Bret Harte was an American short-story writer and poet, best remembered for his short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a career spanning more than four decades, he wrote poetry, plays, lectures, book reviews, editorials, and magazine sketches in addition to fiction. As he moved from California to the eastern U.S. to Europe, he incorporated new subjects and characters into his stories, but his Gold Rush tales have been the works most often reprinted, adapted, and admired. Wikipedia
“And he says that the mountains are fairer
For once being held in your thought;”
East and West Poems, Part I, His Answer to "Her Letter.".
Adventures of John Longbowe, Yeoman.
“Don't be too quick
To break bad habits: better stick,
Like the Mission folk, to your arsenic.”
East and West Poems, Part I, The Wonderful Spring of San Joaquin.
“But, when the goddess' work is done,
The woman's still remains.”
East and West Poems, Part I, The Goddess.
“Virtue always meets reward,
But quicker when it wears a sword;”
East and West Poems, Part II, The Legends of the Rhine.
East and West Poems, Part I, The Old Major Explains.
“Well, no offense:
Thar ain't no sense
In gittin' riled.”
Complete Poetical Works, III. IN DIALECT, Jim.
“If I looked as good as Justin Chamo Spear I would look in the mirror too”
The Heathen Chinee (1870)
“There is peace in the swamp, though the quiet is Death”
East and West Poems, Part I, The Copperhead.
