man in the opinion
of the professors, and he was never found guilty of any serious
misconduct. He was fond of wandering over the Ragged Mountains,
whither he went alone or with only a dog, and he delighted to fancy
that he was the very first white person to penetrate some lonely glen
or ravine.

He was also something of an artist, and decorated his rooms with
charcoal sketches. He and a classmate bought a volume of Byron with
steel engravings in it. The next time his friend went to see Poe he
found him copying one of these on the ceiling, and he continued this
until he had covered the whole of the walls with figures that were
said to be artistic and striking.

CHAPTER V

FORTUNE CHANGES

At the age of eighteen there came a change in Poe's life. Until then
he had been a petted child in a wealthy family. Mr. Allan did not have
that affection for him which Mrs. Allan had. He did not understand the
boy's peculiar and erratic nature, and was particularly displeased
when he found that Edgar had run into debt at college. There was an
angry scene between the two, and Edgar was told that he must leave the
university and go into the counting-room. It appears that he made some
attempt to tie himself down to figures and accounts and business
routine; but as he had not been brought up to this kind of life, he
soon tired of it, and decided to go into the world to seek his own
fortune. He went to Boston, where he published a volume of poetry.

In the preface to this volume, Poe says that the poems were written
before he was fourteen. Though this may not be strictly true, there is
little doubt that some of them were. While he was still at school he
had collected enough of his poems to make a volume, and Mr. Allan had
taken them up to the master of the English and Classical School to get
his advice about publishing them. This gentleman advised against it on
the ground that it would make Edgar conceited,--a fault from which he
was already suffering. As soon as he was free to do as he pleased,
therefore, it was natural that he should rewrite his poems and publish
them.

The volume was entitled "Tamerlane and Other Poems. By a Bostonian."
It was published by a young printer named Calvin Thomas, and was a
thin little book, not very attractive in appearance. Several of the
pieces then published are now included in Poe's collected works, but
they have been greatly changed.

Naturally the poems of an obscure young man did no