King 



in the Sierras, or by only open- 

 ing a volume of Bret Harte. No 

 other place except the Sierras has 

 produced in our time the same sense 

 of freshness, and no one else had its 

 whole charm except King. At least, so 

 thought most of those who knew him. 

 We would, at any time and always, 

 have left the most agreeable man in 

 Europe or America to go with him. 

 We were his slaves, and he was good 

 to us. He was the ideal companion 

 of our lives. 



Perhaps, like the rest, I too might 

 try my hand on the little poem we 

 all have the material to compose, but 

 with your permission I will spare 

 you ; not so much because it might 

 not bear comparison with Brown- 

 ing's, for that would matter little 

 since it is not for sale ; but because, 

 when I come to think about it, I 

 fear that the motive would cut too 

 deep into King's life, not to mention 



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