FRANCIS KING HARTE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 09/06/1887 - HFSID 3742

FRANCIS K. HARTE
Writing to a friend from upstate New York, he makes lengthy excuses for not having repaid a loan yet, and asks for more time to do so.
Autograph Letter signed: "Francis K. Harte", 2 pages, 4½x7, (second page 4½x3½). The Sagamore, Long Lake, Hamilton County, New York, 1887 September 6. To "My dear Malone", in full: "Your letter has only just reached my hand. I have been absent from the hotel about a week with a camping party hunting and fishing and during that trip we did not enjoy the luxury of a mail. It was very, very sweet of you to make such delicate reference to the obligations I am under to you, and in appreciating it my dear Malone, let me that if ever I thought for an instant such a matter would stand in the way of our friendship, or lower the regard you have for me, I should have written to you on the first of August had not you at our last meeting old me you were in no immediate need of it and that I could keep it as long as I liked. It was of great service to me on the first of August as I found very little to hunt and 'tis very expensive to keep alive in the glorious primeval forest. If you would like to have the money now, don't hesitate but write me immediately or telegraph to that effect and I will return it at once. If you feel indifferent about it, I will wait till October first though be assured it will not inconvenience me to return it now. I have often and often wished you were here to appreciate this forest country. Hardin [/] has been spending a week with us here and has just returned to N. Y. homesick for the pleasures of the mountain as he impresses me by letter. I have been anxiously watching the papers for notice of '[title?], but it's almost impossible to get any stage news up here. Will you do me the great favor to send some notices up yourself and the pics, and believe me every yours [signature] I have almost forgotten how to write a decent letter, I am such a backwoodsman now. " Francis K. Harte (1865-1917), the son of famed Western author (Francis) Bret Harte (1836-1902) was sent, along with his brother Griswold, to a commercial college in New York, but Harte biographer Gary Scharnhorst observes that 'neither of them seemed very bright or ambitious." If Francis K. completed any plays, they have not survived. He did make headlines in 1890, when a New York City jury assessed him $10,000 dollars in damages for "alienating the affections" of the wife of a James Smith. Bret Harte's letters to his son are, however, and important source for biographers of the famous father. Creased and toned. Corners and edges lightly worn. Otherwise, fine condition.