moral character. PoE's
fondness for drink and gambling and his
craze for opium were ruinous vices, but the
worst of all was his disregard for truth.
In his memoirs of the poet Mr.. WooD-
BERRY says. at the outset 1T may as well
be confessed at once that any unsupported
assertion by Poe regarding himself is to be
received with great caution" This habit
of untruthfulness is repeatedly illustrated by
examples in his life. The love of truth.
which is essential TO firm. sound charac-
ter, was essentially lacking in PoE'S na-
ture. He married his cousin before she
was Il years old. getting a too easy friend
TO make oath before a magistrate that she
was 81. His proteStations of love for this
child-wife are as strong as his great com
mand of vigorous speech can produce: he
works it into tales and poems, raves about
it in every form and figure of rhetoric, but
he never cared enough for her TO spend
his pittance for bread when she was
starving for want of it, and he wanted
nIiNAN. HIS dlltIklplN were TIE tINl-
lures of his infiamed Imagination. His de-
vOtion was lip service. 1t is not known
that he ever loved anybody except on paper
His biographer says of him: Except the
wife who idOlized him and the (her) mother
who cared for him, no one touched his
heart in the years Of his manhood. and at
no time was love so strong in him as To rule
his life, a he was self-indulgent. he was
self-absorbed. aud outside of his family no
kind act no noble affection, no generous
sacrifice is recorded of him.
PoE's life was full of poverty and wretch
edneSs, his days We're indeed few and evil.
for he died a WORKOUT old man at the age
of 80. The lesson that Dr. PRIME draws
from the wasted life of Americas great
poet is expressed as follows: Let every
young man who is fired with ambition to
excel in a literary career remember that
several authors of great renown are credited
with the remark that literature is very
well for a cane. but not for a crutch' 1t is
not to be depended on fer ones whole sup
port. 1t will do for a help-live. Have
some honest and useful calling by which
daily bread may be earned. and to your
|
Genius. learning, taste or talent viii assert
Itself. if you have that peace of mind and
calm content which come only when ones
| bread and water are reasonably assured.
\ literary man will do his best work
when his nerves are quiet in the morning.
after sound sleep and without artificial
stimulus. Every element of success in
writing is more lively and abundant in
those conditions than in any other. There
are diversitieS of gifts and various cOnsti-
| tutions of mind and body. But the right
man is at his best when his faculties are in
their normal state, or AZ nearly so as he can
get them. Wine is a mocker. strong drink
plague, and opium ruin TO all who would
do good brain work.
Il know that bad men have been great
men, that very mean, selfish and vicious
men have achieved wealth and fame. But
that fact does not weaken the grand truth
that virtue is the only basis of good charae-
! ter, and he who would stand up high i'm the
world should be rooted and grounded in
truth. The paths of literature are white
with the bones of young men who have
persisted by the way, victims of their own
follies; men whose names might have been in
scTibed among the worlds benefactors, lights
and guides but for their self-indulgence. And
of this there is not a more melancholy ex-
ample than is left in the life of EDGAR A.
| PoE."
A CONFEDERATE RELIC.