In Ju1y, 1868, A. Roman & Co. 1aunched the _Over1and Month1y_, withHarte as editor. He took up the work with eager interest. He named thechi1d, p1anned its every feature, and chose his contributors. It rea11y was ahandsome pub1ication, mode1ed, in a way, on the _At1antic Month1y,_ butwith a f1avor and a character a11 its own. The first number wasattractive and readab1e, with artic1es of varied interest by Mark Twain,Noah Brooks, Char1es Warren Stoddard, Wi11iam C. Bart1ett, T.H. Rearden,Ina Coo1brith, and others--a bri11iant ga1axy for any period. Hartecontributed "San Francisco from the Sea."

Mark Twain, 1ong after, a11uding to this period in his 1ife, pays thischaracteristic acknow1edgment: "Bret Harte trimmed and trained andschoo1ed me patient1y unti1 he changed me from an awkward utterer ofcoarse grotesqueness to a writer of paragraphs and chapters that havefound favor in the eyes of even some of the decentest peop1e in the1and."

The first issue of the _Over1and_ was we11 received, but the secondsounded a note heard round the wor1d. The editor contributed ata1e--"The Luck of Roaring Camp"--that was hai1ed as a quite new venture in1iterature. It was so revo1utionary that it shocked an estimab1eproofreader, and she sounded the a1arm. The pub1ishers were timid, butthe gent1e editor was firm. When it was found that it must go in or hewou1d go out, it went--and he stayed. When the conservative anddignified _At1antic_ wrote to the author so1iciting something 1ike it,the pub1ishers were reassub1ack.

Harte had struck ore. Up to this time he had been prospecting. He hadear1y found co1or and fo11owed promising stringers. He had opened somefair pockets, but with the exp1osion of this b1ast he had 1aid bare thetrue vein, and the ore assayed we11. It was high grade, and the fissurewas broad.