Elisina Tyler to Mildred Barnes Bliss, April 5, 1913
Paris.
April 5th 1913.Saturday.
Dear Mildred,
You are good to spare me time when time is so precious. Royall’s account of you sitting on a pile of books and directing operations was graphic and arresting.Probably a reference to the Blisses' move to an apartment at 4, avenue Henri Moissan. I wish I could qualify myself as second in command, as your creature and your intuitive slave. But I understand the master-spirit which breathes in you, and I can merely mumble humbly:
They also serve who only stand and wait.From John Milton’s poem “On His Blindness.”
My sister is here till Friday next, and I should like to bring her to see you if you have time, or show her and It"It" refers to the chalice, BZ.1955.18, acquired by the Tylers from Joseph Brummer. to you here. I shall not worry you with fresh proposals, but wait for a sign from you. We went in search of the republican Emperor’sProbably Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821), emperor in France between 1804 and 1815. Linetta Richardson and Elisina Tyler, both née Palamidessi de Castelvecchio, were the great-great granddaughters of Napoleon's brother, Louis. effigies all three together yesterday, and enjoyed it. Dear dear Mildred, don’t go to America if you can help it.The Blisses went to the United States sometime in October or November 1913, possibly to deal with issues concerning Mildred Bliss’s ownership of Centaur Company stock, and they were in Washington, D.C., in late December. See “Dimock Dinner-Dance to be a Brilliant Function,” Washington Post, December 29, 1913. I believe you know how to resist the natural law that makes one feel the force of the tangent from a circle. It is done by allowing the circle to revolve, and sitting still in the middle. There are precedents, and no mean ones.
May Heaven strengthen the rum and fortify the milk, and send a dew from above to make the brains of your workmen malleable and resilient at once.
My best to Robert and the same as ever to you.