LYCEUM CLUB.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19379, 14 July 1926, Page 7

LYCEUM CLUB.

The literary circle of the Auckland Lyceum Club hold a guest evening on Monday, when Mr. A. S. Boyd, of Takapuna, gave a very interesting address on Bret Harts, who for over 20 years was an intimate friend of Mr. and Mrs. Boyd. Bret Harte was one of the most interesting figures in English literature in the latter half of the nineteenth century, said tho speaker, who outlined ■ th« principal events of the famous writer's early life. Ho then passed on to the time whep he met him in Glasgow, where Bret Harte was United States Consul. Curiously enough, Mr. Boyd first saw, the distinguished writer on his own wedding day, August 6, 1880. Some later, Mr. Boyd, who was then chief illustrator for a Glasgow weekly, went to the Consul's office to sketch him for the paper. He found htm not only courteous and affable, but possessed of a certain "chumminese," which was a pleasant surprise to the young artist, and altogether captivating. Thus - began the friendship between them, which was ended only when the well-known writer died in 1602. With characteristic insight and humour, Mr. Boyd delighted his audience with stories Of Bret Harte's daily life. He read the writer's most famous story, "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," the whimsical poem, "The Heathen Chinee," and also a humorous poem addressed to Mr,, Boyd in mock imitation of the Scots dialect. Mr. Boyd closed an extremely interesting address by reading Bret Harto's poem, "Dickens in Camp." Mrs. Boyd theft related several personal and humorous anecdotes of Bret Harte and showed the audience the original manuscript of one of Bret Harte's stories, which the author had given her.