Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-05-08
Bret Harte.

Hardly has the book Of life been
closed for Frank r. Stockton, when
now the "Finis" is written for another
Of our best and most popular American
writers. Bret Harte. For nearly 40
years he has sbeen prominent among
high and prominent place in literature |
is not to be questioned. In recent years |
nc has dwelt most of the time i'm Eng |
land ana his work is the common prop i
erty of Anglo Sa xons on both sides Of
the sea- but his theme has always been
the picturesque and breezy West in
Of the culture Of the East and early
thrown upon his own resources, il was
his fortune 10 spend the years Of his
young manhood in the far West and his
strenuous experiences ia teaching. min
ing and doing newspaper work on the
border gave him thorough dcquaint-
nnce with the rough frontier types ana
furnished him more material Than p"
could use On all his busy life 81 story
telling. Like many another famous
writer ~ graduated m literature from
a newspaper Office. His beginning. in
fact. was made al the case Ia the COM
posing room.
Bret Harie was the pioneer in IN"
feid - writing short stores and few
have ever had "a good a knaok 81 tell
ing a yarn. Ills Luck ~ Roaring
camp ana "Outcasts % Poker Flat
published in california IA 1865 gave
their author his national fame. ana
soon brought him East 10 do literary
work. The success Of these stories did
much to bring into vogue the writing
of short stories ever since 50 as
siduously cultivated by American
writer's. Harte was first of all Il story
teller, second a poet and a novelist
third. AS an he was a sparkling writer.
His name always brings to the popu-
lar mind along with. if not before his
stories of mining life. the thought of
his poems on the Heather Chinee.'
the Society Upon the Stanislaus" and
the heroic figure of old John Burns of
Gettysburg.
Considered as a literary workman,
Harte can be said to have had no
predecessor in genre fiction. lie wrote
"M'Iiss'' and 1.-The Luck of Roaring
Camp before Eggleston had under
taken 1.-THE Hoosier Schoolmaster" and
1.-The Circuit Rider" before Miss Wool
sor had given us those finely sketched
pictures of the Canadian French of the
upper lakes, before Gable found in. the
Louisiana creoles material for fiction,
before Harris and Miss Murfree dis
covered the mountaineers of Tennessee.
His years Of wandering life among the
mountains and mining; camps of Cali
fcrnia. his experience as mounted OK
press agent, during which he became
acquainted with the prototype of Huba
B.m. unconsciously filled his mental
notebook with sketches Of John Oak
hurst, Tennessee. Miggles, Tommy
Simpkins. all those men and womeh,
the stories of whose lives and deeds
have stirred us to laughter or to
tears.
r. Bret Harte's residence abroad. be
ginning with his consulship to Ger
many. and continuing with his transfer
to Glasgow. was so uncongenial TO him
manned resident of Great Britain. For
some years his American admirers had
an uneasy feeling that his long resi-
dence in Europe had thrown him out Of
touch with American life and had i'm
paired the quality of his work. There
fore when his Colonel Starbottle" sto-
iies began a year ago in Harper's
Monthly they were especially welcome,
rs showing that he could still turn out
the sort of fiction that won him his
fame and male his work the model for
al short story writing in English. How
Colonel Starbottle drove the deacon
from court and won his clients case is
a matter of detail story telling. 1t is
not so important as the strong, pic
turesque ana accurate touch by which
the author showed that he was still the
Bret Harte who endeared himself to a
whole continent with The Luck of
Roaring Camp" THE Outcasts of
Poker Flat" and the scores Of stories
an6 novels which followed them And
the anticipation of more to follow
makes more keen the realization of the
loss literature has sustained in his
death. -u ttptN
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