Literary Hearthstones of Dixie | Page 6

of
its long battle with fate give it the appearance of being about to
crumble and crash, after the fashion of the "House of Usher." It has
windows with gloomy casements, opening even with the ground in the
first story, and in the second upon a narrow balcony. A sign on the
front of the building invites attention to a popular make of glue.[1]
[1] Since this was written the old house has been torn down.
In 1849, about two years after the passing of the gentle soul of Virginia,
Poe returned to Richmond. He went first to the United States Hotel, at
the southwest corner of Nineteenth and Main Streets, in the "Bird in
Hand" neighborhood where he had looked for the last time on the face
of his young mother. He soon removed to the "Swan," because it was
near Duncan Lodge, the home of his friends, the MacKenzies, where
his sister Rose had found protection. The Swan was a long, two-storied
structure with combed roof, tall chimneys at the ends, and a front
piazza with a long flight of steps leading down to the street. It was
famous away back in the beginning of the century, having been built
about 1795. When it sheltered Poe it wore a look of having stood there
from the beginning of time and been forgotten by the passing
generations.
Duncan Lodge, now an industrial home, was then a stately mansion,
shaded by magnificent trees. Here Poe spent much of his time, and one
evening in this friendly home he recited "The Raven" with such artistic
effect that his auditors induced him to give it as a public reading at the
Exchange Hotel. Unfortunately, it was in midsummer, and both literary
Richmond and gay Richmond were at seashore and mountain, and there
were few to listen to the poem read as only its author could read it.
Later in the same hall he gave, with gratifying success, his lecture on
"The Poetic Principle."
In early September, with some friends, he spent a Sunday in the Hygeia
Hotel at Old Point. At the request of one of the party he recited "The
Raven," "Annabel Lee," and "Ulalume," saying that the last stanza of
"Ulalume" might not be intelligible to them, as it was not to him and

for that reason had not been published. Even if he had known what it
meant, he objected to furnishing it with a note of explanation, quoting
Dr. Johnson's remark about a book, that it was "as obscure as an
explanatory note."
Miss Susan Ingram, an old friend of Poe, and one of the party at Old
Point, tells of a visit he made at her home in Norfolk following the day
at Point Comfort. Noting the odor of orris root, he said that he liked it
because it recalled to him his boyhood, when his adopted mother kept
orris root in her bureau drawers, and whenever they were opened the
fragrance would fill the room.
Near old St. John's in Richmond was the home of Mrs. Shelton, who, as
Elmira Royster, was the youthful sweetheart from whom Poe took a
tender and despairing farewell when he entered the University of
Virginia. Here he spent many pleasant evenings, writing to Mrs.
Clemm with enthusiasm of his renewed acquaintance with his former
lady-love.
Next to the last evening that Poe spent in Richmond he called on Susan
Talley, afterward Mrs. Weiss, with whom he discussed "The Raven,"
pointing out various defects which he might have remedied had he
supposed that the world would capture that midnight bird and hang it
up in the golden cage of a "Collection of Best Poems." He was haunted
by the "ghost" which "each separate dying ember wrought" upon the
floor, and had never been able to explain satisfactorily to himself how
and why, his head should have been "reclining on the cushion's velvet
lining" when the topside would have been more convenient for any
purpose except that of rhyme. But it cannot be demanded of a poet that
he should explain himself to anybody, least of all to himself. To his
view, the shadow of the raven upon the floor was the most glaring of its
impossibilities. "Not if you suppose a transom with the light shining
through from an outer hall," replied the ingenious Susan.
When Poe left the Talley home he went to Duncan Lodge, a short
distance away, and spent the night. The next night he was at Sadler's
Old Market Hotel, leaving early in the morning for Philadelphia, but
stopping in Baltimore, where came to him the tragic, mysterious end of

all things.
Poe knew men as little as he knew any of the other every-day facts of
life. In the depths of that ignorance he left his reputation in