Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-10-28
legend of Mont DisDls" in the Atlantic

Legend of Mont Disbls" in the Atlantic
IN 1863
L. is impossible from tee mesger in.
formation q. hand TO give any account OF
Bret Harte's life during the years Of the
TsT, but Y wss no plsy tune With him
He worked hsrd aad Wfo1e much In both
prose- and verse. Ra says himself thsl
even 80 early 81 thst-he WAS c1ly twenty
four years [! Ese il 1868, wl8n bis fre.
article appeared N the Atlantic Monthly
he h2d aspirations to produce some
thug iodigenOu!, somsfhlug that would
f0ria The beginning "Gi peculiarly casr
sctef!atic western American liters.u.e "
Under this impulse he wroIe "rhe
S0ciaty on the Stsnislaus," tae
fist ut his Humorous and original
! dialect poems, in which Truthful
james. siterward famous for his remarks
upon the hez.nen Clinee, made mis- first
| appearance. There is something unique
in the seEio Humorous makeup OF tnis
,tcharacser, waico gives al his sayings an
iniRItaois flavor. Bret Hsrts has used
Truthful james IS his mou;hpiece Ia sew
eral poems and aiWsYa wish marked sue.
| csss.
f.. Between 1850 sad 1865 he published in
| the,Ss Francisco papers, often snony-
mousfy, number OF striking poems aud
lyrics of the wsr. Tbs most notable OF
these, John Blown Of Gettysburg" is one
OF the fen ballads Of ths. stirring period
that have established themssl ves in cur
literature. But not less touching are
CHOW are You, Sanitary" "Bastle Bun.
ny" and "The R9yeille." which sre more
purely lyrical. In 1865 his frs. volums, s
book of,yhFses, appeared. 1t WAS called
"Ths L ostfGstlson" from the first POEM,
bis Longest nrofuctisIin verse. believe,
with the exception of"C.det Cray" pub
ltshed msnY years later. This little vol
ume WAS issued from the local press and
WAS largely made up Of patriotic pieces,
together with few humorous and dialec
tic verses which had been popular with
the newspapers.
The appointment "a secretary OF the
branch mint In 1864 freed the young poet
and journalist from the necess ~ OF sbus-
ing ais talents by cverproducton and
gave him leisure for mora careful and
ambitious work. Daring the six years
TIA. be held this office he wrote many Of
sis best poems, and toward the close of
tais period produced the first Of those
shors stories that proved his original
gecips and gave him instant .ameJ
He Wss recognized by his friends snd
zcqulin.arc35 as young msn OF disaacs
aotl.tg, and had Won considerable locsl
| reputation as writer and poet, bu. his
name wss scarcely known outside OF Cal,
| iiornia. L. was natural when Anton
Roman, leading bookseller OF San Fran
cisco, conceived the idea OF publishing
s magazine which should be an exponent
Of tie literature Of the Pacific coast, tbs.
be should cffsr an edisorship to Bret
Haste. This WAS Ii 1868. The title.
O7eriand Monthly" was suggested oy
the editor aud adopted. Hlrse did not
have much faith IN the enterprise at the
start. He did nos believe tie literary
ptaduct OF merit was large enough to
mstnssin g magazine IN: the scaIe planned
By R)msr. Il was not ultil he had seen
number Ct his li.ersry f&ieuds, and SO.
cured Their promises to help him through
by furnishing in addition to their regular
contributions, copy stiff ;iens to fl the
gaps for six months, that he decided to
sccept the ediEorsaip OF the re " magazine.
In this corps of friendly helpsrs were
among others, Bsni .mia P. Avery, q few
years later orr minister to China, and
Nosh Brooks, now editor OF the. Newark
Advertiser, and himself the author Of s
number OF short stories. Tha first num-
Der OF the Overland appeared In July,
1868. Mark Twain and Charles Warren
Stodda-d were among the contributors,
and Bret Hsrte was represen ed By .
poem, "San francisco from the Sea-"
Bret Harte's real fame as q writer be-