Two Friends
A Miner's Cabin
The Thief
The Road through the Woods
The Trial
A Scene in the Court Room
Early Days in our County
Bret Harte's Best Stories
The Escaped Convict
The Highwayman
A Lumber Camp
Roughing It
The Judge
The Robbers' Rendezvous
An Odd Character
Early Days in the West
A Mining Town
Underground with the Miners
Capturing the Thieves
The Sheriff
SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING
Two Friends:—Tell where these two friends lived and how long they had known each other. Describe each one, explaining his peculiarities; perhaps you can make his character clear by telling some incident concerning him. What seemed to be the attraction between the two friends? Were they much together? What did people say of them? What did they do for each other? Did they talk to others about their friendship? Did either make a sacrifice for the other? If so, tell about it rather fully. Was there any talk about it? What was the result of the sacrifice? Was the friendship ever broken?
Early Days in our County:—Perhaps you can get material for this from some old settlers, or from a county history. Tell of the first settlement: Who was first on the ground, and why did he choose this particular region? What kind of shelter was erected? How fast did the settlement grow? Tell some incidents of the early days. You might speak also of the processes of clearing the land and of building; of primitive methods of living, and the difficulty of getting supplies. Were there any dangers? Speak of several prominent persons, and tell what they did. Go on and tell of development of the settlements and the surrounding country. Were there any strikingly good methods of making money? Was there any excitement over land, or gold, or high prices of products? Were there any misfortunes, such as floods, or droughts, or fires, or cyclones? When did the railroad reach the region? What differences did it make? What particular influences have brought about recent conditions?
The Sheriff:—Describe the sheriff—his physique, his features, his clothes, his manner. Does he look the part? Do you know, or can you imagine, one of his adventures? Perhaps you will wish to tell his story in his own words. Think carefully whether it would be better to do this, or to tell the story in the third person. Make the tale as lively and stirring as possible. Remember that when you are reporting the talk of the persons involved, it is better to quote their words directly. See that everything you say helps in making the situation clear or in actually telling the story. Close the story rather quickly after its outcome has been made quite clear.
COLLATERAL READINGS
| How Santa Claus Came to Simpson's Bar | Bret Harte |
| The Outcasts of Poker Flat | " " |
| The Luck of Roaring Camp | " " |
| Baby Sylvester | " " |
| A Waif of the Plains | " " |
| How I Went to the Mines | " " |
| M'liss | " " |
| Frontier Stories | " " |
| Tales of the Argonauts | " " |
| A Sappho of Green Springs and Other Stories | " " |
| Pony Tracks | Frederic Remington |
| Crooked Trails | " " |
| Cœur d'Alène | Mary Hallock Foote |
| The Led-Horse Claim | " " |
| Wolfville Days | Alfred Henry Lewis |
| Wolfville Nights | " " |
| The Sunset Trail | " " |
| Pathfinders of the West | Agnes C. Laut |
| The Old Santa Fé Trail | H. Inman |
| Stories of the Great West | Theodore Roosevelt |
| California and the Californians | D.S. Jordan |
| Our Italy | C.D. Warner |
| California | Josiah Royce |
| The West from a Car Window | R.H. Davis |
| The Story of the Railroad | Cy Warman |
| Roughing It | S.L. Clemens |
| Poems | Joaquin Miller |
| Appropriate poems by Bret Harte:— | |
| John Burns of Gettysburg | |
| In the Tunnel[Pg 251] | |
| The Lost Galleon | |
| Grizzly | |
| Battle Bunny | |
| The Wind in the Chimney | |
| Reveille | |
| Plain Language from Truthful James (The Heathen Chinee) | |
| Highways and Byways in the Rocky Mountains | Clifton Johnson |
| Trails of the Pathfinders | G.B. Grinnell |
| Stories of California | E.M. Sexton |
| Glimpses of California | Helen Hunt Jackson |
| California: Its History and Romance | J.S. McGroarty |
| Heroes of California | G.W. James |
| Recollections of an Old Pioneer | P.H. Bennett |
| The Mountains of California | John Muir |
| Romantic California | E.C. Peixotto |
| Silverado Squatters | R.L. Stevenson |
| Jimville: A Bret Harte Town (in Atlantic Monthly, November, 1902) | Mary Austin |
| The Prospector (poem) | Robert W. Service |
| The Rover | " " |
| The Life of Bret Harte | H.C. Merwin |
| Bret Harte | Henry W. Boynton |
| Bret Harte | T.E. Pemberton |
| American Writers of To-day, pp. 212-229 | H.C. Vedder |
| Bookman, 15:312 (see also map on page 313). |
For stories of famous friendships, look up:—
Damon and Pythias (any good encyclopedia).
Patroclus and Achilles (the Iliad).
David and Jonathan (the Bible: 1st Samuel 18:1-4; 19:1-7; chapter 20, entire; 23:16-18; chapter 31, entire; 2d Samuel, chapter 1, entire).
The Substitute (Le Remplaçant) François Coppée
(In Modern Short-stories edited by M. Ashmun.)