The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-05-11
BRET HARTE. xxi.

Bret Harte is American to the core.
1t would be strange, indeed. we're it
otherwise. The influences under which
he was nodded were peculiarly and pow
erfully American. Born in Albany, N.
Y, in 1889, he at an early age lost his
father. who was Greek tutor, and was,
for some reason not sufficiently known
to us, taken by his mother to California.
This was in 1858. The gold fever was
still raging. He went, as he tells us, by
way of Panama. He was mere boy, he
tells us, and no better equipped intel
lectually than with an Imagination ex-
banded by reading such books as "Frois-
sart's Chronicles of the Middle Ages"
don Quixote," and other books of
like character. Arrived in Sonora, in
Calaveras county, he was Immediately
thrown among the strangest social con-
ditions the modern world has SEEN Ex-
cept in Australia there had been no
similar experiences; and the experience
has not been repeated in any part of the
globe. unless it is now in the diamond
and gold regions of South Africa. 1t
was peculiar, motley crowd-men of
education and refinement, rough sons of
the city, and rude children of the soil.
The trammels and conventionalities of
settled civilization were left thousands
of miles behind. 1t was, as Bret Harte
himself puts it. "a land of perfect free
dom, limited only by the instinct and
habit of law which prevailed in the
mass" Woman was rendered conspicu-
GUS by her almost total absence. The
chivalry natural to manhood invested
her with ideal value. All the better and
worse forces Of humanity were in I'M
bridled play. 1t was in such circum-
stances and amid such influences that
the genius of young Harte was devel
oped. He took to his pick and shovel
like the others around him. If he did
not succeed in getting huge nuggets of
gold, he found grains, and made what
was known as GRUB wages" He was
hardly of the right kind of materialfor
digger" A Wells Fargo messenger was
wanted. 1t was his duty to sit by the
driver, and carry letters and treasures
from the mining camp to the nearest
town. Murders and robbsries were of
common occurrence. 1t was dangerous
position TO occupy. Harte accepted and
held the post for some months. He then
became a school teacher, and a little
later an editor. He had as yet no fixed
idea as to permanent calling. His OBJ
iect was to earn living. With that end
in view he learned to set type; and as a
typo he worked on The Golden Era. To
this paper he contributed some anony-
nous sketches. He was soon in the
editorial chair. From The Golden Era
he went to the San Francisco Californi-
an. literary weekly. The latter was
not success; and the young editor, in
1864, accepted the position of Secretary
of the United States Mint in San Fran
cisco-a position which he held for six
years with satisfaction to all concerned.
In 1870 The Overland Monthly was
started, with Bret Harte as editor He
was rising to higher things; but he did
not yet feel that his future was decided.
1t was for The Overland Monthly that
he wrote 1.-THE Luck of Roaring Camp"
A crisis had unconsciously been reached.
The novel dealt specially with his min
ing experiences. 1t was a reflection of
Californian life as he had seen and
known it. The story was Immediately
popular. AS soon as the magazine con-
tanning it reached the East. it was greedi-
ly devoured; and month later he re.
ceived a note from Fields & Osgood,
Boston, the proprietors of the Atlantic
Monthly, offering to print whatever he
chose to write on his own terms. Bret
Harte's fortune was made. His reputa-
ton was established.
From this time. during the remainder
of his life in California. stories and
poems flowed rapidly from his pen-"The
Outcasts of Poker Flat "Miggles,"
"Tennessee's Partner" "Plain Language
from Truthful James'-the last named
having phenomenal and abiding popu-
larity-being among the number. The
Heather Chinee," as it is called, was
published in 1870. In the following year
its author left California. He has not
since returned. In 1871 he had made his
residence in New York, where he led a
semi Bohemian life, contributing to the
Atlantic Monthly. and to several New
York journals. In 1873 he was appointed
Consul to Crefeld, Germany, by Presi-
dent Hayes; and in 1880 he was trans
ferred to Glasgow. This position he
held till 1885. Since then he has lived
for the most part in London, where he is
quite favorite and feels much at home,
He has not been idle, as his numerous
works testify. He has been too faithful
to the model of his first book; and it can
hardly be said that Bret Harte has come
up to his early promise. His genius has
not grown; but his later works are not
unworthy-they do not fall behind
what he published before 1870.
From the appearance Of the passenger