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[page 85, column 2, continued:]
POE AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA.
(To the Editor of THE DIAL)
The publication, by Prof. Charles W. Kent, of the exercises connected with the unveiling of the bust of Edgar Allan Poe in the library of the University of Virginia throws much light upon the conduct of the poet while a student of that institution, and his reasons for leaving it. The records of the University were scrutinized for entries bearing upon the charges against Poe for which he is so strongly indicted in Griswold's memoir. The student days of the accused covered a period of ten months in the course of the second year (1826) of the University's existence. Professor Kent reminds us of the turbulent and unrestrained character of university life in Poe's day, by saying that the attention of the faculty was directed principally “to disciplining students guilty of the use of ardent and vinous liquors, or of gambling. There were open outbreaks as well as personal rebellion against rules. The University seemed in imminent peril from within, because of the unrestrained wildness, rampant disrespect, and obstreperous conduct of a body of immature young men, who mistook this new liberty for license.”
Further on, he says:
“At one of the numerous trials conducted by the Faculty a certain witness deposed that there were not fifty students at the University who did not play cards, With as much readiness and no less accuracy he might have affirmed that not fifty of the fathers of these students were free from the same vice. The sentiments against it in the Faculty could not have been unyielding, for in 1825 three out of seven of the members wished gambling removed from the infractions punished seriously and transferred to the list of minor offences punishable by insignificant fines.”
After referring to the countless records of trials of students guilty of drunkenness and dissipated conduct, the writer adds:
“But in all these records we nowhere find any mention of the name of Edgar Poe; and when a long list of students summoned to appear before the Albemarle grand jury was made out, Poe was not included, though many of his boon companions were. Poe was not, then, among the offenders known to university or civil law, but from the private testimony of his college mates it is evident that he did sometimes play [page 86:] seven-up and loo, his favorite games. . . . His partner, afterwards a devout clergyman, and his adversaries, including frequently two friends who became respectively a well-known divine and a pious judge, were far better known to the University sporting circle than was Poe.”’
The testimony of Mr. Wertenbaker, the Librarian, seems conclusive as to Poe's practice of gambling. In referring to a visit to Poe's room, he is quoted as having said:
“On this occasion he spoke with regret of the large amount of money he had wasted and of the debts he had contracted during the session. If my memory is not at fault, he estimated his indebtedness at $2,000, and, though they were gaming debts, he was earnest and emphatic in the declaration that he was bound by honor to pay at the earliest opportunity every cent of them.”
Alluding to this interview with the Librarian, Mr. Kent declares:
“Poe's confession to him contains the real reason why he never returned to the University. Edgar Allan Poe was not expelled, nor dismissed, nor suspended, nor required to withdraw, nor forbidden to return, nor disciplined in any wise whatsoever, at the University of Virginia; but Mr. Allan was shocked and incensed at the extent of his dishonorable ‘ debts of honor,’ — which he at first refused to consider, but finally settled, — and determined to put his extravagant foster-son in his counting-room.”
The purpose of the editor of this memorial of Poe is not to gloss over the irregularities of his student life, but rather to show the real facts. It is, and must be, regarded as an official vindication of Edgar Allan Poe from the suspicion of having been summarily dealt with by the faculty of the institution which now treasures his name as one of the most illustrious that ever adorned its rolls.
E. A. FORBES.
Louisville, Ky., August 7, 1902.
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Notes:
None.
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[S:0 - DIAL, 1902] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - A Poe Bookshelf - Poe and the University of Virginia (E. A. Forbes, 1902)