The Baltimore Sun reports that the “Poe Toaster” who faithfully visited Poe’s grave every January 19th for 60 years failed to show up at midnight on January 19, 2010. He would arrive sometime between midnight and 5:30 a.m. and leave a bottle of cognac and three roses.
Jeff Jerome, the curator of the Edgar Allan Poe House in Baltimore, Maryland told the Baltimore Sun that there was nothing to make anyone think the toaster wasn’t coming this year. He said the man sometimes knelt at the tombstone or put his hands on it. Sometimes he would leave a note along with his other gifts.
As the ritual came to be known over the years, people would gather nearby to watch but would not disturb the Poe Toaster. A group of 30-50 people came this year but left disappointed. People speculated that the toaster was ill, or chose to stop coming after the bicentennial of Poe’s birthday last year (or perhaps the 60th year anniversary of his own visits).
Mr Jerome said he would continue to keep vigil each morning of January 19 until 2012. “After two years if he doesn’t show up, I think we can safely assume the tribute has ended,” he said.
The tragedy of the Haitian earthquake has brought out an outpouring of help for the devastated country which is, of course, a good thing. As also often happens, it has also shone a light on the woeful ignorance of many people concerning the history and religion of Haiti. The ‘pact with the devil’ remarks made by televangelist, Pat Robertson set off a firestorm of criticism and disbelief. A White House official said his comments that Haiti has been cursed because of a pact made with the devil to free them from French rule don’t express the spirit of the American people or the president.
Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett said Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that Roberston’s comments left her speechless. She called Robertson’s statements “a pretty stunning comment to make.” Robertson’s camp tried pretty hard to run damage control after the remarks traveled swiftly around the internet. His comments, according to spokeman, Chris Roslan, were based on Voodoo rituals carried out before a slave rebellion against French colonists in 1791. Roslan said Robertson never stated the earthquake was God’s wrath.
Maybe he didn’t say those words literally, but the implication is there, and by the way, how did Napoleon III get in there? Pat Robertson’s comments could not possibly be based upon the works of ‘countless scholars’ since even the average student of history knows that Napoleon III had nothing to do with the Haitian revolution. It seems pretty clear Pat Robertson doesn’t know what the hell he is talking about. See the video after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
On the evening before his beheading, October 29, 1618, it is said that Sir Walter Raleigh wrote these words in his Bible:
E’en such is time! who takes in trust
Our youth, our joys and all we have,
And pays us but with age and dust:
Who, in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days!
But from this earth, this grave, this dust
The Lord will raise me up I trust.
I didn’t know that when I first read the verse in a book of poetical quotations where it was listed among other entries under the category “Graves.” It rather takes on a different sort of significance if he really did write it knowing that he was going to have his head cut off the next day!
The 19th century produced many writers who were very famous during their lives, but are not so well known today except for a few pieces of poetry that continue to endure. In some cases, these may not even have been the works they might have imagined would survive. One woman who was famed and admired for much more than her children stories and poems was Laura E. Richards. She was one of the daughters of poet and abolitionist, Julia Ward Howe, author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”. Laura Richards wrote “Captain January”, which is now associated more with Shirley Temple than Laura. She penned quite a bit of poetry during her long life. Laura was 11 years old when the Civil War began and died a year before the end of World War II. She also wrote several biographies, most notably her mother’s. Laura and her sisters, Maud and Florence, were the first female recipients of the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1917. Laura also wrote a biography of her famous father, Samuel Gridley Howe and one of Florence Nightingale. She is most remembered today for her nonsense poems, such as “Antonio” (was tired of living a-lonio), and “Eletelephony” (Once there was an elephant who tried to use the telephant). Laura was never quite as famous as her mother. On the other hand, how many people these days know much about Julia Ward Howe besides “The Battle Hymn”?
Ah Fate, cannot a man
Be wise without a beard?
East, West, from Beer to Dan,
Say, was it never heard
That wisdom might in youth be gotten,
Or wit be ripe before ‘t was rotten?
He pays too high a price
For knowledge and for fame
Who sells his sinews to be wise,
His teeth and bones to buy a name,
And crawls through life a paralytic
To earn the praise of bard and critic.
Were it not better done,
To dine and sleep through forty years;
Be loved by few; be feared by none;
Laugh life away; have wine for tears;
And take the mortal leap undaunted,
Content that all we asked was granted?
But Fate will not permit
The seed of gods to die,
Nor suffer Sense to win from Wit
Its guerdon in the sky,
Nor let us hide, whate’er our pleasure,
The world’s light underneath a measure.
Go then, sad youth, and shine;
Go, sacrifice to Fame;
Put youth, joy, health upon the shrine,
And life to fan the flame;
Being for Seeming bravely barter
And die to Fame a happy martyr.
