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Show EDG4RP0E' letter of (he Poet Explains Away a Criticis.m New York, May 4. One of the most notable features of this week's sessions ses-sions at tho Hoe sale wag an autographed auto-graphed letter of Edgar Allen Poe which brought 1,700. The letter is dated February 20, 1S43. and has never before been published, it Is said. In it Poe says, In reply to the assertion that his habits were shockingly Irregular- "The fact is this: My habits are rlgorouslv abstemious and I omit nothing of the natural roTimen for health. I rise early, cat moderately, drink nothing but water, and take abundant and regular exercises In the open air. But this Is my privnlo life ad of course cscapes'the eyos of the world. "The desire for society comes upon me onlv when I have bpcomc excited by drink. Then only I go that ia at these times only I have been In the practice of going among my friends who seldom, or "in fact never, have seen mc unless excited, take it for granted that I am always so. Those who really know mo, knovvAbotter " The letter should make a change In the work of future blographersof Poe, as it gives his own explanation of the charge of drunken habits made against him. |