Scheff has mentioned his great desire that you join the Bohemian Club. I know he wants me to advise you to do so. So I'm between two fires and would rather not advise at all. There are advantages (obvious enough) in belonging; and to one of your age and well grounded in sobriety and self-restraint generally, the disadvantages are not so great as to a youngster like Scheff. (Of course he is not so young as he seems to me; but he is younger by a few years and a whole lot of thought than you.)
The trouble with that kind of club—with any club—is the temptation to waste of time and money; and the danger of the drink habit. If one is proof against these a club is all right. I belong to one myself in Washington, and at one time came pretty near to "running" it.
* * *
No, I don't think Scheff's view of Kipling just. He asked me about putting that skit in the book. It was his view and, that being so, I could see no reason for suppressing it in deference to those who do not hold it. I like free speech, though I'd not accord it to my enemies if I were Dictator. I should not think it for the good of the State to let * * * write verses, for example. The modern fad Tolerance does not charm me, but since it is all the go I'm willing that my friends should have their fling.
I dare say Scheff is unconscious of Kipling's paternity in the fine line in "Back, back to Nature":
"Loudly to the shore cries the surf upon the sea."
But turn to "The Last Chanty," in "The Seven Seas," fill your ears with it and you'll write just such a line yourself.
* * *
God be decent to you, old man. Ambrose Bierce.
