Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-06-23

Plaza, in which his wife. formerly Miss
Griswold, sang.
And Harte has been known to borrow
money for a new hat. He made the most
of the hat He was always fond of Dress
This never showed particularly until he
went to England, adopted London ways.
and went the English one better from the
turn of his trousers to the cut of his hair,
He was too poor here to dress smartly,
but when he managed to raise enough to
invest in anything new and swell he would
put it on with careful elegance and start
down the Montgomery street parade in II.
FOND OF DRESS.
A huge overcoat with a great astrakhan
collar that lay high against the neck and
turned over with great showing OF fur
was one of his sources of pride. Montgom-
cry street, the then fashionable line or
march, the Kearny street of yesterday
saw him wear this He seemed to delight
in being observed, but he scarcely ever
stopped for a friendly word with any OF
those whose admiration he coveted. he
managed to get q peep at their eyes out or
the corners of his, enough to let him see L
they were looking.
But there was a large part of the time
when he was lucky If he could keep from
being actually shabby. He never was
sloppy, like his friend, Mark Twain, be-
cause he hated untidiness, but he was Of
ten threadbare. He lived with nothing less
than frugaiity, and the wonder Of the
thing is what he did with his money.
His homes-the man moved at least
once a year-were always simple in the
extreme. He didn't spend his money in
their adornment. His wife and children
lived and dressed simply His money
didn't go in that way. He had no dissi-
pations, so say both his friends and enc
mics. He did not drink. he did not gam
BILE
Most certain of all, he never saved.
That was the thing most remote from his
mind. If he made out to live from day TO
day he was doing very well-for Bret
Harte. And yet he always lived in scrap
of house, had no more furniture than
was absolutely necessary, and was in
need of borrowing from one weeks end
to the other.
A GOOD LISTENER
Those rare ones who did know him in
more or less informal way never found
him a great talker. He was a listener. He
liked to hear miners talk. and those
who knew the mines, for from such peo-
pie he drew the sources of his stories.
He knew little enough of the mines at
first hand.
He was not gifted as a conversational
ist. He never attempted to be witty Joe
Spear remembers him as he, along with
"Old lander used to come into Spears
afternoon in and afternoon out, Joining
little In the talk that went on about him
He sat back and watched people and lis
tened to them, studying character in his
own quiet way.
He never Joined men in their ordinary
amusements. In the old Occidental, which
was frequented in those days as the clubs
are now, he used to stand back from the
table and watch from a distance while
others played billiards. He never seemed
particularly interested in the game. Mark
Twain, ready to mix in anything there
was going on, played a great deal, and
well. and Harte would accompany him
to the billiard room, then-he would make
a wall flower of himself.
That was what Bret Harte was in all
lines save professional ones-a wall flower.
He never liked sports; he never liked
roughing it, He did not hunt. nor fish,
nor ride. When he went to the country
he staid indoors and read and wrote.
He and Anton Roman built a cabin in
the Santa Cruz mountains one summer
somewhere near the spot that is now
Wrights. 1t was a rough and picturesque
place, lonely and romantic. The Harte
and the Roman families used to join
forces and go to this mountain spot every
week, TO get away from the world from
Saturday to Monday. The place would
tempt a man to be out of doors if any
thing would; but Harte spent most Of his
time inside the rude walls porting over
books and manuscripts. On Monday morn
ing he could be seen returning to town.