The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-01-15


somewhat wild and unsettled, and it was
in reality a farmhouse of a primitive
character The northward march of
New Y FORK during the past half century
has caused Fordham to be included
within the city limits of New York and
has given the tiny cottage many neigh
bors. The cottage is of wood and looks
not unlike one of the Shantytown houses
built by the numerous squatters on tie
rocks in upper New York.
Its roof is covered with shingles, ard
the walls were once painted white, but
the rains and storms of passing years
have worn the paint away. Along the
front runs a narrow porch, in front Of
which is a sturdy cherry tree that Poe
planted in 1847 and which still bears a
good crop of fruit. On the lower floor
are two large rooms and a kitchen. The
front room was the bedroom of the poets
child wife, Virginia Glen Poe, and here
her gentle spirit took leave of earth. She
died of consumption in 1847, and it is
related that the family was so poor that
there was not sufficient bedclothing
upon the bed to keep her warm, and that
the poets overcoat covered her and a
pet cat nestled in her bosom.
The other large room on the ground
floor was the dining and sitting room
where Poe received his visitors At one
end of the room is hugo stone chimney,
and there is narrow hall from which
steep stairs lead to low attic which
the poet utilized as his study There
are tiny PANIED windows, and the slop-
ing sides of the roof are so near the floor
that one can barely stand erect in the
room. Yet here Poe is said to have writ
ten his marvellous musical poem, ''The
Bells, /" the pathetic 'fAnnabeI Lee" and
his last notable poem, the weird ''Ula-
lume." There is some dispute as to
where ''The Raven was written, but the
poet doubtless composed it at different
times and in various places, and not in
the quaint attic of the Fordham cottage.
The cottage is at present owned by
Austin E. Ford and is in such an ex-
cellent state of preservation that it will
stand many years if spared by fire and
the real estate speculator. 1t is open to
tseers, and hundreds of tourists visit
| it every day There is a visitors book,
and the registration shows that people
from all over the world are drawn to the
spot.
Not far from the cottage is st. John g
college, which Poe often visited, and
/ there are several residents of Fordham
who knew the poet we'll They described
him as a quiet. courteous man who was
! a gentleman even when pursuing his
unsteady way along the Kingsbridge
| road as the result of his intemperance.
/ The rent of the cottage was only $65 a
! year, but it was largely unpaid when he
/ left, owing to his impoverished condi-
| ton, and he was also mourned by his
| butcher, grocer and milkman. Literature
was an unremunerative field in New
York in Poe's day, and it is said that
| part of the time while Poe occupied the
Fordham cottage his salary on The
Evening Mirror was only $40 week.
Poe is buried in the old graveyard of
| the Westminster Presbyterian church,
| Baltimore. There were but two vehicles
at the funeral, hearse and a carriage,
and only four persons followed the dead
poet to his grave, which was unmarked
until 1875, when the schoolteachers of
Baltimore erected a simple marble me-
mortal costing 81, 600.