The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-10-03

SIT down with pencil and paper and
produced in the last $50 years how
many great poets: how many great
I hoNe!Sts. who's" regulations have be
ABLY true OF New England writer's in
the. classes named.
Now as 20 Robert Marshalls cmusion
I IN YOUR sundays issue OF the 2sth. in
stead OF attempting to rcfUtc my
proposition II seems. in part. 10 b. &,
ramoIe from Virginia 10 Greece and
Rome 10 ilnd out IN those far-Om Cl!incS
what was literary man but a CON
sldcr1bl" span is devoted to a nattcrints
,,t,i OF MS own record. and That Of
tuchN: Viii remind My Marshall
passage of Scripture he quotes to
himself: Lot another praise thcc. and
not thine own lips" He is certainly
Il good subject for the admomi,ion II
MI Marshall makes no argument
SIMPLY iVcs on = icw squibs at my
expense. Mr.. Marshall is mistaken as
To the meaning OF "squib" ana nv US"
OF H. Squ!b' Is q sarcastic pubiic;.-
non. OF lampocn-on the nrccrackar
n" was witty When TWO men diffcr
on any question 1t is best to understand
clearly what the difference is. unless
/ they do TINS. one or the other VIII
drift far out TO sea, as Mr.. Marshall
| has in this discussion
And nov ! wish TO take some notice
I paper OF about September g. headed
/ 'lnconp!Iablc Poe although IL is
rather u late hour To do SO. Mn Astrop
! adopts nn original and unique method
! OF proving the negative OF my promo =
siuon. lie is not going TO cudGel his
brains to uncover tho literary writer's
Of Virginia during 100 years. He
/ takes short cut 10 the solution OF the
question His mind is so cnthrnllvd
I with Edgar Allan Poe's genius that
he is satisfied Il he can prove him a
! Nirginian il viii be unnecessary to
( CT" any other name 20 overmatch New
/ Englands "hord. Of writer's with their
/ words on it." Think OF it, New Eng
land writer's for 80 years had no
( OF PAPER" He is so thoroughly pos
scssed with Poe that ne cries out in
! the travail OF his soul. Give us Nir
/ ginians Poe and We don't want any one
else to hold our own with New Eng
land" He evidently regards Poe Il
/ host within himself
The dominating feature OF Mr.. AS
! trops mind is untrammcled irnagina
/ ton. Borne on the wings of fancy. he
takes Poe up into the empyrean blue
and seeks TO fix him as the great
! central orb around which the New
/ England writer's will rcvolvc as
4atellites." But here is another Of his
! Poe flights on Pegasus: when Bryant
/ shall BE- read no more in America
when Emerson shall have passed from
! pages; when Whittier shall have been
! forgotten; when Holmes and Lowell
ana Hawthorne shall have faded from
! the earih's literature. Poe shall stand
as the pen which raised into light the
weird" and so on. ad nauseam.
| When did gushin. schoolgirl ever in
dulgc In such rhetorical apdoodlc?
Can any mans mind, not distcmpcrcd
| by nfatuation. conceive Of day in
the near or the far future when the
eminent writers he names Will have
passed from the memory of the Amer
! lean nation and Poe alone shall sur
| vivc the wreck of the literary world
and continue TO raise with his pen
the mystic murmur OF the wcird?" y
| imagine, similar 10 the ambrosa and
nectar used by the gods on Mt. Olym
! pus.
MIR Astrop. having concluded that
/ Poo was necessary to enable Viz
! pina to cope with New England s
! writer's proceeds to capture him. III
! thinks. as uncertainty hung around the
birth of iOmcr--sevcn cities claiming
( him--that. Virginia. by some incident
/ birth His foster father lived in Rich
nond; he, went TO primary schools In
! Messenger in Richmond short time
But place of education, business
residence. mans environment for Il
his nativity. If such things do. Their
Woodrow Wilson is no Virginian. II,
left the state when n child. and never
. University of Virginia. BY long resi-
dcncc by occupation in which ho
| achieved distinction, by social ties. b!
! literary work, he is much more of q
! New Jerscyitc than he Is Il Virginian
( But in Foes case there are some cold
facts as TO his birth. and cold facts
| cannot he overcome by entering tho
realm OF speculation. There have beer
many biographcrs Of Poe from DIR
was Poe's literary executor by his re-
quest. 1t is conccdcd,f however by
scholars and critics that the most au.
thcntic carefully and laborously com
piled life of Poe has been written by
Professor James y. Harrison, of Tho
University Of Virginia, published VIII
his edition OF "l'oe's Complete Works
In 1902. AS TO poe's birth, he says:
The fact Is, however, undcniabl,