Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California. Harte moved to California in 1853, and worked there in a number of capacities -- as a miner, a teacher, a messenger, and a journalist. His story, "The Luck of Roaring Camp," appearing in The Overland Monthly magazine, propelled Harte to nationwide fame. The opening tale, "Jimmy's Big Brother from California," is set among the miners. Robert Falloner has struck a rich vein and become a wealthy man. Dick Lasham is in a sickbed dying. Daddy Folsom, trying to minister to Dick, reads letters from Dick's younger brother and from the man in charge of him and his sister, Cissy. The latter wants money for the children's support, or they must find a new home. The former just wants a letter and a photo of his older brother, to prove to the other kids he has one. The miners take up a collection for Dick and write a letter supposedly by him, and Robert decides to deliver it. He arrives to be mistaken for Dick, and forced to play an unexpected part.

Author Biography

Francis Bret Harte (1836 - 1902) 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, fiction, 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 most often reprinted, adapted and admired.