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Henry James to Elizabeth Boott, 24 January 1872: "I heard read in MS. the other evening a new story by Bret Harte (for the next Atlantic) better than anything in his 'second manner' -- though not quite so good as his first."
'The members then considered Bret Harte & his work. The committee overwhelmed by the inability (through health & other unavoidable circumstances) of 3 members to introduce the [underlined] Man [end underlining] to the Club boldly inaugurated a new procedure & in the capable hands of C.I. Evans became a great success [this was for every member to furnish some facts about him - these are redacted] We then had some readings from his works 'The Waif of the Plains' by Miss Wallis 'Luck of Roaring Camp' by Mrs Rawlings This last was the short story with which he leaped into fame as a short-story writer of Western mining life. Mr Evans read a story from the published biography - a book that seemed well worth reading, & Mrs Unwin read two of his poems. other members read poems & the discussion upon his work was continued. To many of us - the Secretary is one of these - the evening introduced us to a new novelist - we had heard of the short poems - 'Jim' & 'In the Tunnel' but The Luck of Roaring Camp & his other prose work are surely worthy to rank with the best.'
'The members then considered Bret Harte & his work. The committee overwhelmed by the inability (through health & other unavoidable circumstances) of 3 members to introduce the [underlined] Man [end underlining] to the Club boldly inaugurated a new procedure & in the capable hands of C.I. Evans became a great success [this was for every member to furnish some facts about him - these are redacted] We then had some readings from his works 'The Waif of the Plains' by Miss Wallis 'Luck of Roaring Camp' by Mrs Rawlings This last was the short story with which he leaped into fame as a short-story writer of Western mining life. Mr Evans read a story from the published biography - a book that seemed well worth reading, & Mrs Unwin read two of his poems. Other members read poems & the discussion upon his work was continued. To many of us - the Secretary is one of these - the evening introduced us to a new novelist - we had heard of the short poems - 'Jim' & 'In the Tunnel' but The Luck of Roaring Camp & his other prose work are surely worthy to rank with the best.'