University of Virginia Library

A Harold Frederic First
by
Stanton B. Garner

In his admirable bibliography of Harold Frederic (Studies in Bibliography, XIII, 1960) Robert H. Woodward invites additions from other Frederic scholars. Although it is difficult to add many items at present to a list as complete as Mr. Woodward's, there are certain items of interest which have escaped his pioneer sorting and culling. For instance, I would add to his list of dissertations two others which contain significant sections treating the Dearborn County novels: Marvin O. Mitchell, A Study of Realistic and Romantic Elements in the Fiction of E. W. Howe, Joseph Kirkland, Hamlin Garland, Harold Frederic, and Frank Norris (1882-1902) (University of North Carolina, 1953), and Thomas F. O'Donnell, The Regional Fiction of Upstate New York (Syracuse University, 1957). In addition, another study of Frederic's fiction has been completed since Mr. Woodward's compilation: Charles B. Hands, Harold Frederic: A Critical Study of the American Works (Notre Dame, 1959) and Harold Frederic, by Thomas F. O'Donnell and Hoyt C. Franchere (Wayne Publishers, Inc., 1961).

The one major error in Mr. Woodward's bibliography is the omission of Frederic's first short story. Scholars agree that "The Blakelys of Poplar Place" was his first attempt, and Mr. Woodward supports this contention. While it was the first story to be published in the Utica Observer after Frederic joined the staff of that newspaper, it is actually his second.

The first is a bit of juvenilia named "Barbette's Christmas," published in the Utica Observer some time before Frederic joined the paper, while he was working as a proof-reader for the rival Utica Morning Herald. It is the extremely sentimental story of Barbette, an eight year old basket girl who walks the wintry streets of a blustery Alsatian town in the tradition of the Little Match Girl, trying to support her aged grandfather by selling her baskets. The plot is melodramatic, complete with frostbite and villainy, and in the end Barbette is reunited with her wealthy father. In the last paragraph

the narrator intrudes with an appeal for Christmas charity toward little children. Although the story has little literary merit, it contains recognizable Frederic characters and themes in embryo, and realistic description of the kind which was later to help make him a leading novelist. I have never encountered any previous mention of the existence of this story. A microfilm copy of the page containing "Barbette's Christmas" may be inspected at the Utica Public Library.

In my additions to Mr. Woodward's bibliography I use numbers which correspond to his classification system:

PART I. BOOKS

A. Novels

• The Damnation of Theron Ware. Intr. by John Henry Raleigh. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960.
• -----. Intr. by Everett Carter. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1960.

PART II. PERIODICALS

A. Short Stories

• "Barbette's Christmas." Utica Observer, December 23, 1878, p. 2.
• "Brother Sebastian's Friendship." Also reprinted in Great American Short Stories, ed. Stephen Graham (London: E. Behn, limited, 1931).
• "The Wooing of Teige." Also reprinted in Great Love Stories, ed. John R. Colter (New York: Halcyon House, 1940).

B. Articles

• "The Mohawk Valley During the Revolution." Final portion reprinted in Utica Observer, June 16, 1877, p. 6.