Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-09-24

sweetest Of our own poets. And IL psU-
ly. think. mitigates our error tnst We
have raised monuments TO the poets Oh
other nations-to Scott. 10 burns, 10
Goethe. or even 10 the worlds Shake
speare-whie we have utterly and shame
fully neglected our brother, who, u we
have one at all, was and In certainly our
American Shakespeare.
THE New York Shakespeare Society
has invited you here to-day, gentiemen'
to consult with us and see how we can.
tardlly as IL is, at last right this WRONG.
and wipe out this disgrace. IL the true
poet, the patient. laborious. honest, Kim
loving, and famlly-loving man, who lived
and starved here on this spot. within
these homely walls. has ever suffered
a word OF obloquy from US, let us first
pray here and now. to be forgiven. III
he deserved bitterness and suffering, at
least he had his cup filled with them 10
the brim in his lifetime. It Is not for
our day and generation 10 fill that cup
again. There in that room the wife OF
his youth in the dead OF winter, lay
sick with no covering, relying for what
warmth she could get by holding pet
cat 10 her bosom. and Poe saw her fade
away and die. without friendly hand
TO aid him. Surely. we have sins enough
of our own TO answer for without adding
more misery to the name OF this man.
Il am sure that no one OF us has ever
loaded up his little wheelbarrow with
mlre 70 empty upon the grave OF Edgar
Allan Poe. Many there are. however
who have loaded up such heaps 10 empty
upon his poor grave. He has not slept
the less calmly and the less peacefully.
But for the dehlers. let US only ask that
they be forgiven. too. When the mourn
full story of his life was written out the
book OF " was not closed. II has been
kept open for more mire, and for more
dishonor, and for more calumny and
even to-day those who are editing, In
noble volumes his immortal works. write
depreciatOry biographies, patronizing no
,ices. and apologies for what they call h!s
misspent life
His misspent life. Gentlemen, II Ed
gar Allan Poe. while writing his immortal
prose and poetry upon an empty stomach,
kept body and soul together with a glass
Of brandy, am tempted TO thank
God for that glass OF brandy.
| am rather tempted TO congratu-
late English literature that he did
not sign any pledge of total abstinence
until that glass OF brandy had helped
him 10 carve In living words. In words that
we read to-day-flfty years after he wrote
them-his place In letters-a place that
nobody ever filled before, and that nobody
has had the temerity' 20 rush into and TO
try to occupy since.
However. let US briefly state TO you
what your committee has done during the
vacation just passed, and TO ask your
ratification of its efforts. You see me
tumble-down condition Of this property
and the almost piecemeal condition or
these walls. As the property stands II
Is for sale TO US But the difficulty in
purchasing II. as IL stands. Is mat the
citv Is about TO widen this historic Old
thoroughfare OF the King's-Bridge road,
and that viii cut this poor cottage just
In half SO we must move II II we wish
TO preserve IL, and we must act quickly.
Your committee has been assured by
expert and responsible housemovers that
they will guarantee 70 move this cottage
100 feet I'm any direction, but not one
foot more So. when, In June last your
committee saw that there was no time
20 lose. II took the liberty OF asking sub
scriptons for "A fund. the object OF which
was 20 be 10 purchase and preserve this
cottage, II not upon the ground where 1t
now stands. at least somewhere In the
near vicinity. The appeal was respond
ed to with more enthusiasm than the ter
rible heat Of this summer would have
suggested. and several hundred dollars
have already been placed I'm your com
mittee's hands. or promised TO IT,
Thomas w. Keene has generously
given us 800. Augustin DAILY cabled MS
so. and promise Of more. And three
prominent artists have agreed 10 give
benefit performances for the fund a some
prominent theatre And we shall succeed
i'm preserving this cottage as memorial
Of the poet 10 be kept always open as
shrine sacred 20 his memory and main
tanned with appropriate furnishings. An
offer from San Francisco TO aid in erect
ing a monument TO the poet TO stand
facing the cottage on its new Site when
secured has reached us. Another has
come from Baltimore 10 aid in securing
a duplicate of the bronze raven over his
cenotaph there 10 crown our gateway.
In short, from every quarter your COM
mittee. having scarcely done more than
breach the project. has met with friend
ly suggestions and offers OF cooperation.
"If it is asked why the New York
Shakespeare Society has undertaken this
work | answer. first. because we are a
New York society; and, secondly, because
we are a Shakespeare society. and be-
cause Edgar Allan Poe was our American
Shakespeare 7 might add. thirdly, be-
cause there is no Poe society. and be-
cause nobody else is doing the work In
its ten years Of life the New York Shake
speare Society has never undertaken any
project which IL did not complete, nor
made any promise IL has not fulfilled.
And this one is not going TO be an ex-
ception."