Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-11-02

its life and reputation had depended on Its
reception In California, this edition and
explanation would alike have been need
less But, fortunately, the young OpGr-
land Monthly had In its first number Sc.
cured a hearing and position throughout
the American Union,a and the author wait,
ed the larger verdict. The return mail
from the East brought letter addressed
to the Editor of the OuerlGnd MonWtUo"
enclosing letter from Fields, s9ood q
Co., the publishers of tho atlantic MONTH
lu. addressed to the-to them-unknown
'author of The Luck of Roaring Camp"
This the author opened, and found TO be q
request, upon the most fiattering terms,
for story for the atlantic similar to the
Luck" The same mail brought news
papers and reviews welcoming the little
foundlng of California literature with an
enthusiasm that half frightened its author;
but with the placing of that letter in the
hands of the publisher, who CHANGED to be
standing by his side, and who during
those dark days had, without the authors
faith, sustained the authors position, he
felt that his compensation was full and
complete"
,Joaoui Miller was ne Of the early con.
tributors to the Overland as " ell as -. Z,
Stanislaus," the first OF his humorous and
original dialect poems, in which Truthful
James, afterward famous for his remarks
upon the heather Chinee, made his first
in the serio humorous makeup of this
character, which gives all his sayings an
inimitable flavor. Bret Harte has used
Truthful as his mouthpiece in several
poems and always with marked success.
Between 1860 and 1865 he published in
the San Francisco papers, often anony
mously, number of striking poems and
lyrics of the war. The most notable Of
these, John Brown of Gettysburg" is one
Of the few ballads of that str king period
that have established themselves in our
literature. But not less touching are
ny" and 1.-The Reveille," which are more
purely lyrical. In 1865 his first volume, a
book of verses appeared. 1t was called
The Lost Galleon" from the first poem,
bis longest production in verse, l believe,
with the exception of Cadet Gray" pub
lished many years later. This little vol
ume was Is. =. 1 from local press and was
largely me- up of patriotic pieces to-
gebther vii few humorous and dialec-
tic verses " ,.i.h had been popular With
the newspapers.
The appointment az secretary Of the
branch mint in 1864 freed the young poet
and journalist from the necessity of abus-
ing his talents by overproducton and gave
him leisure for more careful and ambi-
tious work During the six years that he
held this office he wrote many of his best
poems, and toward the close of this period
prOuuCeu lUe uTbu Vi lnOS6 SuOTu SlOIleB
that proved his original genius and gave
him instant fame.
He was recognized by his friends and
| acquaintance as young man OF distinct
abilety, and had won considerable local
reputation as a writer and poet, but
of California. 1t was natural when
Anton Roman. leading booksell,
er Of San Francisco, conceived the idea OF
publishing a magazine that should be an
exponent of the literature of the Pacific
coast, that he should offer the editorship
"OUerldnd AOnthly' was suggested by
the editor and adopted. Harte did not
have much faith in the enterprise at the
start. He did not believe the literary
product Of merit was large enough to
maintain magazine in the scale planned
by Roman. 1t was not until he had seen
a number OF his literary friends, and Sc
cured their promises to help him through
by furnishing in addition to their regular
contributions, copy sufficient to fill the
gaps for six months, that he decided to
accept the editorship OF the new magazine.
among others, Benjamin p. Avery, few
years later our munster to China, and
Norah Brooks, now editor of the Newark
Advertiser, and himself the author Of a
number Of short stories. The first mum
| Der of the Overland appeared in July
! Stoddard were among the contributors
and Bret Harte was represented by {
poem, San Francisco from the Sea-"
Bret Hartes real fame as a writer be
! gan with the second number of the maya
zine, August, 1868, in which appeared
story of the publication Of this pathetic
tale has been given by the author himself
in the introduction of his poems as the
facts are little known, and the incident
extremely interesting, some extracts from
| these papers are given;
When the first number of the Orerl ana
Monthly appeared, the author. then its
editor, called the publishers attention to
the lack of any distinctive Californian ro
nance in its pages. and averred that
should no other contribution come in, he
himself would supply the omission in the
was offered and the author, having the
plot and general idea already in his mind
in few days sent the manuscript of THE
Luck OF Roaring Camp" to the printer
He had not yet received the proof sheets
when he was suddenly summoned to the
lawless life. In one place, touching upor
the scarcity OF female and juvenile society
he tells that on one occasion when BABY
cried, the groups of rough men, gathered
about 1t in open-mouthed curiosity
shouted "encore." After night Of fight
ing and bloodshed, the bartender of th'
| new salOOu, Wnere unS leVee tOOk plaCo,re
marked that 1.-THE boys seemed to be reall,
getting acquainted with each other.
man, who lost 5000 at a gambling tabl'
In 10 minutes, arose with the exclamation
10 think there is folks as believe keerd
waste of time ~
Among his other occupations during
these lCdnderi1hre, was that of compost
tor. He learned to set type and worked
on a little newspaper at Eureka. 1t wa
at this time, as the story runs, that h
began his literary career by putting som
little sketches of his own into type ant
printing them IN the paper without con
sulting the editor. They seem, however
to have made an impression upon his chief
for we learn that later during the absenc
Of the editor, Harte was left in charge o
the paper and brought down upon him
self the wrath OF the community by COL
demning pleasant little massacre of sew
eral Indians, conducted by leading citi
zens of the town.
In 1857, he drifted back to the Bay, a
the miners called San Francisco, and wen
TO work as compositor upon the GOide
Era. Some bits OF his own writing GREY
into the journal and were noticed by tn
editor, who encouraged him to go on. ii
gave up type setting for editorial an