Edgar Allan Poe to John Allan — 1826-09-21

Edgar Allan Poe to John Allan — 1826-09-21 Historical letter date: 1826-09-21. Source edition: Mary Newton Stanard, Edgar Allan Poe Letters Till Now Unpublished, 1925, letter two. This is repository machine OCR of the printed transcription; spelling and recognition errors remain. Consult the accompanying local scan excerpt and manuscript facsimile. [Source scan page 59] LETTER NUMBER TWO University. Septemf 2 I st 1826 Dear Sir, The whole college has been put in great consternation by the prosped of an examination There is to be a general one on the firSt of December, which will occupy the time of the Students till the fifteenth the time for breaking up It has not yet been determined whether there will be any diplomas, or doctor's degrees given but I should hardly think there will be any such thing, as this is only the second year of the institution & in other colleges three and four years are required in order to take a degree that is, that time is supposed to be necessary altho they sometimes confer them before if the applicants are qualified Tho' it will hardly be fair to examine those who have only been here one session, with those who have been here two and some of whom have come from other colleges Still I suppose I shall have to Stand my exami- nation with the ret I have been Studying a great deal in order to be prepared, and dare say I shall come off as well as the reSt of them, that is if I don't get frightened Perhaps you will have some business up here about that time, and then you can judge for yourself They have nearly finished the Rotunda The pillars 43 [Source scan page 60] 44 EDGAR ALLAN POE LETTERS of the Portico are completed and it greatly improves the appearance of the whole The books are removed into the library and we have a very fine collection We have had a great many fights up here lately The faculty expelled WicklifFe laft night for general bad conduct but more especially for biting one of the Student's arms with whom he was fighting I saw the whole affair it took place before my door Wickliffe was much the Stronger but not content with that after getting the other completely in his power, he began to bite I saw the arm afterwards and it was really a serious matter It was bitten from the shoulder to the elbow and it is likely that pieces of flesh as large as my hand will be obliged to be cut out He is from Kentucky the same one that was in suspension when you were up here some time ago Give my love to Ma and Miss Nancy I remain, Yours affedionatly Edgar A Poe [Source scan page 63] LETTER NUMBER TWO 45 E. A Poe University 21 Sept 1826 01 < 5 z c B C3 ^C