The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-07
IRELAND'S EDGAR ALLAN POE.

GS II Sun htmsE, rHAl' CapylIN, E
sssks The oyer.satipfying S
Cidar-jng. --Boston Courier.
IRELAND'S EDGAR ALLAN POE.
In Glasneyin cemetery, where Ireland has
gathered to her bosom some of her brnvest,
hor most gifted sous. Is a grave unmarked
by stone or slab, one that is dear to the
hearts OF Irishmen the world ~over-the
grave OF James Clarence Mangan. Many
q tear has fallen on IT, many a prayer has
boon rnurmnred over IL since that summer,
dire and terrible in Irish history, when the
wasted body of Clarence Mangan was laid
in the dust. Those restless, Wild blue
eyes were closed at last in a sleep an
troubled by dreams, that heart tumultuous
n breaking was at last forever stilled.
Here the ~aternest we'll may relsnt, the SO
verest soften to pity. He who in life knew
naught but misery and wretchedness and
despair surely in death deserves only our
lipdneas and our commiseration. The
uniformly woful career Of ManRan has been
often and sadly told. Mitchell told it in
80 in q brief introduction to a volume Of
his poems-told it as his friend and helper
might we'll tell it; with tenderness, with
pity and with sorrow. Thus writes Mary j.
Onahan in the Chicago Post.
James Clarence ManRan, like Moore, was
the son of a grocer and WIS born in Fisham-
BILE street, Dublin, May !, 1903. His father,
he tells us in the fragment Of an autobio-
graphy found after his death, treated him
and his brothers and sister 'sas a huntsman
would treat refractory hounds" 1--WE often
boasted," says Mangan, ''that we would
run into a mouse hole to shun him. In
deed, the poet attributed all his misfor-
tunes to his father. He was an improvident
man, let the little business he had slip
through his fingers, and then gave himself
up to bitterness and despair. Wa need not
wonder that poverty coon gave place to &C.
tual want in the Mangan household. Reared
in an atmosphere Of curses and intemper-
ance, Of cruelty, intidelity and blasphemy,
it is not surprising that Clarence Mangan
was a trembling, a stunted and an uncanny
child. What little school education he got
was acquired at a small ''popish seminary
In Derby square. His schooling lasted till
he was thirteen. Then for seven years he
labored MS a scrivener's clerk and contriyed
out of the miserable p~ittance he received to
help support that wretched household. II
was taken from my books,'' he says, lob
liged to relinquish my solitary rambles and
musings and compelled for the miserable
pittance OF a few shillings weekly to herd
with the %coarsest of associates"
One Of his biographers alludes to a gap
in his life, OF which there is no record,
'into which he entered a bright-haired
youth and emerged a withered and stricken
man." Possibly il is the period Of which
Mangan writes: my physical and mental
torments, my endurances from cold, heat,
hunger and fatigue and that isolation OF
mine which was perhaps worse than all,
in the end flung mo into a foyer, and | was
transmitted to a hospital.ng He left the
hospital old iii soul, though young in
years." 1t was doubtless among the evil
associates of the scrivener's office that
Mangan first fell g victim to the demon CT
drink-that demon i'll whose, clutches he
was all his life TO struggle and to whose
power he was finally to .succumb. The
worss and the better self! What strange
fated that no human misery should be
alien to him. 1t WAS probably before his
complete downfall that Mangan went
through that other great branch in the cur
riculum of his education. He foil in
love Gas what Irishman does not?) and he
was deceived. The fair Frances was false.
She captured his heart, toyed awhile with
it, then coolly flung it back to him and
"whistled him down the wind Those
beautiful Lines purporting tos be a ballad
from Rueclert were surely wasted upon
her: @
II saw her once--one little while and then no
moro. '&.
Twas paradise on earth awhile ard then 10
All! what anvil my vigils pale, my magic lore?
She shone before my eyes awhile and then no
The shallop of my peace is wrecked on b%eauty's
shore.
Near hope's fair isle it rode awhile and then no
more.
! saw her once, ono little while and then no
EARTH looked like heaven a little while and then
no more.
Her presence thrilled and lighted to its inner
core -.H na
My desert breast q little while and then no
Thanks to tile efforts of DR.. Todd and to
one or two other friends, Mangan obtained
employment in the magnificent library OF
Trinity college. of which DR.. Todd was tho
librarian. lie was sst to work making an
improved catalogue of the hooks-a labor
for which his varied and polyglot studios
eminently fitted him. Here Manpan NO
CURED or perfected his wide and miscelln-
neous stock Of learning. He was fluent i'll
the German. French and Spanish tongues,
but his knowledge OF Persian, Coptic and
other oriental languages seemed to have
been purely visionary. Many Of his poems
he sent in as translations. When asked
why he gave credit TO Others for what was
his own-ntt' ihuted to HAITI lines that wete
eltiTelY oTiwiHAl-uo answered. palllSElCally:
"Haiz paid better than ManGan.'' Whether
through diftidence or through patriotiam
(patriotism i'll Ireland always includes
hatred of everything English) he never con
tributed q line to an English newspaper or
periodical. His poems appeared in the
Dublin Penny journal, tho Irish Penny
Journal and the Dublin University Maya
zine. In lS42 the Nation WAS started and
for tive years Mangan was n weekly cou-
to its columns. When Mitchell left
the Nation in ~ Margan followed him
and attached himself to the fortunes Of tho
new mouthpiecc, the United 1 ishman.
Regular employment, TINT sure ateadier
Of genius, did little to steady tue genius of
Mangan. AT times he would disappear en-
be lost for weeks and months, none
knowing whittier he had gone: then he
would reanpear as suddenly as he had van
ished, only more W etched, more hnggard
and more ~foFlorn. The one fatal weakness
reduced him almost to the verge of in
i,
Sir Charles Gavan Duffy was HIS stnunoh
friend and loyal helper and to him Mangan
often appealed in his dilest necessity.
Witness the following letter: i.
my DEAR DUREy. am uttar1v uraa-