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

uOn8te admiration IL SHOWN by tue lines,
ION II Pen of Thomas Starr King" a
beautiful and tender tribute, and IRE
leving Guard" C'r :. X ObiiU March 4,
1862, perhaps trile crude in execution
but touching and finely suggestive.
1t was through the encouragement and
recommendation of Mrs. Fremont that he
made his first appearance In an eastern
magazine, by the publication of The
Legend of Mont Dlable" in the Atlantic
in 1868.
1t is impossible from the meagre infor-
nation at hand to give any clear account
OF Bret Harte's life during the years of the
war, but 1t WIS no play time with
him. He worked hard and wrote much
In both prose ard verse. He says himself
that even so early as that-he was only "a
years of age in 1868 when his first article
appeared in the Atlantic MOnthly-he
had aspirations to produce something in
dlgenous, something that would form the
beginning 'of peculiarly characteristic,
Western American literature" Under
this impulse he wrote "The Society on the
Gilman. now president of Johns Hopkins
University, then at the head of the Uni
versity of California; also the late K. X.
Gill, professor in the same university,
whose posthumous collection of verse re
Gently issued shows him to have been &
genuine poet Of rare endowment.
In spite Of the great success OF The
Luck" it was not until January of tho
ed, The Outcasts of Poker Flat" Then
at irregular intervals followed bril- liant
series of Californian stories, "Miggles,"
Tennessee Partner IAN Idyl OF Red
Gulch," and others-with their rough but
human character whose brief histories,
touched by pathos or humor' won the
lantic. The publication of the verses usu-
ally called "The Heather Chinee" In the
Overland of September, 1870 added great
ly to Harte's rapidly increasing fame. This
poem ran like wild fire through the news
papers of the country and the name of the
author was in every mouth. Strange to
say 1.-The Heather Chinese" which may
be regarded as local poem, was copied
into journal after journal in England,
commented upon by the great opponents
of English criticism, and was translated at
once into the principal European Ian
guages.
BY this time his first book of stories had
been published in, Boston, 1.-The Luck of
Roaring Camp and other sketches" En-
couraged by his success Bret Hart
resigned the e0torship of the
Overland in 1871, rs well rs the
Professorship of Recent Literature. in tn
University of California, to which he had
Just been called, and set in TO try his lit
erary fortunes in the East. A plan to es-
| tablish magazine in Chicago under his
management was not successful, and he
pushed on to New ork and Boston. tie
was for time, if am net mistaken, az
| sistant editor OF the 4 tldntiC Monthly,
and at last was regular contributor to its
| pages He is said to have received In one
year from that magazine $4,000 for twelve
| articles. His fame was established; he
received the highest prices for his work,
especially in short fiction he WAS received
| everywhere as a literary lion. During
this period he lectured with great success 8
in the larger cities on "The Argenauts of
40" He finally took up his residence In
New York, where he lived for several
years. In 1878 he dramatized The Two
Men of Sandy Bar" which was produced
by Robson & Crane with fair success.
In that year Bret Harte received recog
milton from the government by being ap-
pointed consul to Crefeld. Germany, and
set out at once for his post. Some years
later he wrote to Lewis Rosenthal 81
think / never felt more keenly and hui
manly touched with sense OF gratitude
than on the first day of my arrival in Ger
many. / was wandering down the KONG
sallee of Dusseldorf in the utter loneliness
and friendlessnes5 OF foreigner to its Ian
guage and people, when caught sight OF
my own name in German text on certain
little quaint looking books with queer
titles, in a book sellers window. 1t was
like the hail of friendly voice, and as
passed on it seemed to me that I was no
longer a stranger" And indeed, since
Freiligrath in 1872 first published transla-
tions of some of Harte's poems in the
GCgCnlU0rt he has not been a stranger to
the German people. They welcomed him
at once as new poet of genius and an un-
rivalled story teller. one who more than
all others was distinctly American. The
first writer an educated German asks you
about is Bret Harte. Awerbach, the
| famous novelist, once remarked Bret
Harte has never been American minister
at Berlin, but he is more popular there
and throughout Germany than 20 minis
tiers. Freiligrath delighted to claim the
honor of having discovered him and af
fectionately called him my Bret Harte.
His stories, rendered into German by vari
Gus hands, have appeared in leading mag
aznes, as well as in book form, and con
tinue TO be published as fast issued il
English. In one case, at least, the DcutSht
RuHdschun, the great German literary
monthly, arranged for the simultaneous
publication of story in its pages. D
Gabriel Conroy" II versions were ISSUED
for the press.
Though FreilIgrath made the first Ger
man translation Of his poems, to Brach
vogel of the New York Bellctristischc
Journal belongs.the honor of having intro
duced Bret Harte's prose tales TO his fel
low countrymen. The author grateful.
acknowledges this Indebtedness in thu
dedication to Brachyogel of The Story 0
Mine"
Bret Hartes fame and popularity ex
tends to every country of Europe. Trans
lations of his stories have appeared in tn
RcuuC doS dCur MOndeS, perhaps tn,
leading literary monthly OF Europe, in tn,
MoSkOlC Gazette which circulates through
out the great empire of the czar, In thu
RiuiStd ECrOped of Rome, rs well as il
important journals in Spain, Portugal
Denmark and Sweden. His works hay,
been published in book form in every Ian
guage of Europe. Sacher Masoch, TIL
Sllician romancer, and one of the chic
! writers of Austria, who enjoys a wild
European reputation, delights TO call him
self pupil of Bret Harte.
= NJ. w. Hazeltine has struck the true eX
PLANTATION of this universal afiectionat,
esteem in which the Californian writer il
held in Europe, when he says at was b,
virtue of their sovereign veracity in th'
broad lines of human nature, and by thu
electric quality which defies the barrier
OF spe, CHI and race, that his work passeC
!, the sea, and found a domicile in so man!
European households"
In 1850 Bret Harte was transferred t,
the consulship at Glasgow, a much NOR,
important and lucrative post thHn Gre eld
He was heartily received by the Literal,
T men of England aud ScotlAnd. lie wa
often i'm I.OndOn as he OI1Ght of cell brat @,