The Washington herald., 1919-12-13
NEW YORK CITY
By O. O. MCINTYRE

New York. Dec. l2.-Edgar Allen Poe
| is Americas best beloved writer
abroad. according to Vicente Blasco
Ibanez. the famous Spanish novelist.
nov visiting Manhattan. The au-
thor's greatest afternoon In America
was the one this week set aside for a
quiet visit to the humble and tragic
home OF the author OF THE Raven"
and Tho Cask OF Amontillado."
Ppe's cottage Is a quaint little one
story frame house. painted white. on
the Grand Concourse on the upper
fringe OF the city. The ground
around IL has been dedicated and is
known as Poe Park. The building Is
just the same as II was when Poe
lived there in company with his fan
tastic satans and ethereal sweet
hearts.
A party of five went with Ibanez II
was just dark when they arrived at
! the Poe home. The air was chilly
4 and damp, as Zoe would have said
Six or seven candles spluttered feebly
Nsgainst the wallis and threw fantastic
shadows into the small bedroom.
where. so history hath 1t. the author
OF ''The Raven had spent so many
nights Of anguish and unearthly vi
sion.
1t Is strange but there, are veryNfew
New Workers who know where Poe
lived and they have never seen the
park or the little tragic cottage. The
only Indication that 1t was the home
of the genius OF the odd Is the little
black raven painted in the front.
There Is a little porch. much like
modern doll house porch. At night
Poe used to sit out there alone with
the stars smoking and dreaming.
| Then he was in the wilderness, for
New York was many miles sway. on
to his right was the Hudson and the
Jersey coast.
Around about him were all sorts
of night cries. He loved the mystic
rious walls. the ghostly shadows that
creep about at night. Many ambi-
tious writers go there at night now
to drink in the mental pictures that
came to Poe-but instead are howls
Of the Bronx kiddies. the honk of the
auto. the grind OF car wheels and all
the complex noises OF a congested
center.
A well-known Broadwarite refers To
prohibition as a hydrant-headed
monster. And speaking OF prohibi-
tion New York grocers are alarmed
over the news from Los Angeles that
the city council is planning new
| ordinance to raise revenue to take the
place OF the lost revenues from liquor
licenses. This it is feared will result
in n tax for all retail merchants. The
/ Grocers here believe the same thing
will be done in New York. then spread
to other cities and finally he saddled
on every kind of dealer The Broad
way Association is already looking
toward some means of combating the
new tax.
There is young artist in New York
who is as mercenary as a stage moth
| er. For years he has been saltiu=
away nearly every cent in a bank
near a Park Row newspaper office
He got to joking some poker players
about being an expert at the game
| but he would never play. But one
night recently they got him into a fix
where he had to play. He was taken
over for sixty lovely dollars. He wrote
out his check. 1tNwas check mo. ."
What was No. l for?'' he was
asked.
20. that is really No l." he said.
Il just made it No. TO be sporty"
The proprietors and managers of the
towering hotels downtown have
foun6 one huge fault in service that
they have never been able to remedy
and it is a fault admitted to be cost
ing them patronage. They are not
able successfully to handle the mail
for guests. No system has been de-
vised that keeps the forwarding. ad-
vance and regular mail straight. One
large hotel has a box asking guests to
drop into it anything they do not
like about the hotel. Thirty out of
forty complain that they cannot see
their mail boxes when they come into
the lobby.