Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-03-10
$50 sets teeth $40. Dr.. Wix.
EDGAR A. POE.

An old man sat in a big arm chalr,
putting clouds of tobacco smoke into the
air. He was gazing into the smoke with
! meditative eyes, as if it were the misty
curtain of bygone years, and he was tell
ing what he saw-a picture of the days
in old New York when prince Van
Buren,, the son Of the president, led
nightly gathering Of good fellows III the
coy taverns around the old Park the
alter in Park Row, when the dramatic
| and literary lions We're entertained by
social leaders in their residences on Cher
ry Hill, and when obscure and struggling
poets like Poe We're fond of wandering
in the quiet lanes above Fourteenth
street. The old man saw himself in STIR
ring scenes of the old days, for he was
Gabriel Harrison, who was a popular
young actor in the %forties, and also an
artist and politician and friend of cele-
| brated men. Of all these wise and witty
gentlemen he is the sole survivor. He
lives in Brooklyn with his memories and
his mementos of great S1ames and great
occasions.
He received me in his "den,' the walls
of which are adorned with queer theatre
cal trophies and with paintings and en-
cravings from his own brush and pencil.
The originals of his illustrations for his
Life of Forrest were here, and many
other products of his artistic talent; but
all seemed dominated by one picture-a
! StIlhllS pOIlIdll L d Ihdi Will q SIC
brow, ~overhanging, large, melancholy
eyes set in a face that was peculiarly
sensitive and expressive.
Il remember we'll the day." Mr.. Harri-
son was saying, when l took the da-
! guerreotype of Poe from which l made
that portrait. 1t was, I think, in 1916,
and soon after + had temporarily aban-
doned my stage career to give play to my
artistic tendencies as chief operator for
the celebrated John Plumb in his daguer-
reotyping establishment. This art was
then comparatively new, you know, and
was regarded as one of the wonders of
the world. I was one of Poe's few init
mate friends. He would drop into the
studio at about closing time in the after
noon, and we would walk up town to-
| gether,, or down Broadway to the Bat
terry, where we would sit on the old stone
buttress and talk poetry and philosophy
as the golden sunset was reflected Upon
the waters of the bay and the shadows
deepened over on the wooded shore Of
Long Island.
Il asked Poe several times when he
was at the studio to sit for his portrait,
but he always refused on the ground
tina his clothes were too shabby. But
one afternoon l caught him in an un-
usually comDlacent mood and obtained
the original of the engraving you see on
the wall. This was but three years be-
fore Poe's success, and he was not at all
prosperous. I recOllect that once we were
walking up tow together late in the day,
when Poe began to sway from side to side
n then stopped. He said he felt faint.
We went into a cafe and had a glass of
wine and a biscuit. Poe then told me
that his sudden dizziness was the result
of not having eaten anything since early
morning.
The manner in which Poe and I first
came to scrape an acquaintance was, on
his side, thoroughly characteristic. Per-
haps you would like to hear the story.
Well, in 1S43, l decided that riches in real
life would be more satisfying than pro-
digious wealth as a mimic king or lord,
and so l opened a store for the sale of
general merchandise. My shop was a
part of the property of William Niblo,
and was on the corner of Broadway and
Prince street. Next door was the florist
establishment of Grant Thorhurn, the
eccentric Scotchman and author of For
ty Years in America" Flowers From
Larry Todd's Garden etc.
zone chilly evening I happened to
glance through my window and saw a
small man with a large head looking in
rather wistfully at some beautiful plugs
of tobacco I had displayed. In a moment
he entered and asked the price of the
tobacco. When l told him he made no
move to buy, and after a few general
remarks started to cave. 1 was struck
by a certain indefinite something in his
manner, by his voice and by his fine ar
ticulation. My ear was very sensitive on
this point, for the reason that I was an
actor, and because l had been taught TO
read by Aaron Burr, the finest natural