My Friend Annabel Lee [Photograph: Author’s portrait] [Signature: Mary MacLane] MY FRIEND ANNABEL LEE BY Mary MacLane [Illustration: Publisher’s logo] Chicago Herbert S. Stone and Company MCMIII COPYRIGHT, 1903 BY HERBERT S. STONE & COMPANY _Issued September 1, 1903_ TO LUCY GRAY, IN CHICAGO THIS BOOK AND ONE PALE LAVENDER FLOWER OF AMARANTH MONTREAL JULY, 1903 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. The Coming of Annabel Lee 1 II. The Flat Surfaces of Things 7 III. My Friend Annabel Lee 13 IV. Boston 15 V. A Small House in the Country 29 VI. The Half-Conscious Soul 35 VII. The Young-Books of Trowbridge 43 VIII. “Give Me Three Grains of Corn, Mother” 55 IX. Relative 61 X. Minnie Maddern Fiske 69 XI. Like a Stone Wall 81 XII. To Fall in Love 89 XIII. When I Went to the Butte High School 97 XIV. “And Mary MacLane and Me” 113 XV. A Story of Spoon-Bills 131 XVI. A Measure of Sorrow 153 XVII. A Lute with no Strings 163 XVIII. Another Vision of my Friend Annabel Lee 173 XIX. The Art of Contemplation 183 XX. Concerning Little Willy Kaatenstein 193 XXI. A Bond of Sympathy 225 XXII. The Message of a Tender Soul 233 XXIII. Me to My Friend Annabel Lee 241 XXIV. My Friend Annabel Lee to Me 255 XXV. The Golden Ripple 257 My Friend Annabel Lee I THE COMING OF ANNABEL LEE But the only person in Boston town who has given me of the treasure of her heart, and the treasure of her mind, and the touch of her fair hand in friendship, is Annabel Lee. Since I looked for no friendship whatsoever in Boston town, this friendship comes to me with the gentleness of sunshowers mingled with cherry-blossoms, and there is a human quality in the air that rises from the bitter salt sea. Years ago there was one who wrote a poem about Annabel Lee--a different lady from this lady, it may be, or perhaps it is the same--and so now this poem and this lady are never far from me. If indeed Poe did not mean this Annabel Lee when he wrote so enchanting a heart-cry, I at any rate shall always mean this Annabel Lee when Poe’s enchanting heart-cry runs in my mind. Forsooth Poe’s Annabel Lee was not so enchanting as this Annabel Lee.