Year: 1873

in my office, it must be understood that
all engagements on my part cease the
moment you get drunk" This was the
counsel of true friend, but Edgar AL
len Poe did not adopt it as the rule of
his life.


About 1887 he married lovely girl,
but this event failed to reform him. lie
continued to drink, gamble and even
swindle people out of money for vicious
purposes, and when his young wife died,
she was released from world of dark
ness, sin and woe.


In 1914 Poe went to New York, and
there published his wonderful poem
+" The Raven" 1t made him famous.
What is the meaning of the poem :? Did
The Raven" represent his deep re
morse? 1t is possible, for listen to these
lines:


Once upon midnight dreary, while l pondered,


weak and weary.
Over many quaint and curious volume OF for
While | nodded, nearly mapping. suddenly there


came tapping.


As of some one, gently rapping. rappins at my
''Tis some visitor 1 muttered, tapping at my


chamber door


Only this and nothing more.
All distinctly I remember it was in the bleak
And each separate dying ember wrought its


ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly l wished the morrow; vainly l had


sought to borrow


From my books surcease of sorrow-sorrow Tor
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the an


gels named Lenore-


Nameless here for ever more.
Open here flung the shutter, when, with many a
In there stepped stately Raven of the sanity
Not the least obeisance made he; not a moment


stopped or stayed he:
But. with mein of ord and lady. perched above


my chamber door
Perched upon bust of Pallas, just above my


Perched and sat and nothing more.
Then, this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy


into smiling,


By the grave and stern decorum of the counte-
: Though thy crest be shorn and shaven. thou


said. art sure craven,
Chastity, grim, and ancient Raven, wandering


from the nightly shore
Tell me what thy lordly, name is on the nights


ouoth the Raven, Never mOre,'
Prophet = said /, thing of evil!-prophet still.


if bird or devil


Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest toss
Desolate, yet ali undaunted, on this desert land


enchanted


Is there's there balm in Gilead ?-tell me-tell


oaoth the Raven. Never more
Prophet. said I. thing of evil prophet still


if bird or DEVIL
By that heaven that bends above us-by that God
Tell this soul with sorrow laden. if within the


distant Alden,


1t shall clasp sainted maden whom the angels
Clasp rare and radiant maiden whom the angels


Quoth the Raven, Never more.
Be that word our sign of parting, bird iend


shrieked, upstarting-
Get thee back into thetempest and the nights


Plutonian shorei


Leave no black plume as token of that lie thy
Leave my loneliness unbroken l-quit the bust


above my door,


Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy


form from off ny doorl


Quoth the Raven, Never more.''
Edgar Allan Poe once more fell in
love, at least so he said. His hand was
offered to literary lady of brilliant tai
ents and spotless name, and, having been
accepted, it was announced that the mar
riage would soon take place. 1t was OF
this lady he wrote the following lines:
Clad all in white, upon violet bank
/ saw thee half reclining while the moon
Fell on the upturned faces of the roses,
And on thine own upturned-alas in sorrow
Was it not Fate. (whose name is also Sorrow
That bade me pause before that garden gate.
No footstep stirred; the hated world all slept,
Save only thee and me. paused-I looked
And in an instant all things disappeared.
lAh, bear in mind this garden was enchanted y
The pearly luster of the moon went out;
The mossy banks and the meandering paths,
The happy flowers and the repining trees,
We're seen no more; the very roses odors
Died in the arms of the adoring airs.
All-all expired save thee-saye less than thou.
Save only the divine light in thine eyes
Save but thesoul in thine uplifted eyes
! saw but them-they were the world to me.
l saw but them-saw only them for hours
Saw only them until the moon went down.
What wild heart histories seemed to lie enwritten
Upon those crystsiliae, III, ice celestial h spheres RESI-
How silently serene sea Of pride
How daring an ambition yet how deep
How fathomless capacity for love!


But they were never married, for on
the night before the bridal he went tc
the house of his betrothed in such a
state of wild and savage drunkenness
that he was given into the custody OF
the police! He pursued his evil courses
until, at last, he was destitute of money
food, home, and almost naked. Al
Richmond he Joined "a temperance so.
ciety," but did not keep his pledge. He
was on his way to New York when his
final debauch came. His biographer
thus describes his fearful end: Arriv.
ing in Baltimore, he gave his trunk to a
porter, with directions to convey it to the
cars which we're to leave in an hour OF
two for Philadelphia, and went into q
tavern to obtain some refreshment. Here
he met acquaintance, who invited him
to drink; all his resolutions and duties
were soon forgotten in few hours he
WAS in such state as is commonly in.
duced only by long-continued intoxica-
tion After night of insanity and ex.
posure, he was carried to hospital and
there, on the evening of Sunday, the 7th
of October, 1S49, he died at the age Of
thirty-eight."


Such was the death of genius who
might have lived glorious life and illu.
mined the world with the productions OF
his great mind, but whom Wine involved
in awful ruin and whose name is now a
bye-word and reproach. Let young
men avoid the claretjug and the cham.
pagne cup, the brandy-fask and the
glass of bitter beer. Faithful and hero.
ic abstinence from all intoxicating drink
will save them from the terrible fate OF
Edpar lien Poe