The sun., 1916-10-22
SOME NEW BOOKS.


dignity-not always In fun dress.
Emerson was Brahmin. Hawthorne
was made Of gold and coined himself.
DR.. Holmes. a mischievous bright boy.
Puritans all. censors OF self. imag ne
any OF them feeding the muse on h
drowsy syrups that lead to Nanadu.
Bryant's resort to the horscwhip was
about the widest adventure reported
Of the school,"
Later Stedman pretended wicked
ness at an early age, but the game
was soon played out. Edmund be-
came banker-poet. and the Yale pranks
and the stroliing player are forgot.
Aldrich was the dandy in verse.
Pfaff's attracted some true, sharp
wits. but they did not gain the heights
OF acclaim. MIR. Howells represents
accurately the gentiemanly. comfort
able. successfully productive living OF
the elderly American professors OF let
tiers. or the youngsters there Is moth
ing more precious for gossip than their
preferences In smoke. neckties. break
fast foods. golf courses and reading.
The only generally recognized bad
boy OF our literary history IL Edgar
Allan Poe. and his badness was fool
ishness, the result of nerves. fruit or
the craving for social pleasures his
own defiance and rebellion robbed
him Of. Poe drank. He did not drink
wisely, and he had not the art OF keep
ing under cover. His friends. being
little people. were afraid Of his posi-
bilities involving their own reputa-
ton for respectability. His genius
aa. Il. ttArA 49, ri
enough to appreciate 1t. mean enough
70 envy II and little enough to take
advantage of the openings he reck-
lessly gave them to do him hurt. II
Is poor matter for discussion. but dis
cussed II will be. At any rate. bitter
personal partisanship Is dropping out
Of the discussion. Some new" ma
terial IL made available in Poc's
Helen, by CAROLINE TiCkNoa (Scrib-
ners). Three or four years z the
granddaughter Of the senior member
Of Ticknor & Fields wrote excel.
lently OF Hawthorne and His Pub
Usher and now as then she spreads
before us at least as many facts as
theories. facts presented in the form
Of documents.
"Poe's Helen" is Mrs. Sarah Helen
Whitman. the Boston lawyers widow
to whom Edgar was engaged the year
before his death. Kind friends engi-
neered the breaking ~ the enyage-
ment. october Il. lsi9. was to have
been the wedding day. October 8.
ls49. Poe was picked up unconscious
on the streets Of Baltimore, and it will
never be absolutely known whether he
49, ,fryF-. 81 g-,,I ,1nx. ~ ~ Ma
own sad weakness" october Z, 1879.
In his fortieih year. he died.
Miss Ticknor calls Mrs. Whitman
- mystical. poetic figure romantic
as Edgar himself. and claimant by
right Of her own penmanship to liter
airy immortality. Like not "A few
others, however, her place in our
literary history will continue to de-
pend upon her part in Poe's life. She
advised young authors. like George
William Curtis and John Hay. and
she correspondent with the established
writer's of her day. She wrote news
paper articles on spir!tualism. and
some good but not particularly dis
tinguished verse. Her own Raven"
written for the famous Valentine
Party given by Miss Lynch Mrs.
Botta) in ls4S. with Willis, Greeley.
Morris. Miss Sedgwick. Grace Green
wood. Bayard Taylor and Margaret
Fuller among the guests, is ingenious
and helped 10 bring about her meet
ing with Poe.
Edgar, "having lost favor with MANY
Of the Literati." was not present; but
Miss Lynch sent him the manuscript
~ Mrs. VNnifvnap'E VlrSAs and ln
recognized the handwriting. having
seen, a year or two earlier. some Of
Mrs. Wh!tman's copy" for the Demo.
cratic Rcricir. ThereupOn began the
writing of those letters for which Miss
Ticknor claims "a permanent niche
among the worlds classic love letters
They are sufficiently f~ervent:
have pressed your letter again and
again to my lips. sweetest He.en-batii
ing # In tears Of Joy. or Of a "diyin>
despair" ! would kneel-humbly kneel-
at this the most earnest epoch Of my HE
-kneel in entreaty for words that should
disclose TO you-that might onaole me &c
lay bare to you my whole heart.
1t is not a pleasing thing To lay bare
any lovers heart, especially me whose
ebullience strained even the resources
OF the emphatic punctuation OF the
furious 'i0s. But the heart barring is
done in the book. Not that We would
disparage the work. The letters hold
other stuff than this passionate out
pouring tthe worn phrase VIII not
stay out). What OF the rededicatior
to this new Helen of the poem "Tc
Helen written in my passionate boy
hood to the first purely ideal love oi
my soul, Helen Stanard'? AtteI
sec!ng Helen Whitman in the moon
light, his first sight Of her. he sent hei
the lines anonymously, en~raptured by
1.-THE thought that your dear fingers
would press-your sweet eyes dwell
upon characters which / had penned.'
Some of those characters Mrs. Whit
man UNDERSIGNED; some she cut from
the papers before turning them owe
TO her sister.
In one letter Poe says: Would II
not he glorious darling, to establish
in America, the sole unquestionablt
aristocracy--that Of intcllect-to Sc
cure its suprcmacy-to lead n con
troll IL? All his | can do, Helen, ant
will-if you bid me-and aid me" AND
right on top Of this. the broken e n
gagement. Poe, after giving "A lee
turc In Providence. called n evening
in this sort of a state of partial in
tcxication': he was neither "cXcit
able nor "talkative.' but 'mtrel,
showed that lac had been drinking
that he had failed to keep his pledge
TO Mrs. Whitman. Friends n pro
fagSinU fri.nlg az hn1h I'lunp an