Those Who Gathered about Poe

more than twenty years from the day
when Poe first occupied a desk in the
office. Going back these one and
twenty years, the better to under¬
stand the atmosphere in which Poe
worked, to the spring of 1823, the
time is reached when George P. Mor¬
ris and Samuel Woodworth joined
forces and opened an office for the
publication of the New York Mirror
at 163 William Street. Morris was
a young man then, but already gave
strong evidence of the decided charac¬
ter he was to develop as an eminently
practical printer and successful writer
of songs—a man of such unusual per¬
sonal magnetism that well-nigh every
man who walked towards him a
stranger walked away from him a
friend. The eight years which fol¬
lowed the starting of the New York
Mirror saw many changes ; saw Mor¬
ris becoming more and more popu¬
lar as a writer of songs; saw him
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