The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-09-28

disa ppointment He was not a scholar:
his reading was not extensive; he was
not a. student. but he possessed great
taste and gave nothing to the printer
until he nad written it over time and
again, and lad done his best, and yet he
was never satisfied with his work. he
failed lowing to the fact that a lady
friend of his wife was not invited to a
dinner given mainly In his honor) to get
the editorship OF The Chicago Magazine,
without the promise Of which he would
never have left California.
And in this connection we are justified
In stating especially from one OF tho
papers recently published In Tho Over
land Monthly, that his wife was almost
a vertible schrew. really another Kan
tfppe." whose excessive "nagging'' had
doubtless long hampered him In his lit
erary work. and fully justified the sep
aration. which perhaps would have been
better for him If it had occurred at an
earlier date in his career. This forcibly
reminds one of the pathetic history OF
the peerless Charles Dickens, who is said
to have suffered in a similar, but perhaps
milder manner. which he bore with torti-
tude and patience to the last. upheld by
charming sister-in-law, whose charm
ing character often causes a sigh to his
selves the wish that she had been made
the partner Of his sorrows and his joys.
What noble wife she would have made
him! That so many men of genius make
Ill assorted marriages is so common. that
1t is almost sufficient to justify a. psy-
Geological inquiry as to its cause.
NARROW MINDED.
It is sad to state 1t, but Bret Harte
was a narrow minded and parsmonious
man who treated his old California
friends, who had made him what he
was. with great meanness and singular
ingratitude. For perhaps five or even
ten years or more. with probably one or
two exceptions. he utterly ignored them.
and refused to write to a single friend
who resided there, nor did he answer
their letters, and to cap the climax when
1.-THE Overland Monthly Magazine Of
which he had been the first editor. and
which had treated him with almost I'M
paraleled generosity, was about to re-
new its publication after it had suspended
for a long period, and was in very
strained circumstances. which he
we'll knew upon being requested to write
short story for it. he replied that he
would do so for 5000; the money Vas
beyond their limit. and the story was
not written. No high and no great man
| would have charged a single cent for 1t.
would have gladly written it, but this
parsimonious action was in strict keep
Ing with his life. He achieved both dis
tinction and money. and occupies niche
in the temple of fame and deserves 1t,
but his reputation will be evanescent.
One cannot but regret that he did not
possess that high generosity and nobility,
with which he invested many Of his
characte
FENIMORE COOPER.
Fenimore Cooper, one Of the sweetest
! and most charming writers that ever
lived in America. is said to have been
an awful neghbor. literally crowding the
docket of the court with suits against
| his neighbors for trespassing upon his
land. when the fact is they simply want
ed the necessary rights OF way. which
J indeed were generally granted.
To think that the author OF Leather
Stocking" possessed these tGnob(e
traits; what commentary 1t Is upon
| human nature?
| Doctor Benjamin Franklin, the COM
! manding genius Of his age, who is held
| I'D to this day in New England as an ex-
| emplar of probity and justice and right.
| wrote the celebrated Hutchinson Letters