The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1908-07-03

be untruthful, unfaithful, unKind;
darken the lives Of all who live under
your shadow, rob yourself of JOY, take
peace from age, live unsought for, die
unmOurned-and remaining sober, you
will escape the curse of mems pity
and be spoken of as a worthy person
When Maarten Martens visited
New York city last summer to attend
the peace conference one of the first
! things he touched on in an interview
Tin the New York Times) on literary
matters was the subject of Poe. He
said:
Can you tell me where Poe is
buried? l scarcely expected the an
sWer l have been inquiring for ever
since l landed He is buried some
where, isn't he? and he is your great.
est writer, isn't heo The greatest in
terest attaches, it one might judge
! from the controversy which RACES to
this day, to the cause and manner OF
his death, but apparently no one
knows or cares where his body lies or
can direct the foreign pilgrim with
err to repair to render his need
of reverence"
Mr.. Stedman's judgment is t'us con-
t1rmed-indeed, mere than confirmed
it is strongly emphasized by Mr.. Mar
tens, who places Poe at the head of
American men of letters. Let us
now listen to voice from England;
that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who
said of Poe in a recent article in an
English (Cassell's) magazine:
II have said that l look upon Poe
as the worlds supreme short story
writer. His nearest rival, l should
say, was Maupassant. The great Nor
man never rose to the extreme force
and originality of the American, but
he had natural power, an Unborn in
stinct towards the right way of max
ing his effects, which mark him as a
great master He produced stories be-
cause it was in him to do so as nat
urally and as perfectly as an apple
tree produces apples. What a fine,
sensitive, artistic touch it is! How
easily and delicately the points are
made!"
Poe was proud of being a Virginian.
In lS4l he wrote to friend in Balti-
more: II am a Virginian-at least
call myself one, for l have resided
all my life, until within the last few
years, at Richmond
Another writer, Mr.. Charles l..
Moore invites attention to Poe's
merits as ''tone-painter," in an arti-
Gle in the Dial. Most epics and great
works Of fiction, he thinks, have no
trace of tone-the region of tone be-
ing the DRAMA the lyric and the prose
story. Hamlet begins with a tone
picture, the scene on the platform at
Elsinore, hardly equaled in Shake
speare. Continuing Mr.. Moore saws.
With, of course, other immense in
feriorities, Poe cannot come into COM
parison with Shakespeare in variety
of tone. Shakespeare's different
pieces are keyed to all the notes of
color, from ebon black to the purest
gold of sunlight. Poe keeps in the
main in the dark side of the spectrum.
But within his range there are great
differences in shade and always abso.
lutte certainty of effect. Consider the
varieties of tone in the grave, somber
colors of The Fall of the House of
Usher,' the restless brilliancy of The
Masque of the Red DEATH and the
sober, ordered daylight of 'Landor's
Cottage or the range between the in.
tangible shadows of 'Ulalume,' the rich
gloom of the Raven and the faceted
sparkle OF The Haunted Palace As
the modern world of letters has main.