bulk of these earlier efforts, as shown in the first two volumes, were
marked by very little flavor of the soil, but were addressed to an
audience half foreign in their sympathies, and still imbued with
Eastern or New England habits and literary traditions. "Home" was
still potent with these voluntary exiles in their moments of
relaxation. Eastern magazines and current Eastern literature formed
their literary recreation, and the sale of the better class of
periodicals was singularly great. Nor was the taste confined to
American literature. The illustrated and satirical English journals
were as frequently seen in California as in Massachusetts; and the
author records that he has experienced more difficulty in procuring a
copy of "Punch" in an English provincial town than was his fortune at
"Red Dog" or "One-Horse Gulch." An audience thus liberally equipped
and familiar with the best modern writers was naturally critical and
exacting, and no one appreciates more than he does the salutary
effects of this severe discipline upon his earlier efforts.

When the first number of "The Overland Monthly" appeared, the author,
then its editor, called the publisher's attention to the lack of any
distinctive Californian romance in its pages, and averred that, should
no other contribution come in, he himself would supply the omission in
the next number. No other contribution was offered, and the author,
having the plot and general idea already in his mind, in a few days
sent the manuscript of "The Luck of Roaring Camp" to the printer. He
had not yet received the proof-sheets when he was suddenly summoned to
the office of the publisher, whom he found standing the picture of
dismay and anxiety with the proof before him. The indignation and
stupefaction of the author can be well understood when he was told
that the printer, instead of returning the proofs to him, submitted
them to the publisher, with the emphatic declaration that the matter