The Arkansaw traveler., 1889-02-16

My epistolary commil,tO, Doctor -, has, ut
various times, written me . small volume about
Bret IlArte. l select brief chapter:
Cosr Nook, May IS, 1885,
A London newspaper man, Of liberal ideas and
one whose merit Ii acknowledged In this country
quite a. freely at home has sent me, with other
English printed specialties, q late review of the
author Of "PlAin Language from Truthful James"
What particularly impressed me on reading this
criticism was the bold assertion that "Bret Harte
speedily became victim to his almost marvellous
success" 1t II written by the same reviewer
calmly, honestly, sturdily: ain the bound and un-
bound cyclopedias of the worlds literature Il
would be extremely difficult to find another case
where 30 short Q poem Che refers to The Heather
ChineeO on . subject entirely apart from the mas
ter passions of the human heart has made a reputa-
ton 30 extended and 90 enduring"
have quoted only two paragraphs The review
Ii IN unusually generous appreciation by q Brit
Usher of writer not born to the manner and island
of bovine John. When my London correspondent
says however, In the extra wide columns of q val
ued periodical, that the blandly smiling Al Sin,
the played-upon and sadly euchred William Nye
and the veracious, blunt-spoken James, historian of
Table mountain, unitedly form q subject "entirely
apart from the master passions Of the human heart"
he knows next to nothing whereof he remarks
Ii the game which the taper fingered Al San "did
not understand" be not q master passion of the
human heart 1t Is certainly q very lively appren-
tice. To deny either humanity sincerity abid-
ing place In the toughened bosom of California
miner, expert Is he generally Is with diversions
that fascinate but do not enrich him, Is to deny
that either conscience or memory wakes him from
dreams of despond.
Re-reading Bret Harte, at intervals, l find many
beauties in his poems and sketches foreign to humor
and to the stark realism of Sierra camp life He
would have become ell-known and highly fav-
ored In scholarly estimation II he had written
"Her Letter." "Dow's Flat" ain the Tunnel" the
irresistibly laughable "Heathen Chinee" and other
metricals of equal popularity His sketch entitled
"Tennessees Partner" commands the praise that il
never given to mediocrity. 1t Is simple, un-
CLOSED pathetic recital OF event that breaks the
sealed fountains of tenderness quickly In the
miners cabin In the millionaires palace.
What q master of every phase of human emotion
Bret Harte is! sometimes wish he had written
less so that might learn to know him better. His
Is purely and surely
"rhe delicate thought that cannot ind expression,
For ruder speech too fair"
Sitting here to- night, communing with him and
with you, good fellow, hale, / intenty listen for
the deep toned
Bell: 81. q the past pas. whose long forgotten music
TinSinS che sober twilig6t Of the Present
Heigho! am too much at the beck and call of
in cultures rhapsodies There goes the outer por-
tabs ominous ting ling
1t might have been Gas the Judge said about
Maud Muller rash case of measles or perhaps
there was Group in the crop. The doctor scorns q
postscript
An Attraction.