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Elisina Tyler to Mildred Barnes Bliss, May 7, 1926

Antigny-le-Château
par Arnay-le-Duc
(Côte d’Or)
May 7th 1926Friday.

Dearest Mildred,

I sent my wire to Royall and he sent his wire to me, as neither of us had guessed how far your dear kindness was going to take you in the direction of giving joy to us both.

I am so happy that you had a good time with William, and he must have had a splendid time with you—I haven’t heard since he arrived in England, owing, no doubt, to the strike.The General Strike of 1926 in the United Kingdom lasted ten days, from May 3 to May 13, 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the government to prevent wage cuts and worsening conditions for coal miners.

It is a lowering cloud, and the clouds here are a disquieting spectacle too.

In this quiet and remote corner, among people who see nothing but local newspapers, and not often even those, things do not seem to change much. But Paris must be hectic these days.

It was so good of you to spare time for William. I wish I could have been with you too.

My very best love to you and to Robert, and bon voyage to you both.The Blisses were going to Washington in part to accompany the Swedish Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf (1882–1973) and Princess Louise (1889–1965) in June and July on a month-long tour of the United States. See “Envoy to Sweden Visitor Constant Companion to Swedish Prince and Princess on American Tour; Precedes Royal Pair Here,” Los Angeles Times, July 15, 1926. While in Washington, they also wanted to discuss the problematic location of their music room, which they were considering siting at the location of the present dressing rooms of the swimming pool. On March 29, 1926, Robert Woods Bliss wrote the architect Lawrence Grant White: “You will have learned from my wife’s letter to you of March 18th that we expect to be in Washington towards the end of May. As our time in Washington will be short we should be greatly obliged if you can have as much as possible prepared for our consideration and discussion with you regarding the proposed music-room. It would be helpful if you could have out up again the sticks at the corners where the music-room would be, as was done last summer, so that my wife can see just what would be the hight [sic] of the music-room and get an idea of its relation to the green garden. I already have the plans which you sent for the music-room to be erected at the sight [sic] of the swimming-pool. However, we both feel that a modification of the entrance from the house could be worked out by making the entrance passage way lead from the proposed bay in the living-room. I enclose a rough ground sketch of this suggestion. Would you also, please, work out a plan for building a bay to the east of the living-room. We both still think that an effective passage-way from this bay above ground could be worked out. However, as the drop from the bay to the entrance of the music room is great, it would undoubtedly be necessary, in order to meet this difficulty, to make one or more turnings in the passage-way, after it went underground. This is a knotty problem and one that will require long study and doubtless many changes. It appeals to us both more than the plan you propose of making the entrance from the basement-room under the living-room. However, it would be advisable to maintain the service entrance from the basement. Needless to say we are keenly looking forward to our return to The Oaks and were glad to have your letter of February 15th reporting on the work of the service group. I am sure my wife will be much pleased with the way this group has worked out. You will recall that she has not seen the place since it was occupied by the Home for Incurables.” McKim, Mead & White Archives, New-York Historical Society, New York, call no. 396.

Ever affec’ately yours,
Elisina
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