th the arrival of cold weather the visits of friends and curious persons from the city ceased and the Poes were left alone to face the rigors of winter without fuel or sufficient clothing or food. Under these inflictions Virginia sank rapidly. She lay in a bed of straw with her husband's cloak wrapped around her and a pet cat on her bosom to help provide warmth. In December, 1846, the family was visited by a friend from New York, Mrs. Mary Louise Shew, who found Virginia dying and Poe and his "mother" destitute. Through her kindness, and a public appeal in the papers, the immediate wants of the family were relieved and Virginia enabled to pass away in comparative peace at the end of January, 1847. She was buried at Fordham but afterwards removed to the side of her husband at Baltimore. After the death of Virginia, Mrs. Clemm continued to nurse Poe, who gradually returned to a somewhat better state of health. In this Mrs. Shew assisted until finally compelled to withdraw, due to the emotional demands of her patient. Helped by his friends Poe once more began to appear among the living. At Fordham he had written Eureka, a long "prose poem" of a semiscientific and metaphysical cast which was published in March, 1848, by Geo. B. Putnam of New York. This was the tenth and last of the poet's works published during his life time, although an "edition" of his tales dated 1849 is known to exist. The nature of Eureka forbade its being popular. Poe now took to lecturing after a trip to Philadelphia in the summer of 1847 when another lapse in drink almost proved fatal. The end of his life was marked by the publication of some of his most remarkable poems. "The Bells," "Ulalume," "Annabel Lee," and others, and by his infatuation with several women. During various lecture trips to Lowell, Mass., and Providence, R. I., he became acquainted with Annie Richmond and Sarah Helen Whitman, the former a married woman, and the latter a widow of some literary r...
