Text: Edgar Allan Poe to John R. Thompson — before June 30, 1849 (LTR-322a)

[[. . .]] Just when I most needed aid and sympathy from them, they turned upon me, some with a civil sneer, others with brutal, outspoken rudeness, and left me struggling in the mire, unpitied, lonely, desperate. But women do not argue logically as to one’s merits, or demerits: they follow certain heart instincts more profound sometimes than the deductions of philosophy, and so (God eternally bless them!) they have been angels of mercy to me, and have tenderly led me from the verge of ruin while men stood aloof and mocked. [[. . .]]