The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-14

poem by him. so he gave them an old
one. which he wrote before he had
fairly completed his tenth year. 1t
was good enough for them. Then, al
though he had always claimed Balti-
more as his birthplace, he went on:
I'VE like Boston: we were born there
and perhaps it is just as well to
mention that we are heartily ashamed
Of the fact. The Bostonians are very
well in their way. Their hotels are
bad. Their pumpkin pies are delicious.
Their poetry is not so good. Their
Common is no common thing, and the
duck pond might answer-if its an
swer could be heard for the frogs"
The First New York Stay. -
Years before the birth of Edgar AL
Ian Poe his mother, then Elizabeth
Arnold. played in the old John Street
Theatre, to which President Washing
ton was in the habit of turning for
entertainment, driving there from his
residence at the corner of Cherry and
Pearl streets. That was about 1898,
Later. on July 16. 1906, as AIRS. Poe,
she reappeared in New York at the
Vauxhall Garden. her husband playing
with her. Edgar in his youth must
nave made acquaintance with the
city on his way to and from his Eng
fish schooling, and his trips between
Richmond and West Point. But these
were merely fugitive glimpses. Eight
cen hundred and thirty-seven was the
year OF his first real association with
the city. He was then % years Of age;
had been three years married and his
wife had attained the ripe age of 16;
and had broken his connection with
the Southern Messenger. The naive
wording in which that publication in
formed its patrons of the change in
editorship establishes the fact that
Whatever Poe's faults may have been
ne was not lacking in application.
1t Is perhaps due to Mr.. Poe to
state" so read the leaf, that he is not
responsible for any of the articles
which appear in the present number.
except the reviews of Bryant's Poems
George Balcombe,' Trving's Astoria
Reynolds Address on the South Sea |
Expedition 'Anthon's Cicero the first
number of Arthur Gordon Pym' a |
sea story, and two poetical illusions
TO which his name is Affixed This |
was an obvious let down from his |
customary activity. incidental to the |
necessary preparations for the change
which took him to 113k Carmine |
street. There was a significance in
the number, for Poe while at the Uni
versity of Virginia had occupied the
dormitory No. 10, West Range. The |
Carmine street house was a wretched |
wooden shanty, but 1t was more than |
large enough for the little family of |
three. so to help in the household ex--
penses Mrs. GLENN decided to take In |
a few boarders, while Poe worked for |
the New York Quarterly Repieto. dis |
playing there the ferocity which had |
marked his earlier critical work on |
the Messenger, and finished "The |
Narrative of A. Gordon Pym."
Poe I'm Carmine street,
That first New York home was in
the heart Of the old time Greenwich
village. Near by was the graveyard
Of st. Johns, quiet, 'restfuI place.
To crafty the melancholy mood that
was so often with him Poe spent
much time wandering through It.
Sometimes Virginia walked with him.
but she was not strong, consumption
having already laid it's grim hand upon
her. and more often she sat In an
upper window of the frame structure,
watching her husband pacing sombre
faced to and fro. One Of the boarders
was William Gowans, a wealthy and
eccentric bookseller OF Nassau street.
Gowans lived in the house for eight
months and left one of the pleasantest
Of all tributes to Poe.
For eight months or more one
house contained us, as one table fed
During that time saw much of him.
and had an opportunity of conversing
with him often, and must say that
l never saw him the least affected
with liquor, nor even descend to any