The Bohemians

by Ben Tarnoff

  When Twain mentioned All quotes: ibid.

  This encounter inspired All quotes: ibid., pp. 200–201.

  Carleton had a rough “looked so disreputable”: quoted in MTL, vol. 2, p. 13. Carleton wasn’t the only publisher to refuse Twain’s manuscript; see MTL, vol. 2, p. 14. Harte’s book with Carleton, Condensed Novels and Other Papers, was announced as early as February 1867; see MTL, vol. 2, p. 13.

  Twain was furious All quotes: SLC to CWS, April 23, 1867, in MTL, vol. 2, p. 30.

  Eventually Webb offered Webb’s offer: TAMT, p. 201. Manuscript revisions: MTAL, p. 179. On May 1, 1867, Webb printed 1,000 copies of The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches. A second printing of an additional 552 copies took place 20 days later; see Kevin MacDonnell, “The Primary First Editions of Mark Twain,” Firsts: Collecting Modern First Editions 8.7/8 (July/August 1998), p. 32.

  Sadly, the pages inside Typos in the text and Twain’s dissatisfaction: SLC to BH, May 1, 1867, in MTL, vol. 2, pp. 39–40. Twain later said that he expected The Celebrated Jumping Frog to sell 50,000 copies. It only sold about 4,000; see MTL, vol. 2, p. 58. “excellent style”: Mark Twain, “Personal,” Alta California, June 10, 1867. “It is full . . .”: SLC to BH, May 1, 1867, in MTL, vol. 2, p. 39.

  Fortunately, he was Twain’s lecture plans in NY: MTL, vol. 2, pp. 40–42; TAMT, pp. 223–226; and Fred W. Lorch, The Trouble Begins at Eight, pp. 60–64. During a brief visit to his home state of Missouri in the spring of 1867, he had given his Hawaii lecture to audiences in St. Louis and Hannibal, as well as in Keokuk, IA, and Quincy, IL; see ibid., pp. 52–59.

  Seven years later Twain’s lecture debut in NY: ibid., pp. 64–65, and MTL, vol. 2, pp. 42–44. “For an hour and fifteen . . .”: TAMT, p. 226. “It was certainly . . .” and “needs to be . . .”: Edward H. House, “Mark Twain as a Lecturer,” pp. 65–66.

  That night, Twain Origins of Twain’s interest in the Quaker City excursion: MTAL, pp. 183–185, and MTL, vol. 2, pp. 14–17. Prospectus: MTL, vol. 2, pp. 381–384. “Send me . . .”: SLC to Proprietors of the San Francisco Alta California, March 2[?], 1867, in MTL, vol. 2, p. 17. Departure of Quaker City: ibid., p. 62. Final passenger list: ibid., pp. 385–387.

  Twain’s impatience served “A man has no . . .”: Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1889), p. 191.

  In the summer Stoddard probably went to Yosemite in June or July 1867. Anton Roman published his Poems in early September 1867; see CSCWS, pp. 96–97.

  Even at his Response to Stoddard’s Poems: SFLF, pp. 230–232; GP, pp. 34–35; CSCWS, pp. 97–98; and CRP, chap. 4, pp. 7–13. “the pet of the literary ‘Ring’”: San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle, quoted ibid., p. 7. “imitation spasms”: “Some of the Smaller Poets,” Nation 5.127 (Dec. 5, 1867), p. 452. “the incubus of imitation . . .”: “Reviews,” Round Table 7.155 (Jan. 11, 1868), p. 24.

  Unlike Twain, Stoddard “mere wind-fall . . .”: CRP, chap. 4, p. 8.

  Stoddard needed a new Stoddard’s Catholic baptism: Charles Warren Stoddard, A Troubled Heart and How It Was Comforted At Last (Notre Dame, IN: Joseph A. Lyons, 1885), pp. 111–113. “From the steps . . .”: ibid., p. 113. Conversion: CSCWS, pp. 101–108; SFLF, pp. 232–233; and GP, pp. 35–37. “I couldn’t be anything . . .”: CWS to James Whitcomb Riley, April 8, 1891, quoted GP, p. 36.

  Catholicism also helped CWS to James Whitcomb Riley, April 8, 1891: “I couldn’t help it, you see; it was born in me and was the only thing that appealed to my temperament. I believe a man’s religion is nessessarily [sic] a matter of temperament.” Quoted in GP, p. 36. “Shun all Humans . . .”: from Stoddard’s “Thought Book,” section 24, July 15, 1866, quoted in CSCWS, p. 105.

  This was easier All quotes: ICCWS.

  Their time together Stoddard’s acting career: CSCWS, pp. 109–113. “natural and self-possessed”: Sacramento Daily Union, March 14, 1868, quoted ibid., p. 111. Rich, deep voice: ICHC.

  Unfortunately, his talent “That feller . . .”: Charles Warren Stoddard, “Over the Foot-Lights,” Atlantic Monthly 34.202 (Aug. 1874), p. 170. Stoddard’s trials as an actor: ibid., pp. 169–174. The other plays offered by Stoddard’s company in Sacramento included The Merchant of Venice; see CSCWS, p. 111.

  His friends did All quotes: IC to CWS, March 11, 1868, HUNT.

  Harte wasn’t much All quotes: BH to CWS, March 16, 1868, UVA.

  When Harte’s Condensed Novels Appearance of Condensed Novels and reception: BHGS, pp. 34–35, and BHAN, pp. 83–84. Harte’s letters disavowing Carleton’s changes: for example, BH to Mr. Bush, November 22, 1867, quoted BHAN, p. 84. “charming parodies . . .”: “Reviews and Literary Notices,” Atlantic Monthly 21.123 (Jan. 1868), p. 128.

  Harte hated his “deformed brat . . .”: BH to James T. Fields, October 30, 1868, quoted in M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Memories of a Hostess: A Chronicle of Eminent Friendships, Drawn Chiefly from the Diaries of Mrs. James T. Fields (Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1922), p. 233. Death of son: BHGS, p. 33.

  For the past Harte reviewed Stoddard’s Poems favorably in “Literary Gossip,” Daily Alta California, January 13, 1867, quoted in CRP, chap. 4, p. 10. Harte also reviewed the book for the Springfield Republican. “tuneful mob” and “hardness . . .”: Bret Harte, “From California,” Springfield Republican, October 12, 1867, in Bret Harte, Bret Harte’s California, p. 142. “The curse of California . . .”: BH to J. L. VerMehr, February 2, 1868, BANC. “twitter . . .”: Bret Harte, “From California,” Springfield Republican, October 12, 1867, in Bret Harte, Bret Harte’s California, p. 142.

  Anton Roman understood Anton Roman: BHAN, p. 92, and Hellmut Lehmann-Haupt, The Book in America, pp. 216–217. Founding the Overland: Charles Warren Stoddard, “In Old Bohemia II: The ‘Overland’ and the Overlanders,” p. 264; Anton Roman, “The Beginnings of the Overland: As Seen by the First Publisher,” Overland Monthly 32.187 (July 1898), pp. 72–74; Anton Roman, “The Genesis of the Overland Monthly,” Overland Monthly 40.3 (Sept. 1902), pp. 220–222.

  First he needed “lean too much . . .” and “a magazine that would . . .”: ibid., p. 220.

  Predictably, Harte didn’t Harte’s reservations: ibid., pp. 220–221, and W. C. Bartlett, “Overland Reminiscences,” Overland Monthly 32.187 (July 1898), p. 41. “threw cold water . . .”: Anton Roman, quoted in BHGS, p. 37. “in his bones”: W. C. Bartlett, “Overland Reminiscences,” p. 41. A copy of the prospectus Roman circulated to secure advertisements is reprinted in Anton Roman, “The Beginnings of the Overland,” p. 73. Roman’s pitch to Harte: ibid., p. 74. Roman later claimed that he found at least half of the Overland’s pieces for the first six issues. However, one of the men Roman hired as Harte’s assistant, W. C. Bartlett, recalled that he and several others agreed to write “successive papers for six months, if such contributions were actually necessary to the life of the Monthly,” and remembered this as a “turning point” in the negotiations with Harte; see W. C. Bartlett, “Overland Reminiscences,” p. 41.

  But the most “the central position . . .” and the map: Anton Roman, “The Genesis of the Overland Monthly,” pp. 220–221. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company began regular transpacific service from San Francisco in 1867; see E. Mowbray Tate, Transpacific Steam: The Story of Steam Navigation from the Pacific Coast of North America to the Far East and the Antipodes, 1867–1941 (New York: Cornwall Books, 1986), pp. 23–27.

  Harte accepted “I am trying . . .”: BH to Henry W. Bellows, quoted in BHGS, p. 38. “The Overland marches . . .”: BH to CWS, quoted ibid., p. 37. Roman and Harte’s trip: Anton Roman, “The Genesis of the Overland Monthly,” p. 221.

  When the first Harte and the cover design: SLC to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, January 27, 1871, in MTL, vol. 4, pp. 317–318. “recognizes his rival . . .” and “coming engine . . .”: Bret Harte, “Etc.,” Overland Monthly 1.1 (July 1868), p. 99.

  Twa
in loved the “prettiest fancy . . .”: Twain to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, January 27, 1871, in MTL, vol. 4, p. 317. Twain’s return to SF: MTL, vol. 2, p. 205. Twain wrote fifty letters for the Alta California about the excursion, one for the Naples Observer (reprinted by the Alta California), one for the New York Herald, and six for the New York Tribune; see Daniel Morley McKeithan, introduction to Mark Twain, Traveling with the Innocents Abroad: Mark Twain’s Original Reports from Europe and the Holy Land, ed. Daniel Morley McKeithan (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958), p. ix. The Alta California published the last of its Twain letters on May 17, 1868; see ibid., p. 301.

  Twain’s dispatches didn’t Bliss’s offer: Elisha Bliss Jr. to SLC on November 21, 1867, in MTL, vol. 2, p. 120. Twain’s reply: SLC to Elisha Bliss Jr., December 2, 1867, ibid., pp. 119–120. Twain’s deal with Bliss: SLC to Jane Lampton Clemens and Pamela A. Moffett, January 24, 1868, and SLC to Elisha Bliss Jr., January 27, 1868, ibid., pp. 165–167, 169–170. Copyright fight with the Alta: ibid., pp. 164, 174; SLC to Mary E. Clemens, February 22 [?], 1868, ibid., pp. 198–200; and SLC to Jane Lampton Clemens and Family, March 8–10, 1868, ibid., pp. 201–202. “Mark Twain has . . .”: Marysville Appeal, May 9, 1868, quoted ibid., p. 200.

  Those hoping for “to break . . .”: ibid. Twain’s negotiations with the Alta: AMT, pp. 227–228. “The Alta people . . .”: SLC to Elisha Bliss Jr., May 5, 1868, MTL, vol. 2, p. 215.

  This gave him “weed them of . . .”: SLC to Elisha Bliss Jr., December 2, 1867, MTL, vol. 2, p. 119.

  Twain had recently Twain’s lecture in SF and reaction: Fred W. Lorch, The Trouble Begins at Eight, pp. 74–78, and Paul Fatout, Mark Twain on the Lecture Circuit, pp. 87–90. “carving . . .”: San Francisco Morning Call, quoted ibid., p. 89. “sacrilegious . . .”: California Weekly Mercury, April 19, 1868, quoted ibid. “The most straight-laced . . .”: SLC to Mary Mason Fairbanks, June 17, 1868, MTL, vol. 2, p. 221. After two nights in San Francisco on April 14 and 15, 1868, Twain toured California and Nevada over the next two weeks.

  If he wanted Twain’s all-night writing binges and unwieldy manuscript: AMT, p. 228; MTL, vol. 2, pp. 232–233; and MTAL, p. 238.

  For Harte to undertake “told me what . . .”: SLC to Charles Henry Webb, November 26, 1870, MTL, vol. 4, p. 248. “an awkward utterer . . .”: SLC to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, January 27, 1871, MTL, vol. 4, p. 316. Revisions of Alta letters in book manuscript: Leon T. Dickinson, “Mark Twain’s Revisions in Writing The Innocents Abroad,” American Literature 19.2 (May 1947), pp. 139–157, and Mark Twain, Traveling with the Innocents Abroad: Mark Twain’s Original Reports from Europe and the Holy Land, ed. Daniel Morley McKeithan. There would be other “civilizing” influences on Twain’s manuscript, including his friend and fellow Quaker City passenger Mary Mason Fairbanks and his future wife, Livy.

  By early summer “[T]he book is finished . . .”: SLC to Elisha Bliss Jr., June 23, 1868, MTL, vol. 2, p. 232. Twain’s final performance in SF: Fred W. Lorch, The Trouble Begins at Eight, pp. 82–85. “no slang . . .”: SLC to Mary Mason Fairbanks, July 5, 1868, MTL, vol. 2, p. 234. “wit without vulgarity”: San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle, July 3, 1868, quoted ibid., p. 235. The lecture was almost certainly drawn entirely from chaps. 22 and 23 of The Innocents Abroad; see ibid., pp. 234–235.

  The same month Twain’s “By Rail Through France” appeared in the Overland Monthly 1.1 (July 1868), pp. 18–21. Three more followed over the next three months: “A Californian Abroad—A Few Parisian Sights,” “A Californian Abroad—Three Italian Cities,” and “A Californian Abroad—A Medieval Romance.” Harte waylaying his writers: W. C. Bartlett, “Overland Reminiscences,” pp. 43–44. Also see letters from BH to IC held by BANC, which show how Harte applied the “squeeze,” as Bartlett called it.

  Then the real Harte’s editorial style: Charles Warren Stoddard, Exits and Entrances, pp. 247–248, and Charles Warren Stoddard, “In Old Bohemia II: The ‘Overland’ and the Overlanders,” pp. 265–266.

  The day after Day after Overland’s launch: ECW. “He called us . . .”: ibid. Keys to the Overland’s offices: ICHC. Meetings in the Overland sanctum and in Coolbrith’s parlor: ibid. and Charles Warren Stoddard, “Ina D. Coolbrith,” p. 313.

  They became inseparable The Overland Trinity was the most common nickname for the group, but there were apparently others, including the Triangle, the Infallible Three, and the Golden Gate Trinity; see ECW and ICHC. The first address of the Overland Monthly was 417–419 Montgomery Street.

  “We were critics” “We were critics . . .”: Ina Coolbrith, quoted in Ada Kyle Lynch, “Stories from the Files: Ina D. Coolbrith, as the Literary Associate of Bret Harte,” Overland Monthly 75.5 (Nov. 1920), p. 66.

  It all began Bret Harte, “The Luck of Roaring Camp,” Overland Monthly 1.2 (Aug. 1868), pp. 183–189, included in Bret Harte, The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Writings, ed. Gary Scharnhorst, pp. 16–26. All quotes are from the Scharnhorst edition.

  She dies, but “burlesque . . .” and “mock altar”: Bret Harte, “The Luck of Roaring Camp,” p. 21.

  Harte had discovered “Water put the gold . . .”: ibid., p. 25. My reading of the story is indebted to J. R. Boggan, “The Regeneration of ‘Roaring Camp,’” Nineteenth-Century Fiction 22.3 (Dec. 1967), pp. 271–280, and Gary Scharnhorst, “Bret Harte, Unitarianism, and the Efficacy of Western Humor,” Literature and Belief 21.1 (2002), pp. 96–98.

  Not everyone saw Proofreader: W. C. Bartlett, “Overland Reminiscences,” p. 45; Noah Brooks, “Bret Harte in California,” p. 449; and Charles Warren Stoddard, “In Old Bohemia II: The ‘Overland’ and the Overlanders,” pp. 264–265. The proofreader’s name was Sarah B. Cooper. She was a “religious enthusiast,” according to Stoddard. “vestal virgin”: Noah Brooks, “Bret Harte: A Biographical and Critical Sketch,” p. 202. Roman’s recollection of the incident and “great hullabaloo”: Anton Roman, “The Genesis of the Overland Monthly,” p. 221. Harte’s version: Bret Harte, “The Rise of the ‘Short Story,’” p. 256; G. B. Burgin, “Francis Bret Harte: Two Interviews With Him on Somewhat Dissimilar Lines,” Idler 1.4 (April 1892), pp. 309–310; and Henry J. W. Dam, “A Morning with Bret Harte,” p. 45. “imperil the prospects . . .”: Harte, quoted ibid. “writhed under . . .”: ICHC. See also BHGS, pp. 39–40.

  Locally, the critics Local response to “The Luck”: Bret Harte, “The Rise of the ‘Short Story,’” p. 256; Henry J. W. Dam, “A Morning with Bret Harte,” pp. 45–46; W. C. Bartlett, “Overland Reminiscences,” p. 45; Noah Brooks, “Bret Harte in California,” p. 450; and Noah Brooks, “Bret Harte: A Biographical and Critical Sketch,” p. 203. “pleasant little . . .”: Alta California, quoted in BHGS, p. 40. “Christians were cautioned . . .”: Bret Harte, “General Introduction” in The Writings of Bret Harte, vol. 1 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906), p. xv. “[O]ne of the best . . .”: “The Magazines for October,” Nation 7.169 (Sept. 24, 1868), p. 253, quoted in “Opinions of the Eastern Press,” Overland Monthly 1.5 (Nov. 1868), p. ix. “genuine California story”: Springfield Republican, quoted in BHGS, p. 40. Offer from Fields: Henry J. W. Dam, “A Morning with Bret Harte,” p. 46. “I’ll try to . . .”: BH to James T. Fields, quoted in BHGS, p. 41.

  Harte knew exactly “Far Western flavor”: “The Magazines for October,” Nation 7.169 (Sept. 24, 1868), p. 253. “Pacific freshness”: Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post, quoted in “Opinions of the Eastern Press,” Overland Monthly 1.5 (Nov. 1868), p. ix. “It is by no means . . .”: New York Home Journal, quoted ibid. Circulation: Bayard Taylor, “Through to the Pacific,” New York Daily Tribune, August 5, 1870.

  Yet Harte, instead “Since Boston endorsed . . .”: Henry J. W. Dam, “A Morning with Bret Harte,” p. 46.

  On the morning “Many acted . . .”: San Francisco Morning Call, October 22, 1868. Earthquake damage: ibid. and Charles Wollenberg, “Life on the Seismic Frontier: The Great San Francisco Earthquake (of 1868),” California History 17.4 (Wint
er 1992/1993), pp. 497–499. The 1868 earthquake occurred on the Hayward Fault, east of the San Andreas Fault, which would be the origin of the 1906 quake. The 1868 epicenter was near Hayward, but it could be felt as far as Sacramento, Stockton, and even in Virginia City, Nevada.

  In an eerie “The nineteenth century . . .”: Bret Harte, “Etc.,” Overland Monthly 1.4 (Oct. 1868), p. 387. “electric telegraphs . . .”: ibid.

  The city would Campaign by the Chamber of Commerce and city newspapers: Charles Wollenberg, “Life on the Seismic Frontier,” pp. 500–502. “criminal carelessness”: Alta California, October 22, 1868, quoted ibid., p. 502. The chamber commissioned a report on the earthquake, which was promptly suppressed when the chairman of the committee responsible for the report declared that it “would ruin the commercial prospects of San Francisco to admit the large amount of damage”; see Susan Elizabeth Hough, Richter’s Scale: Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007), pp. 52–53. The suppressed report estimated the property damage at $1.5 million; the chamber’s telegram put the cost at $300,000.

  Harte couldn’t have “with a little more . . .”: Bret Harte, “Etc.,” Overland Monthly 1.5 (Nov. 1868), p. 480. “dignified dons . . .”: Noah Brooks, “Early Days of ‘The Overland,’” Overland Monthly 32.187 (July 1898), p. 10. See also Noah Brooks, “Harte’s Early Days: Reminiscences by Noah Brooks, Who Knew Him in California,” New York Times, May 24, 1902; Noah Brooks, “Bret Harte in California,” p. 450; and BHGS, p. 42.

  Harte couldn’t help Henry George’s background and personality: SFLF, pp. 294–302. See also Henry George, “What the Railroad Will Bring Us,” Overland Monthly 1.4 (Oct. 1868), pp. 297–306.

  George began with “What is the railroad . . .”: ibid., p. 298. “The locomotive . . .” and “When liveries . . .”: ibid., p. 303.