Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-08-29

XHDOIllHS lyO pAb~AA
credited as voices Of wisdom.
travellers notice about Richmond
written about Poes time, says or lts
,eorIe that they formed "a society no"
seldom 10 be met with in any or our
cities-a society Of people not exclusively
monopolized by money-making pursuits,
but OF liberal education, liberal hapi.S u
thinking and acting and possessing Dotil
leisure and inclination to cultivate tnoso
feelings and pursue those objects whlch
exoIt orr nature rather than increase oui
fortune" ..,,,,,,oa ,r
such testimony might be multiplied !.
needed. only one other Illustration WI,
be added as showing the environment 81
the poets years Of training ana eouo"-
ton: ,, during
,ha ,esrs of Poe's life here may be
,nentioned the names OF Edmund Ran
doth william Writ, John Wickham'
Rushrod Washlngton; John Marshal'
afterwards Chief Justice; Albert Gala
Tin. afterwards Secretary Of the Irea-
sury. and William Munford' vne
translator of Homer. OF course, hst
of names like those here mentioned 10
far above the average run Oh clIizenS,
but the influence Of such characters
necessarily pervaded the whole conihu,
nitv giving il tone and distinction. Ana
n is certain that Poe was In social IN
tercourse with at least some OK them'
as Is evidenced by interchange OF let
ers between him and Mr.. Writ.
such arc some Of the facts or the
Intellectual and social life OF Poe
earlier days, and OF the anteceuen'
factors that made that life what IL was.
Properly considered. they may throw
large light on the preparation anu
training OF such a genius for his ire
work. and may help to explain SUM
seemingly enigmatic facts OF a career
thot has been so much misunderstood
and misInterpreted not to say mlsrep-
resented. Briefly summarized, 1t may
he said that in such a school or Ire as
was that OF Poe's early days the les
sons taught and illustrated by great
exemplars were those OF honor, cour-
ace and Intellectual freedom. long
Iina NJ Vireinians. eminent in the forum
and tho field. had inwoven into the very
fabric OF their Commonwealth the prln-
ciples maintained and exemplineu III
their lives, and n succession or schoiar
Iy writers and trained orators some ol
the latter unmatched at their time III
the world, had popularized THESE res
sons and made them the common pro-
perty and heritage OF the community.
poets training in this school began at
a time when Washington and Patrick
Henry had been dead only twelve years
ara fifteen years before the death IL Mr..
Jefferson. A parallel might easily De
drawn TO show that what these great
men and their. associates had strlYen
for and effected I'm the fields of war ana
nolitics II was the destiny or Poe 10
strive for and largely effect In the neio
~ letters besides enriching the worid
with treasures of immortal poetry. Inc
very bone and slnew OF his literary
character. as exemplifed in his crltl-
cal writings. made his pen In the heid
Of letters. what Jefferson's had been In
the field of politics. SO straight does
the parallel run that we ma MN III
later years demanding a Declaration OK
Independence in letters such as Jeher-
son had formulated in politics.
Amid such environment and under such
influences. material and intellectual, were
passed the earlier years OF Poes me-
from the age OF 2 TO 8, and, after the re-
turn from England. his years from the
nth to the 18th of his age. In later IKE
he called himself Virgnian. even wheh
living elsewhere, and such his training
and education had made him. Giving thelr
due consideration TO the facts that nad
moulded the character Of the CIVILIZATION
in which he was reared, 1t viii be seen
that his intellectual life was but the de-
velopment of principles imbibed from the
very atmosphere Of his early surround
ings.
singularly happy was the fortune OF
the orphan waif In his adoption into the
home that was to be his for so many
wears. His foster parents must nave
been good people, and but scant justice
has been done in the poets biographies
to the noble woman whose loving care
was layished on the care and training
of her young ward. Childless nerseh'
she was a mother to him.
Some of the few facts known about
Nrs Allan would indicate that she was
a favorite with those who knew her In
life In the will that subsequently en-
rIched her husband, old Mr.. Gait, the tes-
tator. makes a special bequest or his
carriage and horses to her. We can only
imagine what may have been the com
fort and happiness Of her modest home
I'm those early days when II was hrst
brigbtened by the beauty and grace OF the
Wonderful boy whose early genius was de-
veloped under her watchful eye. OF those
years there IS no known recoru' anu INC
only account is from traditions and re-
collections of family friends. or other
friends and enemies Of later years, tinged
with the impressions OF those later years
and sometimes discolored by preJucice.
THE Edgar Poe of those early years was
a how loved and loving. under the train
ing OF a good, pure woman. The Poe OF
later years. when traditions began 10
form about him, was the young genius.
with a stormy experience OF life behind
him. fighting his life-battle, and win
such enemies as genius must always en-
counter. His case, in after life. was
no exception to the common experience.
as expressed in the aphorism OF great
wit: when a genius appears In the
world. all the ounces are in confederacy
against him" u T.