In reading _The Gallery of Antiquities_ by Balzac, I came across this
passage which made me think of your parting admonition:
Remember, my son, that your blood is pure from contaminating alliances.
We owe to the honor of our ancestors sacredly preserved the right to
look all women in the face and bow the knee to none but a woman, the
king, and God. Yours is the right to hold your head on high and to
aspire to queens.
I can say for the first time in my life with assurance that I know the
honor of the family is safe in my sword. So much for my experiences—and
I aspire to a queen.
Progression in my work is steady; the upper classes are so full as to
retard our immediate advancement. Our class is an exceptionally good
one. I changed from the evening to the morning class some days ago, and
I find it was a good move. The morning class is better, and advances
faster. I am reading all the literature on aviation that is to be had
about camp. I wish you would communicate with the M. I. T. Aviation
Department and get from them a list of the books that they are using
there in the study of aviation. From this list strike out _The Aeroplane
Speaks_ by Barber, and _Military Aeroplanes_ by G. C. Loening; also
strike from the list all books published before 1915, and from the
remainder you can judge what will be of use to me. They should not be so
elementary as to be a waste of time, nor so technical from a
mathematical standpoint as to be boresome. Compact, reliable, up-to-date
as possible information is what I want. If any of these seem worth
sending, do them up in separate bundles and mail them at intervals of
three or four days apart to prevent their all being lost. The less
bulky, the more practical for my use. Mail these books to me—C/O _Mr.
Van Rensselaer Lansingh, Technology Club of Paris, 7 Rue Anatole de la
Forge, Paris, France_.
Mr. Lansingh keeps in constant touch with “Tech” students and
communicates with their parents and with the Institute in case of
accident. I will send my films to him and he will keep them after
development. They are charged to my account and a set of prints returned
to me. I will forward these prints to you. The films will be filed at
the “Tech” Club of Paris. Any mail or cables sent to that address will
be immediately forwarded to me, entailing about two days’ delay. I have
opened a checking account, and deposited 1,000 francs with the Guaranty
Trust Company of New York.
_August 14, 1917._