The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-09-22

tlue8 tuAt uN was uUt uhtttCutN " tau~ dle. Most old residents of Fordham recall him for his ruminative walks, but Jacob Cole, a lad at that period, pictures him for his military air, it being common enough then in the city to sec coat with cape, but rare in the agricultural districts,
 Poe had his offs and ons. llc was not a steady drinker, Appreciation was his thirst. Often he found is in tho society of intellectual women, who visited hlmself and wife In the city. Ordinarily grave and silent, among them he could be chatty and witty. Craving excitement apart from his labor, he sought the companionship of his guild down town, and ho found that, too, In little store In Nassau street, between Ann and Bcekman. where gathered few elevated literary minds, reinforccd by sprinkling of actors like Peter Cunningham, John Brougham, Oliver Raymond. Tom Johnston and John Niekinson. It was not dram shop, but 1t dispensed va- rious kinds of nervine, and it had facil- ities for adding emphasis to what "the governor of North Carolina said to the governor of South Carolina" Far from being in the line of promotion as \ sot, Poe lacked mental storage for deep draughts or many, Ills nerves were always at too high a key for him to guxzlc like a GargAntua. For him to sip was to go through almost at the outset. When bent on loosenese, 1t did not take him long to get tight. lt was wise move that carried him to For,sham. Probably it was Mrs. Clemm's idea. Access to the city was expensive, but easy enough, for the Harlem railroad, which, tho year before, had been opened to White Plains, was drawing it's big cars (not near so long as the engine and tender of to-day) by horses from near Fourth avenue and Thirtieth street to Tyron- row and Center street but to offset this there was no groggery in the vil- lage, although liquor could be bought at the solitary grocery store. Another offset were the iine intellects In St. John's college, which Archbishop Hughes that year turned over to tho Jcsuits. Poe went often to tho col iege. One priest Is still there who knew him intimately, had keen Ap- prcciation of his intelligence and gen tility, believed that he struggled hard against his crowning vice, and testiflcs that he was a sober man during hia closing years In foriham. The order has ctergymcn much older in years l Nal l.nt Lfa priestly and lidactic service has made him extremely old physically, and the hundreds of former pupils of his. scat tered throughout the states, Canadas and Cubas, who bear him in kindly remembrance, will regret to hear that this earnest, studious man, who once read nearly all the time, has SD taxed his eyes that now lie es1 scarcely read at sll.
 In the winter of isi6.7 there were two souls in Fordham on the brink
 She who crossed to the happier shore was buried in January in # private vault attached to the little Protestant church near by Poe had been warned but not summoned. He remained al inc cottage until the autumn of Is49, He had tried 10 lecture and to give readings meanwhile, but WAS not sue cesstul. it was easy to miss \ hit. The literary men of that period had n craze for experiments of that sort, and three public buildings were kept pretty well filled Con the platforms) by lecturers One was Clinton hall on the corner of Theatre alley, where Temple court now rears itself: an- other was the Coliseum, four or Ave doors above Mitcbcll's Olympic thea trc, and the third was the Society H.
 brary rooms, Broadway and Leonard street. The pens that talked in those days are all rusty, with the possible sole exception of that of Charles A. Dana, who, on one or two occasions, several months after Poe had gleapcd wisdom from failure, held audiences at the Coliseum as If in the hollow of his hand. 4 pet project Of Poe's, second in intensity only t5 his Tapt
 struggle with the problem of the Cosmos, took him south, but he had
 to wade through the barrooms before he reached the sheltering arHs of r.
 ". White, in Richmond. His pur-
 pose was to issue periodical entitled
 the Stylus, to be published simultane. ously at the north and in the south, beginning In July, Iss0. At last, reaching Richmond, hc doDned sack.
 cloth, took the pledge, lectnred oD
 temperance, and engaged himself to marry an acquaintance of his youth who had wearied of widowhood. lIe sent Aunt Maria word that he would
 start to bring her to Richmond. She was getting ready to leave the cottage , on October sth, when she saw Mrs. , Cromwell crossing the road with . } newspaper in her hand. Not word