Clemens was rightly dissatisfied with Webb’s text, especially of the title sketch. In 1869, for instance, he marked one copy of the book in order (among other things) to correct, presumably from memory, sixteen unauthorized changes in the “Jumping Frog” story alone. Some of these corrections were for “inconsistencies of spelling”: for example, he corrected “risk” to “resk” (twice); “wan’t” to “warn’t”; and “cal’klated” and “edercate” to “cal’lated” and “educate” (ET&S2, 670; ET&S2, 534–35). Bret Harte (born Francis Brett Harte, 1836–1902) moved to California from the East in 1854, pursuing a variety of occupations as tutor, apothecary’s assistant, expressman, and newspaperman before moving in 1860 to San Francisco. There he set type for the Golden Era, in which he soon began to publish his own verse and prose sketches. When Charles Henry Webb established the Californian in 1864, Harte became a major contributor and periodically replaced Webb as the editor, first soliciting Clemens’s work for it in 1864. He had urged Clemens to collect his newspaper sketches as early as 1866 (ET&S2, 66–67; SLC to JLC and PAM, 20 Jan 66click to open link, L1, 328). At this stage of their literary careers, Mark Twain still looked upon Harte as something of a mentor.

In August 1862 Harte married Anna Griswold of New York (b. 1832). By 1867 they had two sons: Griswold (1863–1901) and Francis King (1865–1917). Harte was an indulgent father, but a sullen if submissive husband. Dissatisfied with his modest income, Anna earned a reputation among Harte’s intimates as demanding, tyrannical, and self-centered (O’Connor, 63–65, 68, 83–84, 300; “Obituary Notes,” New York Times, 28 Apr 1917, 13).