The Letters of Ambrose Bierce Part 33

Sincerely yours, AMBROSE BIERCE.

If the motorboat plan is not practicable let me know and I'll go by train or steamer; it will not greatly matter. A. B.

[Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., Tuesday, August 8, 1911.]

DEAR GEORGE,

Kindly convey to young Smith of Auburn my felicitations on his admirable "Ode to the Abyss"--a large theme, treated with dignity and power. It has many striking pa.s.sages--such, for example, as "The Romes of ruined spheres." I'm conscious of my sin against the rhetoricians in liking that, for it jolts the reader out of the Abyss and back to earth. Moreover, it is a metaphor which belittles, instead of dignifying. But I like it.

He is evidently a student of George Sterling, and being in the formative stage, cannot--why should he?--conceal the fact.

My love to all good Californians of the Sag Harbor colony.

Sincerely yours, AMBROSE BIERCE.

[Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., November 16, 1911.]

DEAR GEORGE,

It is good to know that you are again happy--that is to say, you are in Carmel. For your _future_ happiness (if success and a certain rounding off of your corners would bring it, as I think) I could wish you in New York or thereabout. As the Scripture hath it: "It is not good for a man to be in Carmel"--_Revised Inversion_. I note that at the late election California d.a.m.ned herself to a still lower degradation and is now unfit for a white man to live in. Initiative, referendum, recall, employers' liability, woman suffrage--yah!

But you are not to take too seriously my dislike of * * *[15] I like him personally very well; he talks like a normal human being. It is only that d.a.m.ned book of his. He was here and came out to my tenement a few evenings ago, finding me in bed and helpless from lumbago, as I was for weeks. I am now able to sit up and take notice, and there are even fears for my recovery. My enemies would say, as Byron said of Lady B., I am becoming "dangerously well again."

[15] Excised by G. S.

As to harlots, there are not ten in a hundred that are such for any other reason than that they wanted to be. Their exculpatory stories are mostly lies of magnitude.

Sloots writes me that he will perhaps "walk over" from the mine to Yosemite next summer. I can't get there much before July first, but if there is plenty of snow in the mountains next winter the valley should be visitable then. Later, I hope to beguest myself for a few days at the Pine Inn, Carmel. Tell it not to the Point Lobos mussel!

My love to Carrie.

Sincerely yours, AMBROSE BIERCE.

[Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., December 27, 1911.]

DEAR GEORGE,

As you do not give me that lady's address I infer that you no longer care to have me meet her--which is a relief to me.

Yes, I'm a bit broken up by the death of Pollard, whose body I a.s.sisted to burn. He lost his mind, was paralyzed, had his head cut open by the surgeons, and his sufferings were unspeakable. Had he lived he would have been an idiot; so it is all right--

"But O, the difference to me!"

If you don't think him pretty bright read any of his last three books, "Their Day in Court," "Masks and Minstrels," and "Vagabond Journeys."

He did not see the last one--Neale brought down copies of it when he came to Baltimore to attend the funeral.

I'm hoping that if Carlt and Lora go to Wagner's mine and we go to Yosemite, Lora, at least, will come to us out there. We shall need her, though Carrie will find that Misses C. and S. will be "no deadheads in the enterprise"--to quote a political phrase of long ago.

As to me, I shall leave my ten-pounds-each books at home and, like St. Jerome, who never traveled with other baggage than a skull, be "flying light." My love to Carrie.

Sincerely, AMBROSE BIERCE.

[Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., January 5, 1912.]

DEAR LORA,

It is good to hear from you again, even if I did have to give you a hint that I badly needed a letter.

I am glad that you are going to the mine (if you go)--though Berkeley and Oakland will not be the same without you. And where can I have my mail forwarded?--and be permitted to climb in at the window to get it.

As to pot-steaks, toddies, and the like, I shall simply swear off eating and drinking.

If Carlt is a "game sport," and does not require "a dead-sure thing,"

the mining gamble is the best bet for him. Anything to get out of that deadening, hopeless grind, the "Government service." It kills a man's self-respect, atrophies his powers, unfits him for anything, tempts him to improvidence and then turns him out to starve.

It is pleasant to know that there is a hope of meeting you in Yosemite--the valley would not be the same without you. My girls cannot leave here till the schools close, about June 20, so we shall not get into the valley much before July first; but if you have a good winter, with plenty of snow, that will do. We shall stay as long as we like. George says he and Carrie can go, and I hope Sloots can. It is likely that Neale, my publisher, will be of my party. I shall hope to visit your mine afterward.

My health, which was pretty bad for weeks after returning from Sag Harbor, is restored, and I was never so young in all my life.

Here's wis.h.i.+ng you and Carlt plenty of meat on the bone that the new year may fling to you.

Affectionately, AMBROSE.

[Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., February 14, 1912.]

DEAR GEORGE,

I'm a long time noticing your letter of January fifth, chiefly because, like Teddy, "I have nothing to say." There's this difference atwixt him and me--I could say something if I tried.

* * * I'm hoping that you are at work and doing something worth while, though I see nothing of yours. Battle against the encroaching abalone should not engage all your powers. That spearing salmon at night interests me, though doubtless the "season" will be over before I visit Carmel.

Bear Yosemite in mind for latter part of June, and use influence with Lora and Grizzly, even if Carlt should be inhumed in his mine.

We've had about seven weeks of snow and ice, the mercury around the zero mark most of the time. Once it was 13 below. You'd not care for that sort of thing, I fancy. Indeed, I'm a bit fatigued of it myself, and on Sat.u.r.day next, G.o.d willing, shall put out my prow to sea and bring up, I hope, in Bermuda, not, of course, to remain long.

You did not send me the Weininger article on "s.e.x and Character"--I mean the extract that you thought like some of my stuff.