I have stopped in the middle of a Messiah line to answer yours of the 14th. Evidently you meant to enclose some disappointing letter from Doctor Burton, but that doesn't matter much, tho' I'm sorry if he has failed you.
I'm not much to lean on, but please lean anyway; I the feeling on contact with a real friend, & maybe while seeming to let you lean, I may be doing most of the leaning. I'm nearly happy now, & shall, I know, be quite so by spells; for the Messiah is going forward & Mona & Enid say the lines I have written so far are real. Mona said: "It's the sort of thing nobody else does". She meant that something gets through me that doesn't get through most other holes. Maybe it's so.
But before I go on, let me name two of Upson's poems that you should include. Both of these are quoted in "Little Book of Modern Verse". They are "Euchenor's Chorus" from "The City" and "Ex Libris". You can easily choose other a few others that have the something of the divine sop in them.
I'll I was glad about the Roman
article. I felt a grasp in it, and a really vital intention.
Getting started on the Messiah has been, as usual, rather punishing. Mona really believes "they" drive & devil me & do not care how they hurt. This may be as good a theory as any in the ultra modern psychologies (note the damning plural!).
When you go to N. Y. do see Latham & have a talk. [Tritterton?] has written that Latham will be in Europe two months, about. This may be true. But when do you plan to be in N. Y.? Macmillans might well give you a commission & I am for the idea certainly; They should be assured that I am going to complete the Cycle if I live, & I don't believe I'm going to die very soon. They should look forward a bit. If the Black Elk Speaks does as well as Morrows seems to expect, your idea would be especially convincing. Publication Feb 18th.
Jno.
