That the pattern was arbitrary, theatrical, sentimental, somewhat
meretricious in design, in a word insincere like its inventor,
has been repeated at due intervals ever since 1868. The charge is
true; yet it is far from the whole truth concerning Bret Harte's
artistry. In mastery of the technique of the short story he is
fairly comparable with Poe, though less original, for it was Poe
who formulated, when Bret Harte was a child of six, the
well-known theory of the unity of effect of the brief tale. This
unity Harte secured through a simplification, often an
insulation, of his theme, the omission of quarreling details, an
atmosphere none the less novel for its occasional theatricality,
and characters cunningly modulated to the one note they were
intended to strike. "Tennessee's Partner," "The Outcast of Poker
Flat," and all the rest are triumphs of selective skill--as
bright nuggets as ever glistened in the pan at the end of a hard
day's labor. That they do not adequately represent the actual
California of the fifties, as old Californians obstinately
insist, is doubtless true, but it is beside the point.
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