The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-01-15

OF the world. but those were tho days
when wine ran like water and not 20
serve a would have seemed niggardly.
remember that ono day Muddy. as ne
called Mrs. GLENN, came TO our house
and asked us not 20 offcr wine TO blgar
as his head was weak. but he ala not
wish TO refuse"
Il am drawn to you by your defense OF
Fodpar A. Poe" writes John DE Gailioru
OF Chattanooga, Tenn. II love nm
though I met him but once-t WAS III
September. 1876. ] was sitting on PIE
watching our bark that was mooreu 10
the pile. a quiet neatly dressed genre
man came up 20 me and asked me num-
hcrlcss quest ions in regard 20 my se'iar-
ing life He was so lovable in his con-
vcrsation that ] never forgot him. ana
prize the memory OF that few hours OF
his sweet talk with me and hold II sacred
20 his memory lie could not nave oeeh
a drinkinr man. for his looks did not
show H. on my telling that was a run
away boy from Kentucky, he TOOK some
scraps OF paper from his pocket ana TOOK
notes. telling me he could MAKE a nice
story out Of what had told him / TOOK
him aboard the bark and showed him a
net monkey I had brought from Natal
Ho ate "A piece OF biscuit drank some
cold coffee and told me he should come
and SEQ me again and get acquainted
with my captain. This was years ago.
/ am an old man now. sevcnty-three
years old, but / can remember word for
word an that passed
So far as women were concerned. Poe
seems 10 have been always a favorite.
lie was the son OF one beautiful woman.
the husband OF another and the IDOL OF
n noble woman whose mission on eartn
seems 90 have been 10 show that the
mother-in-iaw can be an actual angel II
she will.
1--WE knew they were poor" said an old
LADY, q ncighbor Of the Fordham days,
''but by Mrs. Clemm's cheeriness you
almost thought them better off than any
OF as. She used TO scrimp and pinch
along with Poe so the sick wife wouldn't
know they were so poor
Il never saw any check mating last
Ike theirs" testifes another old lady.
There wasn't anything upstairs but an
old cot IN the front room, where Mrs.
GLENN slept. and an old table and
chair an the back chamber where Poe
shut himself mp; but you could have
eaten Off the two floors. There WASH
any grocery nearer than West Farms.
and many a time 1 have seen her truog-
ing over there for scrimpings OF things
YOU could have carried I'm your pocket
They would get all ont Of food, and then
Won would sec time and again Mrs
GLENN with "a basket and n shiny case
knife digging green's Greens con be
took too often I'D say TO her on. no
she would answer. smiling, greens are
cooling for the blood. and Eddie.s fond
OF them"
Imagine a range OF literary achieve
monts from "Anabel Lee" to the "Pur-
Joined Letter" or 90 the ratiocination or
the cold Bug" written after dinner
Of hcrbsl And this despite lioraces
dictum that no man who drank water
wrote poems fit TO live
"I remember the fragile WIFE says
another Fordham neighbor I'VE never
saw her save ON the old cottage porch,
and then with Poe invariably beside her
or lowering about her lovingly. These
ciimpses OF the couple were.not perhaps
50 frequent t0 us as TO the villagers but
easy TO Doe had when passing ION the
Kmcsbridce Road. for the end OF the
porch touched the lane as IL does now,
and we knew the sadness OF their HNes,
which Impressed these thines NiVldlF. /
recall tho dying wife ass Cd pallid brunette
of slight and delicate stature dark hair
and eyes and most ethereal presence
p0c's devotion TO her was never-ending
It's very hopelessness and his material in
ability to- do the countless things for her
that the representative spirit and alert
lovo Of a man of his mould prompted,
must have been ma1dening TO him.
"Poe's struggles with starvation were
superhuman." saws a priest of ST. Johns
COLLEGE who knew him. "and 81 IS @ crime
that this is not universally recognized,
ana also q crime that his true achieve
ment over this curse is not counted 90 his
honor. I remember distinctly the herd
work he did 900 his last years here. ] nave
repeatedly seen him returning careWorn
from his toll in New York. or with %
startling pall0r that told not only of his
great labor OF his continual discourage
ments. of the agony OF his fears for the
nickering life I'm the little home on the
hin. but of intolerable conflicts with, ana
victory over. the temptation TO drink.
ceaselesslv raging within him. and az
coasolessly 0utwardly besetting him IL
Is true that. rarely and infrequently he
dii give way 10 this while here. Al those
times he WAS not the wild man that mas
been so pa,sistently pictured. A gentle
word invariably controlled him. the
offer of ones arm. or. Come Poe we
win go home now were quite sufficient
He was the embodiment OF the spirit OF
gcntleness and sweetness
II 80 is that the day OF the rehabilitation
OF this poor starved soul has come al
last through the nobility Of his Alma
Mater. let her receive the honor OF her
lust deed. For sooner or later this jus
uce was TO come The epitaph of obloQuy
could not have remained legible forever
Appleton Morgan. in Commercial Ad-