The Home Life of Poe Part 4

MRS. CLEMM.

His father's sister, Mrs. Maria Clemm, who had for some years been living in a New York country town, supporting herself and little daughter by dressmaking, about this time returned to Baltimore, and hearing from the Poes of the presence of her brother's son in the city, commenced a search for him. She found him, at length, ill--really ill; and at once took him to her own humble home, installing him in a room which had been furnished for a lodger, and from that hour attended and cared for him with a true motherly devotion.

Those who believe in the spirit of the old adage, "Blood is thicker than water," may imagine what a blessed relief this was to the weary and almost despairing wanderer. Here he had what he needed almost as much as he did food--rest; rest for the weak and exhausted body and for the anxious mind as well. Here, in the quiet little room, he could lie and dream, in the blissful consciousness that near him were the watchful eyes and careful hands of his own father's sister, ready to attend to his slightest want. And from the day on which he first entered her humble abode Poe was never more to be a homeless wanderer. To him it proved ever a safe little harbor, a sure haven of refuge and repose in all storms and troubles that a.s.sailed, even to his life's end.

Mrs. Clemm was at this time a strong, vigorous woman, somewhat past middle age, and of large frame and masculine features. Her manner was dignified and well-bred, and she was possessed of abundant self-reliance, ready resource, and, as must be said, of clever artifice as well, where artifice was necessary to the accomplishment of a purpose. Her abode, though plainly and cheaply furnished, was a picture of neatness and such comfort as she could afford to give it; but her means were only what could be derived from dressmaking, taking a lodger or two, and at times teaching a few small children.

This state of affairs dawned upon Poe as he slowly recovered from his fever-dreams; and he again became aware of the strong necessity of further exertion on his part. Mrs. Clemm would not allow him to go to a hospital. Probably she feared to lose him. In some degree, isolated from her other kindred, she had in her loneliness found a son, and the pertinacity with which she thenceforth clung to him was something remarkable.

Poe soon resumed his weary search for employment, but for some time without success. In his hours of enforced idleness at home he found employment in teaching his little cousin, Virginia, a pretty and affectionate child of ten years, who, however, was fonder of a walk or a romp with him than of her lessons. She was devoted to her handsome cousin, and having hitherto lived with her mother and with few or no playmates or companions, soon learned to depend upon him for all pleasure or amus.e.m.e.nt. They called each other both then and ever after, "Buddie" and "Sissy," while Mrs. Clemm was "Muddie" to both.

Of this period of Poe's life in Baltimore, Dr. Snodgra.s.s, a literary Bohemian of the time, has given us glimpses:

"In Baltimore, his chief resort was the Widow Meagher's place, an inexpensive but respectable eating-house, with a bar attached and a room where the customers could indulge in a smoke or a social game of cards.

This was frequented chiefly by printers and employees of shipping offices. Poe was a great favorite with the Widow Meagher, a kindly old Irish woman. On entering there you would generally find him seated behind her oyster counter, at which she presided; himself as silent as an oyster, grave and retiring. Knowing him to be a poet, she addressed him always by the old Irish t.i.tle of _Bard_, and by this name he was here known. It was, "Bard, have a nip;" "Bard, take a hand." Whenever anything particularly pleased the old woman's fancy, she would request Poe to put it in "poethry," and I have seen many of these little pieces which appeared to me more worthy of preservation than some included in his published works.

It happened that Poe one evening, in his wanderings about the streets, stopped to read a copy of _The Evening Visitor_ exposed for sale, and had his attention attracted by the offer of a purse of one hundred dollars for the best original story to be submitted to that journal anonymously. Remembering his rejected ma.n.u.scripts, he at once hastened home and, making them into a neat parcel, dispatched them to the office of the _Visitor_, though with little or no hope of their meeting with acceptance.

His feelings may therefore be imagined when he shortly received a letter informing him that the prize of one hundred dollars had been awarded to his story of "The Gold Bug," and desiring him to come to the office of the _Visitor_ and receive the money.

It was on this occasion that Poe made the acquaintance of Mr. J. P.

Kennedy, author of "_Swallow Barn_," who proved such a true friend to him in time of need. Mr. Kennedy says he recognized in the thin, pale, shabbily dressed but neatly groomed young man a gentleman, and also that he was starving. He invited him frequently to his table, presented him with a suit of clothes and, seeing how feeble he was, gave him the use of a horse for the exercise which he so much needed. He also obtained for him some employment in the office of the _Evening Visitor_, whose editor, Mr. Wilmer, accepted several stories from his pen; and it was now, evidently, that Poe decided upon literature as a profession.

Under these favoring conditions Poe rapidly recovered his health and spirits. Mr. Wilmer, who saw a good deal of him at this time, says that when their office work was done they would often walk out together into the suburbs, generally accompanied by Virginia, who would never be left behind. At the office he was punctual, industrious and his work satisfactory. In all his a.s.sociation with him he never saw him under the influence of intoxicants or knew him to drink except once, moderately, when he opened a bottle of wine for a visitor.

I once clipped from a Baltimore paper the following article by a reporter to whom the story was related by "a lively and comely old lady," herself its heroine. I give it as an ill.u.s.tration of the easy confidence with which Poe, even in his youth, sought the acquaintance of women who attracted his attention:

CHAPTER XII.

"A PRETTY GIRL WITH AUBURN HAIR WHOM POE LOVED."

"The old lady commenced by saying that she had known Poe quite intimately when she and her mother were residents of Baltimore, about 1832. She was then seventeen years of age and attending a finishing school in that city. She confided to me, laughingly, that she was considered a very pretty girl, with dark eyes and curling auburn hair.

"The first time she noticed Poe, she said, was once when she was studying her lesson at the window of her room, which was in the rear of the house. Looking up, she saw a very handsome young man standing at an opposite back window on the next street looking directly at her. She pretended to take no notice, but on the following evening the same thing occurred. He appeared to be writing at his window, and each time that he laid aside a sheet he would look over at her, and at length bowed. This time a school friend was with her, who, in a spirit of fun, returned the bow. That evening, as the two were seated on the veranda together, this young man sauntered past and, deliberately ascending the steps of the adjoining house, spoke to them, addressing them by name. He sat for some time on the dividing rail of the two verandas, making himself very agreeable, and the acquaintance thus commenced in a mere spirit of school-girl fun, was kept up for several weeks, some story being invented to satisfy the mother.

"'Of course, it was all wrong,' said the old lady, 'but it was fun, nevertheless; and we girls could see no harm in it. But one evening, when Mr. Poe and myself had been strolling up and down in the moonlight until quite late, my mother desired him not to come again, as I was only a school girl and the neighbors would talk. So our acquaintance ended abruptly.' She added that, although they never again met, she always felt the deepest interest in hearing of him, and had never forgotten her fascinating boy-lover.

"Asked if she had ever seen Virginia, she replied: 'Yes, several times, when she was with her cousin;' that 'she was a pretty child, but her chalky-white complexion spoiled her.'"

Mr. Allan died in March, 1834, leaving three fine little boys to inherit his fortune.

Some time before his death an absurd story was circulated, which we find related in the Richmond _Standard_, of April, 1881, thirty-one years after Poe's death, on the authority of Mr. T. H. Ellis, of Richmond. It appears that a friend of Poe wrote to the latter that Mr. Allan had spoken kindly of him, seeming to regret his harshness, and advising him to come on to Richmond and call on him in his illness. Acting upon this advice, he, one evening in February, presented himself at Mr. Allan's door. The rest, as told by Ellis, is as follows:

"He was met at the door by Mrs. Allan, who, not recognizing him, said that her husband had been forbidden by his physician to see visitors.

Thrusting her rudely aside, he rapidly made his way upstairs and into the chamber where Mr. Allan sat in an arm-chair, who, on seeing him, raised his cane, threatening to strike him if he approached nearer, and ordered him to leave the house, which he did."

Woodbury a.s.serts the truth of this story, because, as he says, "Mr.

Ellis had the very best means of knowing the truth." But Ellis was at this time only a youth of 18 or 20, and had no more opportunity of knowing the truth than the numerous acquaintances of the Allans' to whom they related their version of the incident, with never a mention of the cane. Poe, they said, accused the servant of having delivered his message to Mrs. Allan and, creating some disturbance, the latter called to the servant to "drive that drunken man away." Mr. Ellis should have remembered that Mrs. Allan, to the day of her death, a.s.serted that she had never but once seen Poe; consequently, this story of the second meeting between them and of Poe's "rudely thrusting her aside," and being threatened with the cane, is simply a specimen of the gossip which was continually being circulated concerning Poe by his enemies.

CHAPTER XIII.

POE'S DOUBLE MARRIAGE.

How it was that Poe, when a mature man of twenty-seven, came to marry his little cousin of twelve or thirteen has ever appeared something of a mystery.

As understood by his Richmond friends, it appeared that when, in July of 1835, he left Baltimore to a.s.sume the duties of a.s.sistant editor to Mr.

White of the _Southern Literary Messenger_, Virginia, deprived of her constant companion, so missed him and grieved over his absence that her mother became alarmed for her health, and wrote to Poe concerning it; and that in May of the following year the two came to Richmond, where Poe and Virginia were married, she being at that time not fourteen years of age. For this marriage Mrs. Clemm was severely criticised, the universal belief being that she had "made the match."

Of any other marriage than this these friends never heard; since it was only from a letter found among Poe's papers after his death, and the reluctant admission of Mrs. Clemm, that it became known that a previous marriage had taken place.

The marriage records of Baltimore show that on September 22, 1835, Edgar A. Poe took out a license to marry Virginia E. Clemm. Mrs. Clemm, when interviewed by one of Poe's biographers, admitted that there had been such a marriage, and stated that the ceremony had been performed by Bishop John Johns in Old Christ Church; though of this there is no mention in the church records. Immediately after the ceremony, she said, Poe returned to Richmond and to his editorial duties on the _Messenger_.

She vouchsafed no explanation, except that the two were engaged previous to Poe's departure for Richmond.

A possible explanation of the mystery may be that Mrs. Clemm, having set her heart upon keeping her nephew in the family, could think of no surer means than that of a match between himself and her daughter. When he left Baltimore for Richmond, in July, she doubtless had her fears; and then came reports of his notorious love affairs, one of which came near ending in an elopement and marriage. It was probably then that she wrote to him about Virginia's grieving for him; following up this letter with another saying that Neilson Poe had offered to take Virginia into his family and care for her until she should be eighteen years of age.

This brought a prompt reply from Poe, begging that she would not consent to this plan and take "Sissy" away from him.

This last letter is dated August 29. What other correspondence followed we do not know; but two weeks later, on September 11, 1835, we find Poe writing to his friend, Mr. Kennedy, the following extraordinary letter, in which he clearly hints at suicide:

"I am wretched. I know not why. Console me--for you can. But let it be quickly, or it will be too late. Convince me that it is worth one's while to live.... Oh, pity me, for I feel that my words are incoherent.... Urge me to do what is right. Fail not, as you value your peace of mind hereafter.

"EDGAR A. POE."

This production, which, in whatever light it is viewed, cannot but be regarded as an evidence of pitiable weakness. Some writer has chosen to attribute Poe's anguish to the prospect of losing Virginia. But it does not at all appear that such is the case; for, even if Neilson Poe did make such an offer, Poe knew well enough that neither Mrs. Clemm nor her daughter would ever consent to accept it. The whole thing appears to have been simply a plan of Mrs. Clemm to bring matters to the satisfactory conclusion which she desired. She possessed over her nephew then and always the influence and authority of a strong and determined will over a very weak one; and we here see that in less than two months after Poe's leaving her house she had carried her point and married him to her daughter. Having thus secured him, she was content to wait a more propitious time for making the marriage public.

There is yet a little episode which may have influenced this affair and may serve further to explain it.

When Poe first went to Richmond, Mr. White, as a safeguard from the temptation to evil habits, received him as an inmate of his own home, where he immediately fell in love with the editor's youngest daughter, "little Eliza," a lovely girl of eighteen. It was said that the father, who idolized his daughter, and was also very fond of Poe, did not forbid the match, but made his consent conditional upon the young man's remaining perfectly sober for a certain length of time. All was going well, and the couple were looked upon as engaged, when Mrs. Clemm, who kept a watchful eye upon her nephew, may have received information of the affair, and we have seen the result.

Does this throw any light upon Poe's pitiful appeal, "Urge me to do what is right"? Was this why the marriage was kept secret--to give time for a proper breaking off of the match with Elizabeth White? And it is certain, from all accounts, that Poe now, at once, plunged into the dissipation which was, according to general report, the occasion of Mr.

White's prohibition of his attentions to his daughter. It was she to whom the lines, "_To Eliza_," now included in Poe's poems, were addressed.

When I was a girl I more than once heard of Eliza White and her love affair with Edgar Poe. "She was the sweetest girl that I ever knew,"

said a lady who had been her schoolmate; "a slender, graceful blonde, with deep blue eyes, who reminded you of the Watteau Shepherdesses upon fans. She was a great student, and very bright and intelligent. She was said to be engaged to Poe, but they never appeared anywhere together. It was soon broken off on account of his dissipation. I don't think she ever got over it. She had many admirers, but is still unmarried."

Recently I read an article written by Mrs. Holmes c.u.mming, of Louisville, Kentucky, in which she spoke of persons and places that she had seen in Richmond a.s.sociated with Poe. Among others, she met with a niece of Eliza White, who, when a child, had often seen Poe at the latter's home. She remembered having at a party seen him dancing with Eliza, and how every one remarked what a handsome couple they were. She had never seen any one enjoy dancing more than Poe did; not but that he was very dignified, but you could see in his whole manner and expression how he enjoyed it." Perhaps it was because he had "little Eliza" for a partner.

Previous to Poe's first marriage, he had boarded with a Mrs. Poore on Bank street, facing the Capitol square, and with whose son-in-law, Mr.

Thomas W. Cleland, he held friendly relations. A few weeks after his first marriage (which was still kept secret) he removed to the establishment of a Mrs. Yarrington, in the same neighborhood, where, being joined by Mrs. Clemm and Virginia, they lived together as formerly, he--as he informed Mr. George Poe--paying out of his slender salary nine dollars a week for their joint board. This continued until May of the next year, when the public marriage of Poe and Virginia took place.

On this occasion Mr. Thomas Cleland was obliging enough to consent to act as Poe's surety, and he also secured the services of his own pastor, the Rev. Amasa Converse, a noted Presbyterian minister. Late on the evening of May 16, Mr. Cleland, with Mrs. Clemm, Poe and Virginia, left Mrs. Yarrington's and, walking quietly up Main street to the corner of Seventh, were married in Mr. Converse's own parlor and in the presence of his family, Mrs. Clemm giving her full and free consent. The clergyman remarked afterward that Mrs. Clemm struck him as being "polished, dignified, and agreeable in her bearing," while the bride "looked very young." The party then returned to their boarding-house, where Mrs. Clemm invited the lady boarders to her room to partake of wine and cake, when it was discovered that it was a wedding celebration.[5]