The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-04-23

w. L. Courtney, in the London Tele-
 graph.
 ss. :' sa::,;s: 5:: $:. s;';: 7: been more to him than all his comrades and friends during his 40 years of trou- bled life. Her name was Sarah Helen Whitman, a widow. older than he was' also a poet of some distinction. She is said by Caroline Ticknor, who has put together an interesting biography about her, with the title "Poe's Helen (Jonn Lane), to have both comprehended the genius and loved the man. It may have i been so. She certainly tried very hard to attain to that understanding or Foe which meant forgiveness, and when Foes memory was somewhat coarsely assailed
 by Rufus Griswold, she took particular pains to defend her dead friend.
 But whether she loved him or not IS different question. She was immensely attracted by his brilliant personality and his undoubted charm, and Poe made sucn tempestuous love to her that she was at moments-carried off her prudent and circumspect little feet. But she strikes one as a nervous, rather frightened and | Mustered woman, who was not big enough to take him with all his many fauis and his rare merits; and she allowed her self to be overawed by her imperious mother when the moment for decision had come. Doubtless there were num- 1 Der of sensible, as well as pre1udlced, friends, who told her not to make fool of herself by marrying Poe. and, of course, they were from their own point of view entirely justified in their advlce | Still. if she had had the courage, she might have saved her admirer, who desperately needed her help, and then, perhaps Poe's life might have been pre- served for a few more years, and for still more brilliant work. His death, as we know, was mysterious and probably dis reputable He was picked up unconscious i in the streets of Baltimore October 3, 1s4s and died four days afterwards in a hospital.
 ! Mrs, Whitman seems to have been clever, attractive perhaps a little elusive, the very antithests of the great Margaret Fuller who was conducting her famous Conversations about this time. We are told that Margaret Fuller was woman of "compellng power" Helen could never be so described; her great gift was her feminine charm, due partly to her quick l bird-like movements, partly to her pale eager face and her dreamy, deep-set eyes. isiA ,Cp har ri either having emerged from or in process of being transformed into the condition 1 of a bird.
 "Her spell was on you" said her | friend, Sarah Jacobs, from the moment she appeared (and she general kept you waiting a little), but when she spoke her empire was assured. She was wise, she was witty, she was interested in the l things which we call the topics of the day. making them fresh and fair" And her qualities of heart seem to have been as engaging as her intellectual gifts were impressive.
 l Clearly she was a facinating creature, but hardly fitted to be the heroine of a grand romance, such as that with which
  She was interested in spiritualism, and mystical things, and thoroughly sympa- thized with the transcendental move ment in New England-a poet also. as we have said, not of the highest order, but on a more than respectable level of achievement. Such qualities were quite enough to turn Poes ardent head. To complete the picture. let me add a sen tence or two from Caroline Ticknors de- scription of her
 Tn the matter of clothes she was en- tirely unconventional, dressing in style all her own; she loved silken draperies, lace scarfs and floating vei1s. and was always shod in dainty slippers She in variably carried fan to shield her eyes from any glare. and her pleasant rooms were never pervaded by anything but a subdued light" Dainty-yes, that, think, is the word which expresses her best
 Poe's love letters to her are passion