... It was a land of
perfect freedom, limited only by the instinct and the habit of law which
prevailed in the mass.... Strong passions brought quick climaxes, all the
better and worse forces of manhood being in unbridled play. To me it was
like a strange, ever-varying panorama, so novel that it was difficult to
grasp comprehensively."
[Illustration: BRET HARTE (From a painting by John Pettie, R. A.)]
Amid such surroundings he was educated for his life work, and his
idealization of these experiences is what entitles him to a sure place in
American literature.
After spending sixteen years in California, he returned in 1871 to the
East, where he wrote and lectured; but these subsequent years are of
comparatively small interest to the student of literature. In 1878 he went
as consul to Crefeld in Germany. He was soon transferred from there to
Glasgow, Scotland, the consulship of which he held until his removal by
President Cleveland in 1885. These two sentences from William Black, the
English novelist, may explain the presidential action: "Bret Harte was to
have been back from Paris last night, but he is a wandering comet. The only
place he is sure not to be found is at the Glasgow consulate.
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