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99. Sarah Helen Whitman to John H. Ingram. Item 229
May 27, [18]75
My dear Mr. Ingram,
Though suffering from a more severe attack of neuralgia than I have known for years, I will try to tell you how much I was interested in your last letter [May 2], especially in the invitation from the Alumni of the University of Virginia to their Semi-Centennial celebration. I wish you could have accepted it. It was an honorable and fitting tribute.
Have you heard anything yet from Davidson? Your cowardly critic of [page 295:] the Nation still lurks behind masked batteries. Perhaps the Civil Service strategy has spiked his guns.
I received last week [May 20] a long letter from Mrs. Houghton, somewhat fragmentary & confused in statement, the ostensible object of which was to obtain information about Mrs. Lewis. It would seem that she imagined me to be in some way responsible for what you published about Mrs. Lewis. “Mr. Ingram's mention of Mrs. Lewis as doing my work {says Mrs. Houghton} was more than my sense of justice could endure & I have spoken out to this noble enthusiastic defender of Poe, although I might not have done so in time had not the lady who sent me to the Poes warned him of his mistake.”(1) You will see from the lady's letter, my dear friend, why I cautioned you in my last letters to consider carefully the communications submitted to you. I am afraid these “Rival Queens” will get you into trouble with their conflicting claims. It may be difficult to settle the demands of both. I frankly confess that I do not like the tone of Mrs. Houghton's communication. She seems to me to be instigated less by a regard for the reputation of E.A.P., or by friendliness toward Mrs. Clemm, than by other & more questionable motives.
I answered the letter as kindly and discreetly as I could by assuring her that I had no personal acquaintance with Mrs. Lewis & had never corresponded with her, that I believed her to be in England, & that our friend Mr. Ingram, from whom I had heard of her own kindness to the wife & mother of Mr. Poe, could probably furnish her with Mrs. Lewis's present address. Before she received my answer she wrote again much to the same effect.(2) I was glad to learn from her first letter, which I enclose, that Poe's recital to her of the events of his life is referred by her to the period of his illness after his wife's death, i.e., in the spring of [18]47. She says in one place that she saw but little of Mr. Poe during the year 1848, & in another that “Dr. Hopkins & Dr. Houghton of course know that the facts she has communicated to you are true, they both having often met Mr. Poe at my house in 1848 & helped me to serve him in many ways.”
Wishing to satisfy myself as to the period of Mrs. Clemm's residence with Mrs. Lewis, I went over all the letters from her in my possession & found proofs which I will give you hereafter of her long residence with that lady. I found, also, what may be of more interest to you just now, a brief letter from Mrs. Clemm, dated New York, Sept. 25, [18]51, in which she says, “write soon & direct to the care of Dr. Houghton, Union Square P. Office, New York City.” Another letter dated Oct.10, [18]51, I enclose to you. It is important to you chiefly as agreeing with Mrs. Houghton's statement as to the period of Mrs. Clemm's residence with her. I should like to have you return it to me when convenient. My next letter from Mrs. Clemm was dated Lowell, May 6, 1852.(3) [page 296:]
I must not forget to tell you that I have read recently your notice in the Academy of Curwen's Sorrow & Song. I read it with pride & pleasure. It is admirable in matter & manner.
I have a thousand things to say but am dreadfully tired. Mrs. H[oughton] says nothing to me of the lines which you call a Valentine (was it a valentine?) — “To Mary Louise,” beginning “not long ago,” etc. — & if so, what was its date?
[Letter is unfinished]
Dear Mr. Ingram,
The enclosed [October 10, 1851] is the only letter in which Mrs. Houghton is mentioned, but this may be valuable to us as expressing Mrs. Clemm's sense of the hospitality of her friends. It came to me as a pleasant surprise when I looked among Mrs. Clemm's earlier letters for dates of her residence with Mrs. Lewis. In Dec. 1854 I find a letter from Mrs. MacCready, the actress & elocutionist, who brought credentials to me from Mrs. Clemm in the autumn of that year. She says under date Dec. 8, 1854, “I have passed, since my return, two or three evenings with dear Mrs. Clemm at the house of Mrs. Lewis.” etc., etc.
In 1858 Mrs. Clemm was still living with Mrs. Lewis & had only recently left for the home of friends in Alexandria when Mr. Davidson & I called on Mrs. Lewis at her home on Irving Place, New York, but did not find her at home.
I wish to do even justice to the rival claims of these two ladies, Mrs. Houghton & Mrs. Lewis as benefactresses, if such a thing is possible.
Affectionately your friend,
S.H.W.
Does not Mrs. MacCready say that she received “The Fire Fiend” from Mrs. Clemm as an unpublished production of Poe's? Poor lady, I am afraid her evidence will have to be ruled out of court!
[Enclosure: Marie Louise Shew Houghton to Sarah Helen Whitman]
May 20th [18]75
Dear Mrs. Whitman
I wish very much to ask you a few questions about Mrs. Clemm, Mrs. Poe's mother, I was absent from N.Y. 10 years, being a sufferer from the war, (having Southern claims rendered worthless by this great calamity) Did you see Mrs Clemm after she went to Lowel the last time? She left my house in the spring of /52, as I removed west at that time. She not wishing to go with us, immediately. Mrs. Clemm spent the winter, and part of the summer of 1850. with us, and the winter of 1851, when she went to Lowel again. I have sent her letters and some of Mr Poe's to Mr Ingram and all I can find or recollect of Mr Poe's [page 297:] antecedents given me during the illness which followed his Virginia's death, and during a relapse (a few weeks after) partial recovery. I have forgotten very many things and but for my Journal or diary could not have brought it clearly to mind. I do not see how you all could justice could endure, and I have spoken out to this noble, enthusiastic attribute to that Mrs. Lewis, that sorrowful time in his life, when he been left anonamous [[(sic)]], I should have kept silent, but Mr Ingram's needed a congenial friend and generous loving care. If it had only mention of Mrs Lewis, as doing my work, was more than my sense of defender of Mr Poe, John H. Ingram; altho I might not have done so, in time — had not the lady who sent me to them (the Poes) warned him of his mistake. I cannot see why Mrs Clemm should have allowed this. Of course I know she is dead and has been for many years, still it forgotten the long time it took her unfortunate “Eddie” to even cannot be possible she was so far gone in mind and memory, as to have and Mrs Lewis may have laid them under obligations just about the time Edgar went to Richmond, which obliged him to write up her works while on this lamentable tour, for Mrs. Clemm often made tolerate Mrs Lewis. I saw very little of Mr Poe the last year of his life, promises for him, which humiliated his soul and to which he made less resistance as he begun to break up in brain power about this time. Of course the body cannot be sustained upon pride (however true and honourable) and want may explain more than any thing else. I was very ill in the spring of 49. and during that summer saw very little of my friends at Fordham yet I went twice by his request taking the Rev. Dr Hopkins with me, to talk over his Eureka and I have sent these letters to Mr. Ingram. I have not seen your book “Edgar Poe and his Critics,” only notices of it. I lived in retirement many years, with my two youngest daughters and I am still so unsettled that my books, pictures, and other effects are packed in boxes. I have large amount of correspondence and little time or strength to devote to it, which I offer as an apology for my hurried letter to you. Mr. Ingram says you will like me, and I hope you will forgive me troubling you — and can you tell me with whom Mrs. Clemm died, and who comforted her in her last hours. Sincerely yours,
Marie L. Houghton
[Enclosure: Maria Clemm to Sarah Helen Whitman]
New York, Oct. 10th, [18]51
Dear Mrs Whitman
On my return from Flushing this morning, I received your kind letter. Most gratefully I thank you for the interest you express for my happiness. Relative to the plan you suggested concerning the books, I have not the power to act. Mr Redfield only allows me as many as I can [page 298:] dispose of among my friends without interfering with his sale of them. By calling the attention of the public by an “advertisement” would affect him materially. And would on my part appear dishonorable. When I can dispose of one or two copies at private sale, I of course receive the money for them, and the publisher places them to my account, and as I have no other resource, of course this is to me a very great convenience — I have with my kind friends here a very pleasant home, and it is their wish for me to make it a permanent one. My proud spirit shrinks from any pecuniary favors from them, Therefore when I can dispose of a few copies of the books it prevents me being under obligation to any one. Will you have the goodness to present my warm thanks to Mr Pabodie, and explain to him my reasons for declining his kind offer. But should an opportunity occur when he can (without trouble to himself) dispose of a copy for me, I will feel under great obligations to him for doing so, and will send him on a copy when he chooses to send for it. I sincerely hope I may soon have the pleasure of becoming acquainted with you. I think I would recognize you instantly from the description my darling Eddie gave me of you. My friends think me very like him but I know it is only a family resemblance — My friend Mrs. Houghton often says she can almost fancy he is speaking to her, when I am sad and talking earnestly. Alas I am often sad! oh how sad! when I think of all my dear ones — The only consolation I feel is knowing that I shall soon be with them. Pardon me dear friend for speaking thus, but you know it is just two years since my precious Eddie left me forever, and to a cold heartless world — I hope you will soon write to me again. God bless you. Affectionately your friend,
Maria Clemm
1. The two letters Mrs. Whitman enclosed are here reproduced in full for the first time from holographs; that of May 20, 1875, is in the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington; that of Oct. 10, 1851, is in the Brown University Library, Providence.
2. This letter is here reproduced in full for the first time from the holograph in Brown University Library:
“The Chestnuts”
May 24th [1875]
Dear Mrs Whitman
I wrote you a few days since, and amidst several letters sent yours to the Post Office.. In clearing out my letters this morning I see that this slip is left in my drawer, and fearing I may have sent you an unintelligible letter I enclose it. Perhaps I have sent you the wrong letter — if so, it is a pity but as I have so much writing and so little time, just now, you must forgive me. Yours truly,
M. L. Houghton
My address is Whitestone, Queen's County, Long Island.
(over)
My initials, when Mr. Poe knew me, was M. L. S., and the valentine written in 1847 to Mrs M. L. S. and published by Griswold as a poem of his youth, was written in the [page 299:] February following Mr Poe's wifes death, and published in the home journal by Mr Willis at that time.
I was married to Dr Roland S. Houghton in November 1850. Dr Houghton was associated with Dr Hopkins in the Church Journal for 17. years, as Editor and Publisher — and, sold out that paper about three years since to the present owners. I am staying now temporarily at Flushing — or Whitestone it is called now, having a claim upon this old homestead, and a suit in chancery about it.
I live alone, with two darling daughters, one of whom is a child of genius, being gifted in music and painting. If you should ever come to Flushing, I trust you call upon us. Yours sincerely,
M. L. Houghton
The valentine to “Mrs M. L. S.” was written and sent to me in February 1847, soon after Mrs Poe's death. It was published by Willis about that time in the Home Journal [[(sic)]]
That will tell you in a few eloquent words, Mr Poe's feeling toward me in his most generous and even grateful manner and expression. It speaks for itself — and cannot be gain sayed. I have sent the original to Mr Ingram. I was married to Dr Roland S. Houghton in November 1850. Dr Houghton was one of the Editors of the Church Journal for 17 years after this, and his friend and Partner Dr John H. Hopkins sold the Journal to my husband about six years since, after which Dr. Houghton was Editor and Publisher until about three years ago when Dr. Houghton sold the Church Journal to the present owners. I am now staying at Flushing, or Whitestone is the new name — our place being nearer Whitestone than Flushing.
I am only waiting a decision in Chancery, holding possession of this old homestead until that time. My two youngest children are with me (Mary 11, and Dora 14 years) Dora is a gifted child of genius, being musical and otherwise. She has never been to school and has taught musice for nearly four years. She paints nicely, having orders for oil copies of some of my nice originals. She has a wonderful memory and has read thousands of books, having been served with choice books from her father's office many years. If you ever come near us we should like to see you.
Mr. Griswold had reason to dislike me, and put the V[alentine] to Mrs M. L. S. among the poems “written in youth.” I went to see this creature Griswold with Mrs Clemm twice, and tried to bribe him to leave out his memoir, by paying the cost of those published, but his hatred of Mr. Poe was a passion worthy of a demon instead of a man.
M. L. Houghton
Address Whitestone, Queens Co. Long Island — Post Office Box 72.
You will misunderstand me I. do not wish to injure Mrs Lewis, but she has allowed Mr Ingram to make statements untrue.
Mrs Clemm never mentioned to me of being at Mrs Lewis's house but she might have been, sometime but my honest opinion is, that Mrs Lewis had no home to offer her Where is this Mrs Lewis. do you know! I am curious because of her audacity.!
M. L. H.
No one knows of my supplying Mr Ingram with these letters and facts.
3. Of the two hitherto unpublished letters reproduced below written by Maria Clemm to Mrs. Whitman, that dated Sept. 25, 1851, is from the holograph in the Brown University Library; the letter dated May 6, 1852, is from the holograph in the Lilly Library, Indiana University.
New York Sep 25. [18]51
Dear Madam
I have been intending so long to write to you, and to request you to use your influence [page 300:] with two or three of your friends to purchase of me each a copy of my darling Eddie's books. The publisher only allows me for the present as many copies as I choose to dispose of, but owing to great delicacy of feeling (on account of that hateful and most untruthful memoir) I can only avail myself of this privilege through the kindness of my friends. I have heard my poor Eddie speak with so much gratitude of Mr Peabodys great kindness to him whilst in Providence, that I think perhaps he will extend that kindness as soon as you conveniently can? And please direct to me care of Dr Houghton Union to myself by endeavoring to dispose of one or two copies for me. Will you reply to this Square Post Office, New York City. How much I would like to become acquainted with you for my dear Eddie did love you very dearly. Yours most affectionately
Maria Clemm
Lowell, May 6th 1852
Dear friend,
I received your kind letter some days ago, but have been unable to reply to you, on account of my eyes. I have been almost blind for several months, owing to severe remedies used for violent neuralgia in my head. But thanks to my heavenly Father, I again can see, and think my sight will be restored to me entirely. Oh! how much I have missed my loved ones in this affliction. How much I longed to hear the sweet voice of my darling Virginia. How much I wished to hear my precious Eddie in his dear tender tone speak words of consolation. But alas I shall never hear those beloved voices again. — I sincerely thank you for the enclosure in your letter. I was infinitely more gratified with your kind attention, than (although so acceptable) with the money. I have been in Lowell for the last two months. Will you explain to me the cause of my receiving your letter by way of New York? It has strangely puzzled me. I intend some time in June to visit Fall River for a few weeks, and will then call and see you — you little know how much I wish to do so. Will you have the goodness to present my regards to Mr Pabodie, I hope to have the pleasure to thank him in person for his kindness to my poor Eddie. I hope you will write to me often. I must now conclude as I am suffering from the pain in my eyes. Yours affectionately,
Maria Clemm
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Notes:
None.
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[S:0 - PHR, 1979] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Bookshelf - Poe's Helen Remembers (J. C. Miller) (Entry 099)