ROSALIE POE.
Of Edgar Poe's sister, Rosalie, it may be said that all accounts
represent her as having been, up to the age of ten years, a pretty
child, with blue eyes and rosy cheeks, and of a sweet disposition.
Though evincing nothing of Edgar's talent and quickness at learning, she
was yet a rather better pupil than the average; and it had been Miss
Mackenzie's intention to give her every advantage of education afforded
by her own school, so as to fit her for becoming a teacher.
But when Rosalie Poe was in her eleventh or twelfth year, a strange
change came over her, for which her friends could never account. Without
having ever been ill, a sudden blight seemed to fall upon her, as frost
upon a flower, and she drooped, as it were, mentally and physically. She
lost all energy and ambition, and thenceforth made little or no progress
in her studies, growing up into a languid and uninteresting girlhood.
Still, she was amiable, generous and devoted to her friends, who were
generally chosen for their personal beauty, and for this reason my
sister was a great favorite with her. To Mrs. Mackenzie she was always
dutiful and affectionate, but her great pride and affection centered in
her brother. She felt painfully, and would often allude to, the
difference between them. Once she said to me, "Of course, I can't expect
Edgar to love me as I do him, he is so far above me."
A peculiarity of Miss Poe is worth mentioning, because it is one shared
by her brother, and must have been hereditary. She could not taste wine
without its having an immediate effect upon her. She would, after
venturing to take a glass of wine at dinner, sleep for hours, and awaken
either with a headache or in an irritable and despondent mood. As is
well known, the same effect was produced upon Edgar by a moderate
indulgence in drink, such as would not affect another man; and this
hereditary weakness should go far in accounting for and excusing those
excesses of which all the world is unfortunately aware.
Of the elder brother of Edgar, William Henry, I have heard scarcely any
mention until after Poe's death, and few seemed to know that there was
such a person. It seems, however, that in the summer, when Edgar was
preparing for the University, this brother came to Richmond on a visit
to himself and Rose. Edgar took him around to introduce to his young
lady acquaintances, by one of whom he has been described as handsome,
gentlemanly and agreeable. He died a year or two afterward, leaving some
poems which show him to have been possessed of unusual poetic talent.
Had he lived, he might have rivaled his brother as a poet.