Semi-Centennial (Paperback)

It is pleasant to be even a small author. CHEKHOFF. SEMI CENTENNIAL Some of the Life and Part of the Opinions of LEONARD BACON Harper Brothers Publishers New Tork and London 1939 To Martha, Helen, Alice, and their Mother, who do not Appear Frequently in these Pages for a Reason Sufficiently Expressed by the Poet Donne. CONTENTS i. Solvay i ii. Pictures and Schools 13 in. Yale i 28 iv. Yale 2 41 v. The Magic Mountain 51 VI. Annus Mirabilis 69 vn. University of California 96 vm. First Solo 114 ix. Interval But Not of Repose 122 x. War 134 xi. T7z Soldiefs Return 157 xn. Interim and Crisis 169 xin. Zurich 176 xiv. Change 188 xv. T ze JRo0d to Florence 108 L xvi. Florence 211 xvii. Sowf a County 230 xvm. Fishing 237 xix. Defence of Poetry 249 SEMI-CENTENNIAL The times are whiffling back and forth And we change with them, lief or loth. Yet the wild geese are honking north And the trilliums flare in the undergrowth. And what the poets have said or sung, However mad, is still half-true. And though I grow old who once was young, I stand by that as I used to do. The beards gone grey in the fiftieth year, The muscles flaccid that was so staunch. If you consider, it would appear Theres a development of paunch. Yet what is so good as my beech-wood, The silver shaft, and the thin green leaf Her beauty that is not understood Still cleanses mirth and cleanses grief That come by changes. She can heal. She quickens still with the same power That blunts the spike of the solomon-seal And sweetens the arbutus-flower. INTRODUCTION THIS book is the partial and imperfect record of a life in which there has been a great deal of happiness. Many details which might have a certain pungency have been left out, some because they were forgotten, some because they had better be. It is a truism that everyone has plenty to be ashamed of, but quite apart from that I am tired of the convention of exploiting ones obliquities, however profita ble, and even more tired of the more satisfactory convention of exploiting the obliquities of others. Deliberately I have refrained from the violation of reserves. I have tried to set down what I saw or knew and to express my feelings about the seen or the known as exactly and vividly as lay in my power. The matters I have chosen to relate have been selected from a memory, which, like all memories, is as crowded as the rush-hour in a subway, and they were chosen because I hoped they might divert or attract persons who had never heard of me and might per haps prefer things that way. I speak mainly as a witness and I hope not as the scribes. I have endeavored to be accurate. But memory may be at fault and belief or prejudice still more so. It will be sufficient if I have avoided essential errors. My life has been governed by proclivity and desire, rather than by what is called thought. But in that respect I resem ble the vast majority of what are called thinkers. They are at liberty, if they choose, to reproach me with a failure to The greater part of conscious thinking must be counted among the instinctive functions. Neitzsche, Beyond Good and Evil. INTRODUCTION adopt any one of their prevailing philosophies. As if it mattered a great deal, I dont like Fascism and I dont like Marxism either. I think our liberalism is de-alcoholized eau de-cologne. I think our toryism is weak vinegar extracted from the sourest of grapes. Particularly I am down on what may be calledour crowd in literature and in politics. The cliquishness of the times is hateful to me. I like people who know that what is worth doing is generally done alone, I have known many of that order. I detest people who conceal individual selfishness by paying it into the pool of a party or a group. I have succeeded in avoiding a great many of them. Clearly it is a reasonable attitude, for even the Dionne chil dren were born as individuals and will die as such...