The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-02-22
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I
should be content to look at Poe as d
| man of genius and consequent eccen-
| tricity and to be unmindful of his al
legged depravity, which, if it can be
truly predicated of the man. is GER
tainiy not obtrusive in any of his writ
ings that we have.
! There is no reason why the rule nil
nsi Lonum de mcrtuis should not APP
ply 10 Poe as il does TO other men
I whose memories would not have profit
ed k2o men dwelled on the faults of
! taeir character. Ordinarily, then, the
spirit in which you wrote in the Com
mercial Advertiser would seem only
usual and would attract no especial
notice: bat the point of view from
which you approach the life of the
much-abused Poe is exceptional if not
| entirely unique. and entirely COM
mendable' because so delightfully."- sim
ceIe
II -, therefore, with entire L. fidence
| that presume on your time and space
! To establish a truth that should be
known from one end of our country TO
the others, and which, l think, may
appropriately appear in paper that is
Taaniiesty fair to the subject of the
remarks l would like to make.
1t clearly appears in your editorial of
! last saturday that the Commercial Adj
vertiser shares the common delusion as
]
/ Virginia. You do not care for white
wash which is entirely proper; but
you Will surely welcome proof as to
I the falSity of d statement which has
always been invoked to ground an
article written in abuse of The Ra-
ven'S' author.
IL the University of Virginia Maya
zine, OF December, 1887, of which the
writer of this article was an associate
10
enUitled Some Facts About Poe's Uni
versity Career" The purpose of the
article, and l may say its result, was
10 refute by actual proof to the con-
trary many statements which underlie
without exception every biography that
we have of Poe. l shall be indebted to
you if you will accord me only so much
of your valuable space as l may require
for the presentation of so much of the
article referred to as establishes the
utter falsity of the statement that Poe
was expelled or suspended from the
University of Virginia.
In an introduction to that edition of
Poe's stories, which appeared in 1866,
r. w. Griswold stated with an almost
reckless disregard of truth. not only
that Poe was the widest and most
reckless student of his class at the
university of Virginia, but also that
his gambling intemperance and other
vices induced his expulsion from the
university" In the same edition of
Poe's stories occurred an introduction
by James Russell Lowell. He says, in
the best of faith, we are sure, that
after an eXtravagant course, followed
by reformation with the highest honors
of his class" one statement is as I'M
authoritative as the other.
II Is perfectly well known to every
enc VINO has ever had any connection
with the University of Virginia that
the class system, common among the
various colleges of this country. has
ever been unknown there. There is no
freshman there under that name or any
other: so both GrisWold and Mr.. Lowell
err when they try 10 compare Poe. the
one mentally. the other morally. with
the ether students OF the university, or,
as they term II, of his class.
The most authentic information re-
garding Poe's career at the University
oil Virginia is contained in the Werten-
baker manuscript. The original of
whicn is in the library Of the University
of Nirginia. The author was librarian
of hat institution when Poe was a
student there. Since the discovery of
he manuscript it has been regarded
as highly valuable to biographerS of
Pee, and has been turned to use by
them with good effect. Written soon
after the appearance of the above men
toned statements by Mr.. GriswOld and
Mir Lowell, ii combats them in the fol-
lowing terms:
He (Poe) certainly was not habitu-
ally intempCrate. but he may occasion
ally have entered into a frolic. 1 often
saw him il the lecture room and in
the library. bat never in the slightest
degree under the influence of intoxi-
eating LIQUORS.
Among the professors he had the
reputation of being a sober, quiet and
orderly young man. and to tim and
the officers his department was uni
forn'ly thai OF eli intelligent and pol
ished gentleman. Although his prac- I
tice of gaming did escape detection, the /!
hardihOod, intemperance and reckless /
wildness imputed to him by his bio /
graphers. had he been guilty of them. |
must ipevits bly, have come to the |
knowledge Of he faculty and met with 1
nerited punishment. The records, of |
which | was then. and am still. the !
custodian. Attest that al no time during /
the session did he fall under the CEN /
sure Of the faculty"
Mr.. Woodbury., in his biography of |
Poe, which appeared after the Werten-
baker manuscript was made public, |
makes light Of the vindication that pa
per. aims at. and infers from the fact |
of the faculty, not that Poe was not at /
that early period of his life a depraved |
person, hut rather that the vigilance of /
the faculty was easily eluded. and that /
depraVity prevailed without such |
checks and obstacles as should have |
been irterDosed.
AS if anticipating this conclusion.
Mr.. Wertenbaker continued his paper
in these words: AT no period during
the past history Of the university were
the authorities more violent in ferret
ing out offenders and more severe in
them than during the session
of 1926
The paper known as the Werten-
baker manuscript was written while
the events of which it speaks We're
fresh in the mind of the author. The
statements therein contained have not /
been challenged, and there is no reason
to believe that anyone can bring more
facts to bear upon the sub
ject. Much is added to the force of the
statements when we consider that Poe
of Virginia in one session of
ten months. 1t would seem that he had
little time for dissipation.
am glad of an opportunity to ex-
tend the truth to persons who show an
inclination to know the /
truth, and who err only because led |
into error by careless or malicious
The facts that L have
given are not of my discovery, and 1
am not disposed to claim credit for the
original research which alone is
for this ultimate arrival at
the truth. All credit for this is due to
a Mr. Schuyler Portenet. the author of
Some Facts About Poe's University
Career in the University of Virginia