The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1871-02-07
The Rising Literary Stars, Bret
HarIe and John Hay.

the literary whlms Of the American pub
lie, and nothing more ephemeral thantht
fame of those who cater to them. Almost
every year affords new illustrations ofthest
truths. ARTEMUs WARD had his day ant
Is forgotten; the same is true Of 0RPIIEu'
G. KERR; PETROLEUM V. Nasty hai
about exhausted his vein and quite snp
piled the popular demand; MARK TWAIN
has nearly worked up his supply of wit
and will soon have TO retire from the bust
ness. Just now BRET HARTE is on tht
food tide. His novelties have tickled
the popular fancy. eisin demand every
where. He has accordingly abandoned
the Pacific coast, and the magazine there
TO which he has hitherto limited his en-
gagements, and has come 10 New York tC
reap while he may the harvest of the
sudden favor which he has won Mt the
hands of tho public. A new York letter
in tho Cincinnati Times has some reada,
BILE gossip about this new literary star, as
well as about Col. JOHN HAY, the author
OF Little Breeches and "Jim BudsOe,'
who Is looming up as a sort Of rival ol
HARTE. Concerning the latter, the letter
says:
He has not yet determined, l believe,
whether he will make Boston or New
York his home, though II private letter |
have seen states that he has been offered
$4,000 year to take charge Of the ~.
lanhe Monthly which must bU u mistake,
Since Harte made q national reputation In
Overland, his writing has been In great
request. Not only Osgood & Co, but the
Harpers, AppletOns and Sheldon have
made him very liberal oilers 10 devote
his services exclusively TO them. II Is
also reported he has been engaged by the
Tribune as regular member OF its stall
at $1,000 per annum, with the privilege
of doing such outside literary work as he
may choose,
The San Franciscans are so Indignant
because he has quilted the Pacific slope,
that they now declare they gave him all
the reputation he has, and that but for
the Overland Monthly he would not have
been known ut ill. They aver that
his sudden success has turned his head,
and that he will regret going to such pro-
vincial towns as New York and Boston,
when he might have abode in the won
deriul city OF California.
San Francisco, in spite Of It's pretended
cosmopOlitanism, is In many respects a
thoroughly provincial. Still there may be
some truth In the statement that, II Bret
Hartc's remarkable stories had been Of.
lered to any of our Eastern magazines
their publication would have been declln-
cd. Harte, who Is native Of Albany, in.
sists that he wrote quite rs well ten years
ago as he does now, and that he tried in
vain to get his MSS. printed. Possibly,
Il he had staid here; he might have been
out OF hope and out at elbows at this
time, instead Of enjoying the clamor Of
publishers at his prosperous door.
have beentold, by the by, that Harte
Is sorely troubled by the excessive popu.
larity OF Colonel John Hays Little
Breeches" and "Jim BIudsoe,n y which, II
Is said, Harte regards as poaching upon
his manor. Hays poems, though In
Harte's veins nominations In any sense
Tho style diverse, with which Ilartc's
name Is associated, was written in this
country long before Harte was ever heard
OF, DR.. j. w. Palmer having published
wears ago volume of them which fell
still.born from the press Hays little
poems are quite as good as If not better
than anything Harte has produced; but,
of course, thel late editor Of the Overland,
who has all the vanity, egotism and self
ishness, popularly supposed to be assoCiat.
ed with genius, would not be able TO per.
ceive the fact.
Col. John Hay, one Of the very clever
est Of our rising literateurs, L, as you may
know, thoroughly q Western man not
only his iather, but his grandfather having
been born in the State Of Illinois. 1t Is
not moro than two months since he came
here and accepted position on the staff
of the Tribune. He was then hardly
known at all, having spent the last four or
five years abroad; but the publication OF
his two poems made and fixed his reputa-
tion, and his pen is now in such brisk re-
quest that he cannot supply the demand.
Reputation Is very convenient for a man
doomed to write. Having that, he has the
passport TO success, and can afford TO be
somewhat careless of his compositions.
As an instance, Col. Hay sent a story to
the Harpers Just before he printed Little
Breeches," and they declined 1t. In less
than three weeks alter, the editor of one
of their publications called upon the Col.
onel, and wished TO make an engagement
with. him TO write exclusively for the firm
In Franklin Square. II he had only had
the story they had rejected, 1t would have
been taken then, and handsomely paid
for. '.'. ENt