Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-10-28

| gan with the second number of the mag
tziue, August, 1868, In which sppeare
"fhe Luck Of Roaring Camp" Tn
story Of the publication Of this patheti
!ale hss been given by the suthor him
self Ia the Introduction OF hi poems; 81
the fscts are little known, aad the Incl
! dent ex!r maly interesting, come eI
, tracts from this preface ars gwen.
"When tne hrst numa2r CT the Over
land NJ onthly appeared, tbs author, then
its editor, called the pua,i3hsg'5 attention
TO the lack Of a5y distinctive Californian
romance IL is psgas, and svetrsd that
should no other contribution coma IL, hs
himself would supply the mission in tas
next number. No other contri ID ion was
e red; and the snthor, having she plot
and general idea already In his mind, In .
few Gays sent tine m,nuscript Of "rne
Luck Of R,a-ing Camp" to the print r
He had not ges received the proo:sheett
when ne Was suddenly summoned to the
{ u - OF the publisher, wnom be found
Standing ths picture Of dismly and suxi.
ETY. with the proof bsfora him. The indig
nation and s.upefic.io1 OF The author csn
be well understood when he was told TIA.
the printer instesd Of returning the proofs
to him, submitted them to ths pub Usher,
with the enphstic declaration that ths
matter thereof was so indecent, ir-eligious
end improper thst his prol f.eadeE-,
young lsdy-hsd with diff :Uisy been ia q.
duced to continue It's perussi, and that
he, as friend OF the publisher and O well
wisher OF tbs magazine was impelled 20
present to him personally this shameless
evidence Of the mEnpe- in which the edi-
tor WIS .mperilllng the future Ct that en-
terprise.
Believing only tina. no WAS the victim CT
some extra 1IdtDary Typographical biuu-
der, the su.hGr ct once sat down ard
read the proof. AS he read on he fund
himself affected, even IS he had been
affected in the conception and
writing Of ia feeling 30 incom-
p.tiols with the charges against
II, thst he could only lay 1t down and de-
clare emphstIcallY. albeit EopelesslY, that
ne couln really see nothing Objectionable
in it. O.her opinions were sought and
given. To the auth0r's SURPRISE, he
found himself IN che minority. Finally,
the story was submitted TO three gentle
men OF culture and experience, friends Of
publisher and suthor-Hho we're unable,
however, to CONS TO anY clear decision.
l. was, however, suggested to the author
that assuming the natural hypothesis that
his edtiorisl reasoning might be warped
by his li.ersry prsdilections In considers
lion OF one Of his own productions, per-
soasi sacrifice would st this j1nclure be
IN the last degree heroic. TaIs LIST sug
gesaon had the effect OF ending sll fur
tnsr discussion; Tor he 81 once Informed
the publisher that the question of the
propriesy Of the story was no longer g.
issue; the only question was OF his
capacity to exercise the proper editorial
Judgment; and that unless he wss
permitted to test tina. capacity By the
publication Of the story, srd abide
sQusre.y by the result, he must resign
his editorial position. The publishers,
possibly struck with the authors eonfi
deuce, possibly from kindness OF dispo-
sinon to ayounger mau, yielded, and
,."rhs Luck of Rearing Camp" was pub.
lished in ,hs carrent numosr Of the maya
zine for which ii WAS written, without
emendatior, omission, alteration or spoil
ogY.
But the troubles Of the "Luck" were
fsr from ended. The secular press, with
one or two exceptions, received 1t cody,
and referred to It's "singularity;" the re-
ligious press frantic,lly excommunic ssed
1t and mathematical 1t as the Offspring
were grsvsly urged to con-
denim and frown upon this pic
ture OF Californian society that was mot
conducive to eastern immigration; its
hapless author YVES held up TO obloquy Is