The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-12-17

literature which tho best female
! schools Of tho day and an assiduous
course of private reading could DO
l'stow. And thorc were other ladies
whose words OF encouragement and
smiles OF approval wore equally grail
| Tying to his vanity. and equally provo
cative to his poetical focundity. At
that time, as In later life. he was
sonsitively alive to feminine apprecin-
ton. His emotions In those carly. as
In his mature. years found their most
complete understanding and their
warmcst response In tho female heart.
| Edgar passed from Clarke's Acad-
envy to Burke's. also situated In Rich
mond, and here. under equally compe-
| tent instruction, he remained until he
was sixteen. This academy, like
Clarkc's. felt just pride in the pre-
pOndcrant attention which II paid to
the Latin, Green and English classics.
| The courses pursued by Poe In this
second school wero of the same gen.
eral character as those which he pur-
sued at Clarke's and Bransby's, except
that. az he was now older. his studies
were pressed on much more advanced
lines. Taking these three schools to-
| gether, 1t IL doubtful whether boy
OF his strong natural bent for utera-
ture could have been more fortunate
in the scope and tenor of his primary
| education.
The idea has not yet crcpt In that.
even In the lowest academy, studies
OF practical and utiltariun cast
should, as far as possible have the
preference over the humnnitics. In
those times. the aim was to fcrtilize
the minds OF the pupils by iinbuins
them with n ripe knowledge OF tho
works of the great Latin. Greek.
| French and English writer's. 1t was
| .
| correctly supposed TO polish the taste.
sohdify the Judgment and sharpen tho
| intellectual faculties of the student
| and thus indirectly TO arm him for the
contests OF after life. There was no
| thought of sowing In the raw soil Of
| that Students mind. in these first re-
ccptirc years. the seeds of such prnc-
| teal information as might be deem
| ed the surest and most direct means
| OF attaining worldly success in the
still distant future. No thought. in
deed. WAS taken OF whether tho boy
was to become "A lawyer. doctor Il
clergyman. Il Journalist "A merchant
an engineer or mechanic. That was
u subject for after consideration,
when "a lassical education had been
obtained. In other words, the supreme
| the ovcrs1adowng object of the
classical schools Of that day. whether
situated like Ciarkc's and Burke's In
Richmond, or like Bransbys. in Stoke
NcwinSton. was TO make scholars and
gentlemen OF the pupils. not keen.
alert business men. with no ideals
| more clcrating, mentally or spiritual
ly, than those of the counting house
| or the exchange. That the three acade-
mics In which Poe received his carly
intellectual training were fashioned
on the same model was due. not only
TO the prevailing system OF nstruc-
ton of that period. but to the com
mon British nationality OF their re-
Spective hcadmastcrs, who had been
| educated under the drippings OF the
classical fountains which never ran
dry In the Universities Of oxford and
| Cambridge.
1t was not simply because Poe was
man of genius, that. even in youth.
| he was the master Of style remark
| able for elegance. purity and opuicncs
| of language. and for ease, feasibility
and precision. OF expression That
style. so far il was not conGcni,ul.
was entirely attributable TO the liter
AIRY influence or the three academies
which nc attended A suggestion OF
| abandoning Latin or Greek In the re
gular curriculum OF these academies
| would have been received by their
| principals with as indignant disfav-
or as suggestion TO drop tho Bible
| from the established course would be
received by the faculty OF strictly.
orthodox theological seminary, and
with equally tcnablc ground for It's in
appositcncss
| Speculation Idle.
| II is Idle to speculate AZ TO what
! impression would have been made on
| Poe as man of letters. had his FIRST
tuition been obtained In some one OF
our modern schools. in which the main :
end Is not 10 impart the ripest schol-
| arship for the sake OF general culture.
but TO teach what VIII have direct
practical bearing on the acquisition
OF purely material success i'm life.
He might not have been diverted from
| an intellectuai career, but perhaps he
| would not have come to be one of the
greatest masters Of composition in the
| history Of the English language. In
spouting Horace, Ovid and Virgil, and
In Gaping English verse with English
verse. he was beating out, unconsciou
| ly to himself, on the anvil of his own
! mind, mode OF expression, which, in
| time, was to be universally acknowl-
edged to be among the most polished
and artistic in the entire group OF
| English styles.
But all Edgar's energies in these
| formative years were not consumed in
+. studying the classics, or in reading