The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-10-22
poB AM, THE HALL or FAME.

| . -
An American immortal before 1t wa!
conceived Of, an American immorta
after 1t shall have crumbled into dust
Poe was yesterday elected to the ma
tional Hall OF Fame. After long
fight. this tardy honor has been be-
| slowed upon the ill-starred genius
| whose lifes cup was filled to over
| flowing with sad disappointment. The
dark thread OF misfortune and mis-
understanding which ran through his
career has been enwrapped about his
fame these many years since his tragic
end. Tho narrow criticism which
pursued him living has survived
through the generations that have
passed since his death, unkindly and
funjustly excluding his name from the
Hall OF Fame when 1t was first Gre
ated. New England, resenting his
literary attack or Longfellow and
other Puritan literary lights more than
half a century ago, could not forget.
and heretofore remembered at the bal
lot box of the institution which yes
terday laid Its laurel above the purple
flowers which tho unprecedented lite
rary scholars of a nation have strewn
for many and many year
At the first election In 1900 Poe re-
ceived thirty-eight votes In 1905 he
received forty votes. Since that time
a strong campaign has been wagcd
for his admission to the Hall of Fame
by DR.. Thomas Nelson Page and other
literary men of the first rank. a num-
Der of organizations have endorsed
this movement, which at last has re-
suited in success. Though Poe in pre-
,vious elections was denied this honor,
it was conferred on several worthless
who cannot be said by any impartial
tribunal, removed from sectional and
other prcjudices. to have deserved adj
mission over SO famous genius as
the author Of ",rhe Raven AS is true
Of some of he selections made by the
states in former years for Statuary
Hall in the National Capitol, some very
queer selections have been made to the
exclusion Of better and more famous
men from the gallery in New York.
This is not by any means the first
permanent memorial to Poe. In 1915.
Just twenty-six years after his death
in that city. the school teachers of
Baltimore erected monument to his
memory. In May, 1885, the actors of
the United States erected In the Metro
tpolitan Museum in New York a me-
mortal to MIN, and at the dedication
the principal address was made BY
Edwin Booth and William Winter read
a poem. Other memorials have since
been erected in Poes honor.
tribute to the memory Of Poe, how
ever, will be received with especial
qualification In this city, for to Foe
Richmond was home. and within Its
hospitable gates he always was greet
ed cordially and we'll treated It was
here that he had his congenial and
helpful friends; it was here that he
lived as lad with his beloved bene-
factor Mr.. Allan; 1t was here that nc
came back to edit the Southern Lite
rary Messenger in that golden period
of literary activity in Richmond and
In Virginia; 1t was here that he came
back in the last week of his life IT
this same month Of ''sere' October
leaving here to die within few days
Through all these years his alma ma
ter. the University Of Virginia. has
never failed to keep him In kindly re
membrance, and we can we'll imagine
that If his melancholy spirit could re
turn to visit the nation which now &C
cords him immortal fame, in the som
hrc twilight he would choose to wan
der, not amid the marble memorials II
the Hall of Fame, but In the peaceful
and beautiful shades which sheltered
him in his happy student days.
mn con