University of Virginia Library

II

IN THE JEFFERSON SOCIETY

THE Jefferson Literary Society was established
in the early months of the session
of 1825, and Poe became a member in 1826.

The first public event of the centenary was a
celebration by this Society on the evening of
the 16th. Interest in the occasion and the special
programme drew many to the Jefferson
Hall in spite of the prevailing severe snow
storm. The programme, arranged by students
to do honor to their famous predecessor,
expressed well the attitude of the student body
to him. The committee on programme was
Paul Micou, chairman; L. M. Robinette, O.
R. Easley, G. F. Zimmer, and A. B. Hutzler.

Mr. Paul Micou presided and welcomed the
audience, promising that none of the speakers
would attempt elaborate criticism of the poet's
life and works. The place of oratorical tributes
and dramatic recital of poems would be

taken by simple descriptions of Poe's life at the
University, the student activities in his day and
the founding of the Society.

Mr. H. H. Thurlow, of New York, gave the
necessary setting for the programme in a short
sketch of the poet's life, not omitting the
pathetic story of his varying fortunes in the
several cities in which he sojourned.

The Washington Literary Society had been
invited to take part in the programme, and Mr.
DeRoy R. Fonville, of North Carolina, was
present as its delegate. Mr. Fonville, whose
theme was "The Pathos in the Lives of Our
Southern Poets," pictured the pitiful struggles
that had so large a share in the lives of Lanier,
Hayne and Timrod, reaching in Poe's life the
climax of his story. The courage and dignity
of these gifted men in the midst of the sore
perplexities of their artistic lives received
sympathetic treatment.

The natural pride of the Jefferson Society in
having had Poe as a member suggested the
theme for Mr. W. P. Powell, of Virginia—
"Poe and the Jefferson Literary Society." Mr.
Powell told his audience that the life of the
Jefferson Society has been almost co-equal with

that of the University, if we date the institution
from the beginning of its first session, and that
the poet was an active member, and, for at least
one meeting, temporary secretary. He seems
to have addressed the Society only once, and
then his theme was "Heat and Cold." Mr.
Powell drew some legitimate inferences as to
Poe's sociability from the fact of his membership
in the "Jeff."

Many interesting anecdotes and curious facts
about the poet's University year were told by
Mr. A. B. Hutzler, of Virginia. In the course
of his address on "Poet at the University of
Virginia," he pointed out that despite the lawlessness
of that session Edgar Poe appeared
on the minute-book of the faculty but once, and
that in that case it was merely to give testimony
in an affair about which he proved to
be ignorant. His evident literary and artistic
gifts were shown even then by his story-telling
to friends gathered at the fireside in No. 13,
and the decoration of his dormitory with
crayon copies of scenes that had caught his
fancy. In a few words he rehearsed the facts
which have convinced investigators that No.
13 West Range is the room that Poe occupied

after leaving West Lawn, where he was first
domiciled as a student.

Mr. J. Y. McDonald, of West Virginia, followed
with an address full of humorous stories
of "Student Life at the University in 1826,"
the year of Poe's residence. He kept his audience
amused with story after story taken
from faculty minute-books of the almost
daily trials for violating the strict rules
prescribing apparel, food, amusements, and
conduct of the students. It was hard for the
students in his audience to realize, as ever
existing at the University, such conditions as
those record-books and the statutes of the
time record with grave formality. One fact
of interest pointed out by Mr. McDonald was
the close personal touch that Mr. Jefferson
maintained with the students of his University.
The disorders of 1826, due to
boyish revolt against the prevailing conditions,
were graphically described.

Not less entertaining or full of quaint details
was the address of Mr. A. G. Gilmer, of
Virginia, on "How the Faculty Fared in
1826." That their lines had not fallen to them
in places entirely pleasant was very evident, for

something like twenty-five expulsions from a
student body of five times that number pointed
to a great deal of disorder and probably to
much that was radically wrong with the system
under which student self-government was first
attempted. Mr. Jefferson planned a student
tribunal to try all cases of misconduct, but no
student would serve on that court and the
faculty was forced to another method. Immediate
success was not achieved, but ultimately
there came about a mutual respect and
forbearance, which solved the hard problem
of discipline for all time. The attempt to
procure the entire faculty (with a single exception)
from abroad was discussed at some
length, and the characteristics of the importations
were well described.

Mr. S. M. Cleveland, of Virginia, closed the
exercises by an interesting analysis of the
poems which he believed Poe had written while
at the University. These were "Tamerlane,"
"Dreams," "Visit of the Dead," "Evening
Star," "Imitation," "In Youth I Have Known
One," "A Wandering Being from My Birth,"
"The Happiest Day," and "The Lake." The
discussion as to whether these poems were

written at the University was ingenious and
interesting, if not convincing. Their general
atmosphere and message were discussed with
rare insight and critical interpretation. Mr.
Cleveland drew a comparison between "Tamerlane"
as first published and the polished
poem that appeared later in Poe's life, and
showed that, though greatly improved in form,
the underlying spirit was the same.