Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1921-12-25
.P0E'S MEMORY HONORED
BY A VENEZUELAN POET
Charles Carachristi Writes of
Verse in Leading South
American Magazine.
WILL SEEK FURTHER TRIBUTE
NfrHinfnn, Soon to Return, to Ask
Tint Government Confer Post
huhously Upon Literary Geniu,
"Order of Libcratorp

III the fatcs 20 decree and Colonel
'harics f. H. Carachristi, who lived
In Richmond years ago, succeeds in
securing a suitable estate on james
River. below Richmond. 1t was
learned yesterday he will come back
home" An effort will be made by
him TO have the Venezuelan govern
nent grant the posthumous 'Ord.r Of
the Liberator" 10 Edgar Allen Poe.
and that the city Of Richmond be
made Its custodian. Colonel Cara.
christi. in his communication to
friends here. in reference To his sug-
gestion that the order" declares
latin America usually grants my
request. and have no doubt that in
this case no exception Will be made
10 the rule"
Colonel Carachristi is Poe en-
thusiast. Men like Poe he writes.
have only the nationality of intel
ligcnce. because they belong to the
world at large, as all intellectual
power does. Poe belongs no more
TO Richmond than Homer belongs TO
Greece: Dante to Italy; Shakespeare
to England: Ccrvantes to Spain. or
any other great writer to any other
country. The accident Of birth can
rot and does not give title of posses
sion To an object that gives universal
pleasure. utility or sorrow.
Poe Law Unto HIm.-If.
Genius he writes "and super
intelligence arc omnipOtent and in
faiibe regardless OF their frailties.
Poe was power and a law unto him
self. The soul of Poe lives on earth
among US and gives us pleasure, and
he has certainly taught us the use
of better English. Poe. under the in
fuence Of the eighteenth amendment.
would not have existed"
In discussing his early days in.
Richmond. when the name of Poe was
upon the tongues of all men. Colonel
Carachristi refers TO many discus
sions and conversations between him
self and Poe's foster father. He said
he knew Mr. Allan quite intimately
Knew him when he kept a small Gig
arctic business on Franklin Street,
near Fifteenth Chen walD Street,
and they often discussed the poet and
his career
The last time we talked about
Poe" the writer says. was when the
old Mozart Society bought out an
the Academy OF Music was afterward
erected. Mr. Allan was then an old
man, but he played the violin admir-
ably well. and was a wonderful Judge
OF music. 1T was behind the stage
of the thcatcr. and he was playing
Scotch air and looked queer Some
times ] believe IN spirits. he said.
as If talking to himself I am foolish
enough to believe that when ! play
In, IL.
Ian comes near and nearer. l often
feel as IL this were true. but ! know
II is fancy. Perhaps II Is my spirit
that goes out to him; maybe 1t is the
memory OF him that awakens these
fancics. Boy you don't Understand
Spirit OF Grent Poet With Him.
True, ! did not then. yet today,
when the tender touch OF age and
the loneliness Of the years and hours
blend the present with the memories
OF the past with the realities of the
present. | almost dare think that ]
do understand his secret inward feel
ings. Mr.. Allan was the silence, the
balance. the repose in life. Poe was
the noise, the tempest, the spirit in
effcrvesccnce, controlled by the eccen-
tricitieS OF a superlativc and misun-
dcrstood genius. In my soldier Of
fortune days and nights I usually
carried POeS WORKS, and enjoyed
them. Sometimes I felt as Mr.. Allan
did. that the spirit of Poe was with
me-"
In his letter, Colonel Carachristi
Enclosed printed copy in Spanish OF
The Tomb OF Poe" by Stephane
Mallarme, clipped from Actual
idades." a leading Venezuelan maya
zine. Tho writer sends his letter
from Villa Emilia. Macuto. Venezuela.
1t is dated December G. 1921.
Another Poe enthusiast, Charles
Marshall Graves. former Richmond
newspaper man, now an editor on the
New York Times stan. is in the city,
spending the holidays. Mr.. Graves
collected great mass of material for
book on Poe. He started cam
paign here number of years ago for
funds for a monument to Poe. He
went so far as to secure an appro-
priation of $4,000 from City Council
Before the plans eliminated tangibly
Mr.. Graves went to New York, and
nothing more was heard OF the monu-
ment.