BRET HARTE.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3183, 2 May 1879, Page 2

BRET HARTE.

One year's ago there was born 1q a poor schoolmaster in New York a ion. The schoolmaster died whilesfiis son wns yet a boy, and left him no inheritance .beyond a splendid set of brains, provided with which BretlHarte, Bt -the earliest possible age, set about doing Bomething.r He first .obtained _ employment in a storef in' -Weft rorkV ' :A.t 17 he gate up this calling for a more adventurous -li^l^>w^t/io;"^ani,E^n|i^J§d j: ithe|t9e|>ta^ t ,theK.wines. of . JSojapra^- in a province bordering^ sm Mexico,' :>as that time in a jv^ry unsettled state. .Here.he tried schoolmastering with indiffereht success/ He then became a comppaitor and a writer in the office of a local^jeiripaper. Heuthea attempted t^ioim^r^ newspaper. ;.•: He; eiiayedr mining" aiyi every occupation that the time and,the country could offer. At this time^ among all the other things which: had suggested, themselves to him, he had,no.idea of that calling which is called literary; he had indeed been taught somewhat,to despise the Hterar^-)'Career»r^an4^ba^£i^Belr tave ;preferred to 'by^^r^isi^, a iaVyer"6r'ari6n"masi'' i"'Batit tid' ibtii'iicea that, drawing upon" his, own experience, he threw off a short tale called "The -Luck-of Eoaring Camp." He was npjif twenty-seven, aud had semehowcome to be the editor of a magazine. This tale made the fortune of the magazine and. began the reputation of Bret Harte, which was carried to its height when, in the following year, he published the small poem of "The Heathen Chinee." Those who could judge, and even those who could not judge, saw at once that a distinctly new man, with a.clearly new rein of humor and a new field of observation, had appeared; in print; and from- that time to this he has reaped the full advan* tage of an unvarying career of success* No living writer, can so seize-upon the strong points of a strong tale and tell it so simply and so,forcibly) "Tennessee's Partner," which he himself considers to be his best, and' "Santa Glaus," which is even more touching, have shown that his is a master's hand, and it is a pity that he ever should have written these parodies of the novelists which might have been produced by any literary hack. Bret Harte has been fortunate' in his career. No articles of his ..was ever rejected; he'has always been well'paid; and he so enjoys his own work that the reading of proofs is still to'-him one of the greatest pleasures. He is ndw?the United States Consul at Crefeld. '