The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-01-15
EDGAR ALLAN POE
NOT A DRUNKARD.
The Testimony Of His NeighbOrs at
Fordham.
4 MARTYR TO HIS IDEALS.
Farm Laborcrs Were Better RAID than
the Man Who Established His
Country's Literary
Independence.

The resolution or the university OF VT
yinia to place in SIS Memorial Han
bronze bust OF Edgar Allan Poe who
seventy three years ago next February
tnatriculatod as its student. brings again
prominently before his couniryman this
unique and unhappy personality, who' IN
bis short lifetime. while sounding every
note OF personal discomfort, priyaton and
sorrow. seems never TO have despaired for
"a moment OF the future Of ms own
achievement
For the evidence seems 20 be mat I'd
rar Poe was nan with single heroic
purpose purpose 20 which DE devoted
his life. And that purpose was 10 achleNe
the Nteray indcpcndcncc-ts MS ahcea-
tors had done their share TO achieve the
political iudepondcncc-Of his country. II
this should happen 90 be the fact, too
hssh praise cannot be rendered 10 the
venerable institution which has been UNI
deferred by noise about dissipatod habits,
which, alone in poor Poe's case mas sur
vived by fifty years the pathetic termlna-
eion Of his pathetic struggle for existence.
Edgar Allan Poe, We are assured was
a drunkard, a dipsOmaniac ana an IN
CRATE who wrote under the Impulse or
alcoholic saturatlon. who lived by fraud
upon oil with whom he came tn contact
Are these statements contemporary or
post mortem2 30 such report as TO Mr.
Poe circulated 40 all in his lifetime but
apeared only after his death have
been unable 20 ind a single contemporary
trace CT H. That IL was uttered first 10y
tho man whom Poe himself selected Tor
his biographer is something 1 cannot
and do not propose 20 attempt do-ac-
count for.
The fact appears 20 be that Poe's dad
enitaph" Gas Hamlet would say was
never earned by himself And Do IS be-
ginning 10 be suspected that Edgar Allan
Poe was a patient, modest courteous
gentleman. a kn-lOving and famiiy-loV-
fng-albeit a very poor and very uh-
fortunate-man. and that he was
martyr. not 10 his own excuses or eVl
scourses. but 20 his ideals.
Ole was that martyr II seems. 10 the
soverty- stricken. and entirely unremun-
eratiye and producing state
Of American literamre-hOw unrcmunera-
tive and nOn-revcnuc- producing can Det-
Ger be told boy The following letter than
by any amount OF sympathetic com
mcnt:
,pfessrs. Tea & Blanchard. Philadelphia.
.sGentlemon-I wish 10 publish "a new
collection OF my prose tales with some
such title as this. The Prose TALES of
Edgar Allan Poe. Including The Murders
IN the Rue Morsue, the Descent Into the
Maelstrom, and an His Later Pieces.
With a Second Edition OF the Tales of
the Grote<que and ArabesQue.' The later
pieces will be eight I'm lumber. making
the entire collection thirty-three Wnich
would occupy two thick volumes.
1T am anxious that your firm should
continue 90 be my publishers. and Of YOU
would be willing 90 bring out the book
I should be glad 90 accept the terms
which you allowed me before. that is'
YOU receive an profits ana allow me
twenty copies for distribution TO friends.
'~yVIn you be kind enough TO give me
nm early reply 60 this letter and believe
me.
Yours. very respectfully
philadelphia. once Graham's Maga-
zine. Aug. g. 81
Compared with this. a ten-pound note
for Paradise Lost was princely muuih-
cencel No wonder that am aged farmer
In Fordham related that ON one occasion
when engaged with an assistant In weed
ing turnips or hocing potatoes. he looked
up and saw Mr. Poe leaning over the
fence regarding him. ON accOstlng him.
Mr.. Poe inquired what wages
he Ohe farmer paid for mat
sort OF lNNnIs TIC WIS N'iN Ete
shilings a day. and the farmer says
that he heard Mr.. Poe repeating over 10
himself, "Six fhillings "a day. six shill-
sngs = day" and that ne Uhe farmer
somehow absorbed the idea that Alr. Poe
was casting over in his mind fhe conn
narrative ahiuence Of tho lot OF farm
faborer over that OF poet
"But. OF course" said the farmer I'm
telling the story, eve DIDN'T employ them
kind 1T any such fair prices as that.
IL is hard to imagine 20 less tempting
field than spread itself before Edgar
Allan Poe in those years of l>-5-lSiS in the
United States of America American
literature was if possible less than a
name. And yet in the face of this Poe
without q friend or "a hacker without a
trade resource or avocation. determined
60 live 10 the last by his pen, and TO his
LOYALTY 90 his pen he clung. The result
was as IL was. 10 meant hunger and
A. meant hunger for every day I'm the
YEAR The inv nourishod body craved
Etimulants no doubt bat could not re-
tain them. while the effect OF the slight
est employment OF them was precisely
that which dissipation or heightened
orgy would produce in man oil iul
habit
Ii was the age of sidcboards But there
Is no trace in his case. as there Isl plenu-
fully in the case OF fut - '"ilfiiiI'
aries. OF even cOnvival habus on the
contrary. he had few acQuain,ances and
no intlmatos Hc never wrote "a haccna
nal or n drinking song Indeed. there is
no English author. not "a worker in pure
rnathematics or foo the physical sciences
whose work is SO absolutely deficient in
eenSuous or sensual matter, or cNploita-
ton OF appetite or passion. / would like
90 devote the rest Of this paper %
demonstrating that no contemporary
story Of Poe exhibits him cas- "a drunkart
however 81 may admit his temptations
and his occasional yielding 20 them. boy
reason Of a badly-nOurishcd body and the
unremunerative character OF his work.
"Wo lived so near that we exchanged
visits almost daily says one informant
speaking OF her own grlhood. II usec
60 hold the sheets of his manuscripts un
I'll he had finished what ne had written
when ne would paste one sheet upon th'
edr. OF the other until the scroll woul
reach across me room. Then i woul'
roll Il lightly, and my greatest pleasure
was 10 have it "a symmetrical cylinder
As 10 his personal appearance. j thini
no portrait could do Justice 10 thoa
flashing eyes. which fascinated me hk
+. charm and won my heart os child
He was Ike one inspired when in hi
best mood. and 10 was then that he toll
AIS wonderful stories OF genii and dragons
and his pale anxious face would light M
with a rOse-glOw. as II a lamp Durne'
within. lie had the nervous fever Of
consumptive. and the depressed moods
When he was absorbed he never nouce'