his criticisms of others. He once
wrote: "Bryant is not _all_ a fool. Mr. Willis is not _quite_ an ass.
Mr. Longfellow _will_ steal, but, perhaps, he cannot help it." The man
who will write like that must expect similar vituperation in return.
To have friends, a man must be friendly. Poe was lacking in those warm
human sympathies that attract our fellow-men. The human touch lacking
in his art is also lacking in his life. "Except the wife who idolized
him," writes Mr. Woodberry in his excellent Life of Poe, "and the
mother who cared for him, no one touched his heart in the years of his
manhood, and at no time was love so strong in him as to rule his life;
as he was self-indulgent, he was self-absorbed, and outside of his
family no kind act, no noble affection, no generous sacrifice is
recorded of him."

In _Scribner's Magazine_, 1878, Mrs. Susan T. Weiss in writing of the
_Last Days of Edgar Allan Poe_, one of the most accurate accounts of
this period of the poet's life, gives us a more pleasing impression.
We quote the following extracts:

It was a day or two after his arrival that Poe, accompanied by his
sister, called on us.... The remembrance of that first meeting with
the poet is still as vividly impressed upon my mind as though it had
been but yesterday. A shy and dreamy girl, scarcely more than a child,
I had all my life taken an interest in those strange stories and poems
of Edgar Poe; and now, with my old childish impression of their author
scarcely worn off, I regarded the meeting with an eager, yet shrinking
anticipation. As I entered the parlor, Poe was seated near the window,
quietly conversing. His attitude was easy and graceful, with one arm
lightly resting on the back of his chair. His dark curling hair was
thrown back from his broad forehead--a style in which he habitually
wore it. At sight of him, the impression produced upon me was of a
refined, highbred, and chivalrous gentleman. I use this word
"chivalrous" as exactly descriptive of something in his whole
_personnel_, distinct from either polish or high-breeding, and which,
though instantly apparent, was yet an effect too subtle to be
described. He rose on my entrance, and, other visitors being present,
stood with one hand on the back of his chair, awaiting my greeting. So
dignified was his manner, so reserved his expression, that I
experienced an involuntary recoil, until I turned to him and saw his
eyes suddenly brighten as I offered my hand; a b