Even here, however, the bitterness of the satire is tempered by the humor of the situation. But in Joan, the heroine of the story, we have a really new figure in literature, and it is drawn with an absence of sympathy, of humor and of mitigating circumstances which is very rare, if not unique, in Bret Harte.[106]
One other example of pure satire may be found in his works, and that is Parson Wynn, the effusive, boisterous hypocrite who plays a subordinate part in The Carquinez Woods.[107] With these few exceptions, however, Bret Harte was a writer of sentiment, and that is the secret of his power. Sentiment may take the form of humor or of pathos, and, as is often remarked, these two qualities shade off into each other by imperceptible degrees.
Some things are of that nature as to make
One’s fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache.
A consummate example of this blending of humor and pathos is found in the story How Santa Claus Came to Simpson’s Bar. The boy Johnny, after greeting the Christmas guests in his “weak, treble voice, broken by that premature harshness which only vagabondage and the habit of premature self-assertion can give,” and after hospitably setting out the whiskey bottle, with crackers and cheese, creeps back to bed, and is thus accosted by Dick Bullen, the hero of the story:—
“‘Hello, Johnny! You ain’t goin’ to turn in agin, are ye?’
“‘Yes, I are,’ responded Johnny decidedly.
“‘Why, wot’s up, old fellow?’
“‘I’m sick.’
“‘How sick?’
“‘I’ve got a fevier, and childblains, and roomatiz,’ returned Johnny, and vanished within. After a moment’s pause he added in the dark, apparently from under the bedclothes,—‘And biles!’