The San Francisco call., 1898-03-13
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WITH ENTIRE FRANKNESS.
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By HENRY JAMES.

8 s 8 ss g s g g 8 ss 8 s 8 8 8 s srune that his identity is one with that
 of the Bret Harte of long ago, and takes liberties with the work of the lat ter. All the world knows that the orig | inal Bret Harte has passed away. He l acquired anglomania in acute form and
 so perished from the field Of letters, leaving behind him a noble mosaic tab- 1 let Now comes the English Bret Harte.
 and with vandal hand is clipping this
 memorial tablet away. AS an Ameri- l can, proud of the work of an American, devoted to admiration of John oak | hurst, believing the "Outcasts of Poker | Flat" to be one of the best short stories ever written, I object to the modern | Harte. He ought to read the creations 1 of the old Harte and be ashamed. In my humble estimation nobody since the | days when the original Hartes inspira- l tion, born of the wild life of the West. | savored of its balsamic pines. vivid
 with it's coloring. was taking the form | of tales, each in it's way almost fault | less, has there been a man who could approach him until the peerless kipling was crowned king of the realm of fic- 1 tion Certainly the present Harte is not in the same class of the one-time Harte The old Harte stands alone, as distinct a figure as Kipling himself The new Harte is one of many, none of them great. Lately I have been re- reading the familiar stories which are recognized as classics. There was 1 Miss" Who does not remember the delight of it. But the English Harte has taken that story and spoiled 1t ut terly. He has robbed it of beauty, Of delfcacy; has shorn the climax away and substituted an unsatisfactory hnlsh as crude as any amateur could nave de- vised in a maiden effort and an effort sure to be rejected on the ground Of un- worth. The English Harte has no right to despoil the work of the American Harte. That has become the common property of us all. He is not capable of improving it; he should train hlmselt to let it alone. AS we'll might 1resh young art student take masters can vas and bedaub it, imagining that his ruinous touch had added to it's value
 A man who had seven wives, and for the matter of that has them yet, has from his retreat in prison cell been telling the less successful lover how to woo. The information he gives is valu- able to the student of human nature, demonstrating what an absolute fool man can be and yet escape being lm- mured in an asylum for idiots. The much-married man needs to be rece1V- ing advice rather than to be giving 1t. Somebody ought to give him 1nstruc- tions on the subject: How not to woo.
 Last week I made a few pleasant re-
 Io, da mir st lection has arisen to the tenor of them. It is not necessary to state from whom these objections come, but if the minis ter will promise to behave himself hereafter I will freely promise to let him alone. There are other topics more to my taste.
 It has been my duty recently to take fall out of the gas company. So far as I am concerned, the sum involved was trivial, but the sum belonged to me- and the company had to acknowl- edge a readiness to surrender it. The matter has been so thoroughly exploit
 ed in the local columns that there is no need of reciting it here. Enough to say that every person from whom the moncpoly has exacted in advance S5 or any other amount has only to go to the office and ask for his money. If he meets with refusal he can present the letter the company sent me, and which was reproduced in this paper. l cer- tainly do not merit any favor above that due any other customer
 A correspondent whose writing sug
 eests the lovable and superior sex noti- fes me that the slang in this column is objectionable. I am truly sorry to hear if. If she has a better style of slang to propose I shall be happy to adopt it. As it is, I am doing the best I can. What does she expect a man to do? Swear?
 From present appearances the State is being robbed blind by somebody who has to do with construction of the ferry building According to the accounts nublished. it would seem that the mon ey placed at the disposal of the Harbor Commission was ample, and yet with the edifice cheapened in every way, the cash is falling short. Where are the sums which have been saved" by the cutting out of expensive detail? If contracts were let for a certain floor and then the floor changed so as to cost nearly $40,0 900 less. who got the differ ence? I understand that the Commis- sioners are public servants, and as such their accounts are open to inspection. It is my suggestion that the inspec