| 62 |
Red Headed Stepchild
(The Barrett family memoir of Navy Life)
by Sophie Ruth Meranski with photos


62-1141

PLEISOTCENE 1.6 pliocene Zanlean 5.3 MIOCENE Messinian Tortonian Serravallian Langhian Burdigalian Aquitanian 30 Oligocene Chattian Rupelian Priabenian Bartorian Lutetian Ypresian PALEOCENE Thenetan Danian 65.4 245 Permian Tatanen Kalanian Glelian Kasinovian Moscovian Bashkirian Semplikhovian Viesan Tournaisian 360 DEVONIAN Framenian Frasnian mid GIVETIAN [Gilboa - Archaeopteris] Eifelian early EMSIAN SIEGENIAN Gedinian SILURIAN Pridolian Ludlovian Wenlockian Llandoverian ORDOVICIAN Ashgillian Caradocian Llandeilian Llanvirian Arenigian Tremadocian 505 CAMBRIAN Trempealealian Francioian Dresbachian

oaks.europe trees #1142 p62 (**)

PAUL - The same author David Irving has a 1977 Rommel book "The Trail of the Fox -- the Search for the True Field Marshall Rommel" Von Rundstedt and Jodl were at least partially to blame for failure to move both fighter planes and Panzer reserves toward Normandy, and Von Rundstedt was responsible for decision to ignore BBC radio traffic June 1. But the real key was the appointment April 1944 as Rommel's Chief of Staff in Paris of "The Silent Swabian" Lieutenant Hans Speidel, transferred from the Russian front with connivance of anti-hitler plotters on the General Staff. Rommel had not known his fellow Swabian Speidel previously but selected him from a short list. Speidel played a masterful role in diverting the Nazi Army from preparations for the Normandy landing. His testimony implicated Rommel, which may have been self-serving, as it lead to Speidel obtaining top German and NATO commands in the 1950s. Oaks are the most abundant deciduous trees in the 265-acre Arnold Arboretum,with at least 56 species and numerous hybrids represented.Most oaks fall into two groups "white" and "red" the subgenus Erythrobalanus contains the North American "red" oaks usually easy to recognize because of "drip tips" or bristles on usually pointed leaf lobes;and their acorns typically take two seasons to ripen.Most of the species hybridize freely but have distinguishing ecology and morphology.Native in the Boston area and eastern Massachusetts are the great Northern Red Oak Quercus rubra L. named by Linnaeus founder of scientific binomial nomenclature] whose range extends north to the Saint Lawrence Valley and Nova soctia and south to Arkansas and Alabama; Puercus velutina less northerly but reaching east Texas and north Florida known as "blaCK OAK" from its bark and appearance or "yellow" oak in the timber trade; and Q. coccinea "scarlet oak" an early succession species shade iintolerant but sprouting vigorously after fires ,with bright autumn foliage.Especially favored for street trees and for urban use are the stately,long-lived northern Red oak and the fast-growing "pin oak" Quercus palustris (probably not native near Boston] wi9th small acorns and a distinctive pyramidal shape when young.On Arbor Day l995 Landscape and horticulture specialist Gary Koller took a walking tour that examined the hundred-year-old Northern Red oaks in the Arborway just outside the Jamaica Plain entrance of the Arboretum.The firest three years are a critical time for street trees,which help curb air pollution and noise and increase property values.Street trees are a substantial investment and may need water during the first few years - others succumb to vandals.The pin oak is characteristic of the Ohio river Valley,often in wetland sites.The "willow oak" Q. phellos is another eastern red oak. in the south USA red oaks are represented by the important lowland timber Shumard oak Q. shumardii Indiana-Texas-Florida and the upland Q. falcata "southern red" oak and its variety "pagodifolia" the "cherrybark" oak.California has about twenty oak species, and the "California black" oak Q. belongs to subgenus Erthyrobalanus.The white oaks are more widely distributed,also occuring in Europe and Asia.The Arboretum has both typical and horticultural varieties of the famous English oak Quercus robur,which can live a thousand years and has many historical and literary associations- Sherwood Forest - writing of Arthur Conan Doyle.Old trees often show signs of pollarding and grazing.Specimens occur on the hillside descending west of the Arboretum's Chinese path.Not hardy in Boston, oaks of Portugal and the Mediterranean are the source of cork, and France is the preferred source of oak wood used in agin cabernet sauvignon and other wines,where the oak tannin has complex effects on scent, flavor, and acidity.Acorns, generally boiled to reduce tannin levels have been a major foiod source both for native Americans and many Chinese and other Asian peoples. Slow-digesting acorn starch is a healthy food for diabetics, including certain native Americans vulnerable to this disease on western diets.Acorns have been important in oak taxonomy, especially as hybrids and introgression are widespread; so anyone seriously interested in identifying a specimen should collect acorns and other reproductive material such as the generally wind-pollinated flowers. Both "red" and "white" oaks are valuable timber trees,but the white oak group is superior for ship-building,which was of great importance through the nineteenth century.probably native around Boston are the widespread "white oak" Quercus alba, the Ohio-River-centered "swamp white oak" Q. bicolor;the chestnut oak Q. prinusof the Appalachians; and perhaps the "chinkapin oak" .muhlenbergii, more abundant toward the Great Plains.Other eastern white oaks often with distinctive acorns are the "bur" oak Q.macrocarpa; Q lyrata the "overcup" oak;Q. laevis "turkey" oak; Q. stellata drought-resistant "post" or "iron" oak; and 4 southern species: Q. virginiana the evergreen "live" oak with water-resistant wood useful for ships found on coast Virginia-Florida-Texas - with 500-700 year-old specimens in South Carolina; Q. michauxii the "swamp chestnut" "cow" or "basket oak"; Q. nigra the "water oak" deep South; and Q. nuttallii of lower Mississippi.The historic -"Charter Oak" near Hartford Connecticut was a "white" oak.California prior to settlement was richly endowed with oaks, and some of the lowland types are becoming scarce and perhaps vulnerable to extinction with intensive agriculture,grazing and land use.Members of the white oak group in California have adapted specialized ecologies.Among the more economically important the Forest Service USDA lists the "blue" oak Q. douglasii and the "canyon live" oak Q. chrysolepis [fire-prone].In the Pacific northwest, dominated by conifers.,oaks are generally conspicuus by their absence except for Quercus garryana, the oregon white oak, important in forests of Oregon's Willamette Valley, Columbia river Valley,and Washington's Puget Sound and some parts of Vancouver Island,British Columbia. These areas are in the rain shadow of the ocast ranges and have some dry periods in the summer, unlike the immediate coast and higher elevations.The scientific name "for the oak genus "Quercus" is said to come from a Celtic source meaning "beautiful tree."The fossil record begins in the Eocene epooch 40-45 million years before present. Mark Moffatt of Harvard MCZ published a National Geographic article on animal-acorn interactions with an excellent shot of the long-snouted acorn weevil,which has specialized sawing equipment and an explanation of the helpful role of mice and squirrels, as an acorn has an improved chance of growing into a tree when it is buried away from high oxygen,rot and herbivores.Pollen data make possible detailed chronology of the return of oaks,.beeches and other trees after the ice ages in the Northeast.All of new England and eastern Canada were covered by ice twelve thousand years ago, researchers are fairly certain though plant life prbably existed in offshore refugia under the Atlantic Ocean.Cap Cod and Long Island, New York were terminal moraines of two of the later glacial advances.Ice covewred nearly all of New York and Michigan and much of Ohio,Indianaa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Miinnesota.The return of oaks was quite rapid after the glacial retreatand it is suggested blue jays and other birds helped spread acorns north rapidly.Around 8000 years BP migrants from Pennsylvaniaare believed to have visited Massachusetts in late summer and quarried rock in the Blue Hills and hunted along rivers.Later permanent populations formed where clams and shellfish were available in winter-Nantucket, Plum Island, and areas now under water.Anong the nearest relatives of the eight hundred species of true oaks genus Quercus is the large Asian genus Lithocarpus - the inflorescene is different, but the fruit superficially resembles an acorn, though its developmental homologies are puzzling. Kevin Nixon o Cornell has worked on the problem. Oaks and related beeches and birches gain nutrition from ectomycorrhizal fungi including many edible mushroom. - Typing will be continued from Oc. l9, l995 original. Essays on Arnold Arboretum #4 May 25, l996 John Barrett European Trees and Forests: Euyropean trees came to New England with the earliest Massachusetts settlers and are popular acroess cool regions of USA. For native species the USDA Forest Service "Trees of north America" two volumes l990 have extensive data on natural distribution, genetics, timber qualities, ecology, life cycles, insects, diseases,and management,but I am unaware of a comparable source on the natural history and ecology of European taxa.The Scots pine and Norway spruce dominated northern forests across Scandinavia and russia with diverse associated fungi, mosses, and lichens. The European larch Larix decidua is an alpine species of Alps and Carpathians but three lowland Siberian-Canadian larch species dominate large areas of swamp, peat, and permafrost across Russian Arctic especially east of Lena River and also Alaska-Canada.Spruces Picea abies, obovata and glauca with their square needles since retreat of Pleistocene glaciers have dominated very large cold dry interior continental areas where July temperature is below l0 degrees C. average.In central European forests beeches Fagus sylvatica dominate a larger area than the single American species.The principal species is naturally variable and weeping, cut-leaf and copper-leaf-color cultivars are popular in the US. Cortinarius mushrooms are diverse and important components of ecosystems with beech,pine, spruce,oak fir (alder?)Pleistocene glaciation was less extensive in Europe than North Americathough Scandinavia, the Alps and British Isles had ice caps.France, Spain, and other regions such as Balkans had Neanderthal and early modern humans who hunted mammoths, rhinoceros and ungulates - the role of forests for these early Europeans needs documentation.The Atlantic ocean and gulf Stream give coastal Europe a mild wet climate, with a gradient eastward.Red oaks, hemlocks Tsuga, and Douglas fir Pseudotsuga are not native in Europe but the White Oak group is represented by English Quercus robur and the Mediterranean cork oak.Macaronesia (isles of the blessed) Canary and other Atlantic Islands are an important refuge areaa museum of older European forms including pines.The Mediterranean region is dry with rainfall predominantly in winter and fragmented by natural barriers.Crete has sixty orchid species mostly endemic, rare and endangered -see Alibertis's book at Ames Orchid Library 22 Divinity Avenue.Cambvrdige.From the Mediterranean just outside Europe come the true cedars Cedrus libani with a hardy form from the Turkish mountains discovered by Arnold Arboretum research - and the African Atlas mountain cedar with a popular blue color type.Human activities have impacted these areas much longer than in North America.Agriculture, wheat, and Indoeuropean languages are believed to have spread from Asia Minor about ten thousand years BP.Romania-Bulgaria are a native area for European lilacs, brought to New England very early by colonists.Alfred Rehder authored a pamphlet on dates of tree introductions to United StatesThe "sycamore" maple Acer pseudoplatanus is common in England and Ireland and was introduced to US before l800.The Norway maple Acer platanoides became popular in US about l9l0 because of its fast growth- it has a longer growing season in autumn than American sugar maple .and is related to bigleaf maple Acer macrophyllum of US northwest and Asian species according to Delendick, Ackerley, and others.A horticulturally popular variety or (?subspecies?) of European gray-silver birch seems to originate in a range centered in Sweden.The olive and grape have long intense histories of cultivation going back to classic Greece, with spread westward.New American root stocks are preferred for their resistance to an introduced scale insect, so quality grapes are grafted on the American rootstocks.Genetic stocks for fine grapes have long histories of adaptation to local soils, climates, and taste preferences.Red and white roses were symbols of the English royal houses of Lancaster and York (l400's) but it is possible to trace their introduction from the south as with the "English" walnut from Persia. The "London" sycamore or plane tree is a very successful hybrid between trees brought back from Virginia early l600's and Asia-Persian species. Europe has diverse willows including small Arctic and alpine types, but popular vitelline-yellow-barked lines of white willow Salix alba are old introductions from the east.A clone of bluish Salix alba caerulea from the Norfolk area England makes the best cricket bats. They are low in density.The date of introduction of citrus to europe is problematical.Were the GGolden Apples of the Hesperides actually oranges, lemons, or citrons? A new book at Gray Herbarium library shows details from Sandro Botticelli's A.D.1478 mural "Primavera" ("Spring") that appear to be orange blossoms and fruits.European forms of linden Tilia "lime tree" horse-chestnut Scots broom and inflammable Irish gorse legumes Cytisus and Ulex English Elms Ulmus, Russian olive Eleagnus, and many heaths Ericaceae, and cherries, apples, plums, spiraeas and hawthornes Crataeugus of Rosaceae are grown in the United States including important collections at the Arnold Arboretum.At the present time Harvard-Arboretum botanists have special responsibilities in Asia on taxonomy and conservation of huge, little-known floras and contacts with the Neo-tropics are extensive also.But Europe played a central role in the emergence of the linnaean system of scientific nomenclature l753 and Kew and other centers in Europe were vital. Asa Gray had close contacts with European leaders including Darwin and Hookerand Europeans at Harvard-Arnold have included Nuttall, Aggasiz, Alfred Rehder, Ernest Wilson, Camillo Schneider,and currently Peter Ashton and Peter Stevens. the forest resources of Europe at the present time are less than those of the united States, Canada, Malesia, Amazonia, Siberia, and the total number of tree species is not comparable to the tropics. But conservation and regrowth are important, and palynology and herbarium material need work and attention.Goethe had a great interest in botany, and one of the palms he studied is still at Parma, now over four centuries old.Europeans have made great contributions to pollen study, which can reconstruct paleoenvironments in remarkable detail. Lichens are an indicator of acidification by pollution - much work in Scandinavia.Europeans are doing more than US to conserve rare fungi and cryptogamic plants.-John Barrettt

part I vaccines #1143 p 62

VACCINES see pages 1371-1404 AAAS SCIENCE Sep 2,l994 Pneumonia was a major cause of death until the development of antibiotics around l940's, and Streptococcus peumoniae is still the most common cause of bacterial pneumonia.It causes more than a million childhoood deaths around the world & meningitis, sinus and middle ear infections.Overall 6.6% of samples are penicillin-resistant and at some hospitals 20%.Resistance to cephalosporin antibiotics is frequent also. At least eighty-four distinct pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide serotypes are known.A vaccineagainst fourteen of the most prevalent was licensed l977 Merck,Sharp & Dohme lead by R. Austrian.Nine additional types were added l983 covering 90% of current pneumonia isolates.Polysaccharides do not directly induce T-cell memory,so the development of carrier proteins is important.Questionaires to leading researchers place AIDS (HIV) very high oln the list of desired vaccines,but no animal model exists for the human disease; the viurus mutates constantly; human trials present difficult ethical issues,and little economic incentive exists for large investment. CHOLERA John Mekalanos of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Harvard and Jarald Sadoff of Walter Reed Army Institute consider cholera vaccine research promising though expensive. Mucosal immune responses in the intestine appear critical for long term immunity,as occurs in natural convalescence, so parenteral killed vaccines have been abandoned and research focused on live attenuated oral vaccines.Recombinant DNA technology has been used to delete genes for cholera toxin, but safety remains a concern because strains possessing a conjugative sex factor may re-acquire the toxin genes.There were six classical choera strains and an El Tor subtype which appeared l961 was responsible for a million cases in Latin America since appearing Peru l99l. Serogroup O 130 or "Bengal" appeared Asia l992. Cholera is usually curable when victims are quickly rehabilitated,but vaccines make sense in eipdemic areas. ROTAVIRUS vaccines discovered l973 have double-strand RNA and contribute to 3.5 - to 4 million annual child diarrhea deathsworldwide. Routine vaccination worldwide should soon be feasible according to Roger Glass, Jon Gentsch and Jean C. Smith of CDC HHS Atlanta.Cell culture has led to understanding of genetic reassortment,so vaccines can be developed for new strains. Jonathan Sprent & David Tough of Scripps Research IInstitute report on "Lymphocyte Life-Span and Memory" and the roles of adjuvants that store antigens for prolonged periods fostering antigen contact and lymphocyte memory.Long-lived resting T-cells appear abundant in normal individuals.The role of B cells is less understood. CD4, CD8,and B. cells are distinctly different, and the design of new vaccines will depend on such knowledge. VACCINE TECHNOLOGIES Autors mention "enhancing immunogenicity .. changing conformation = enhancing antigen presentation, preventing proteolytic destruction in stomach - targeting - M cells of gut to induce mucosal immune response - targeting macrophages - inducing cytokines that act - on thymus-derived helper T lymphocytes. Only adjuvant approved for human use USA is aluminum salt - stability - cytokine release - does ot stimulate cell-mediated immunity for which candidates are Syntex SAF 1 squalene oil - thronyl MDP = non-ionic block polymers. Ciba-Geigy sqalene surfactants derivative of muramyl tripeptide MTPPE - expect tpo correct this and resume typing from l994 notes- John Barrett

musical interests Jack & Sophie part 1 &2 #1144 p 62

#101 Musical Interests of Jack & Sophie Barrett,first part After the death of his mother June l889 John Berchmans Barrett lived on Park and Baxter Streets in Melrose until 1894,when his father remarried and returned to South Boston.Maternal Buckley aunts and grandparents lived next door- grandparents Dan Buckley and Mary Ann O Farrell were emigrants from Moskeigh and Kilbrry Templemartin parish Cork about 1851.It was probably at this time Jack learned Alfred Tennyson's lullaby "Sweet and Low" and another "Sleep,baby sleep Thy father watches the sheep The stars look do..wn on thee-sleep, baby sleep"; grandmother had a piano,and she apparently intended Jack to inherit it, but the will inadvertently named "John Berchmans Buckley" and the piano went to a first cousinJohn Buckley -l896 although his middle name was not Berchmans.While living at 634 East SeventhStreet between L and M Streets in South Boston in the late l890's, Jack Barrett was a member of the choir at Gate of Heaven church near I and East FourthStreets, until his friend Joe Buckley not a relative,but a neighbor at M and Eighth streets was caught with a water pistol that belonged to Jack,and they both were expelled from the choir. Jack took piano lessons at a time when some instructors favored a stiff wrist, and recollects practicing with a quarter coin balanced on each wrist.At Boston Latin School l902-l906 he learned "Adeste fideles" and "Gloria in excelsis deo"- Christmas carols.Prior to his marriage Jack dated several serious students of piano and voice including Lucile Nelson from Charleston,South Carolina, who studied in Paris with Madame Calve and toured in cast of Sigmund Romberg's "Blossom Time" a fictionalized treatment of Franz Schubert's life.In Hawaii l927Jack purchased a small ukulele.While demobilized temporarily from the Navy after World War I Jack went round the world as an officer of the commercial ship WESTERNER and in London he saw ballerina Pavlova in her best-known role as the swan in Camille Saint-Saens "Le Cygne."Jack was amused by the name of the musician Ossip Gabrilowitch,son-in-law of Mark Twain and he often played Jan Paderewski's "Minuet a l'Antique", '"Le Secret" of Gautier,"Andante Cantabile" from Tchaikowsky string quartet, Mendelssohn's "Consolation" and selections of Chaminade,Chopin Liszt,Grieg,Macdowell, Thomas,Delibes,Thome, Massanet,Schumann.He had a great enthusiasm for violinist Fritz Kreisler and must have geard him perform, possibly in WashingtonDC l9l3-l9l8 or New York l920's.He knew "The Old Refrain and "Caprice Viennois"and in the l950's we obtained Kreisler's performance of Beethoven's violin concerto in D with Sir John Barbirolli conducting, and Liebesfreud and Liebeslied recordings and Kreisler's performances of Stephen Foster's "Old Folks at Home" and Ethelbert Nevins "Rosary."In later years Jack often practiced the four pieces of Ethelbert Nevin's Giorno in Venezia"-Day in Venice with its subtlies of ornamentation and rubato.When I was learning to talk l937-8 in Philadelphia,Jack used to sing (author unknown?) "She was just a sailor's sweetheart But she loved her sailor lad -Though he left her broken-hearted -He was all she ever had. But she still believes in sailors; and she's true- to the Red, white, and blue, And although she's barred from the navy yard, She loves her sailor boy, positively."He also knew 'the Old Oaken bucket","You take the High road and I'll take the low road (Loch Lomond), and "Barnacle Bill the sailor." In his last years l967-l969 Jack and I (John junior) TOOK JOINT PIANO LESSONS WITH GIUSEPPE DELELLIS OF NEWTON, WHO HAD GIVEN ME PIANO LESSONS 1947-1951 AND WAS A GRAD OF LONGY SCHOOL AND NADIA BOULANGER.GIUSEPPE TAUGHT AT roxbury Latin and Beaver School and Dean Junior College.Rossini was a special enthusiasm of his along with Mozart,Chopin,Schubert,and Rachmininoff.. We made a number of tapes,but the technology changed, and I have been unable to find equipment to see if anything is left playable on the tapes.Onr of Jack's l906 Boston Latin classmates Edward P. Illingworth became an organist after studying with Ferrucio Busoni. He moved about l9l7 from South Boston to 64 Hastings Street, West Roxbury, and his daughter Geraldine was an pianist.SOPHIE MERANSKI BARRETT l90l-l987 Her mother Tolley Goldfeld came fromBrody,Galicia a town with strong musical traditions,but there is no evidence of direct influence.Around l90l the Meranskis were neighbors of Sophie Tucker's father on Front Street, Hartford,and a Meranski family tradition states that David Meranski's restaurant at 25 Morgan Street l9l0-l9l5 was a continuation of one started by Sophie Tucker's father Charles Abuza,with Jewish singers and performers.Mother's sister Rebekah Geetter l906-l990 recollected Boris Thomaschevsky of the New York Second Avenue Yiddish theater performing and eating at the Meranski restaurant, with members of his family on tour.These contacts may date from l907,when the Meranskis moved to Lower East side, New York for a few months near Third Avenue and Twenty-Seventh Street.A friend named Samual Schlimbaum found David Meranski work as a tailor,but it proved temporary,and he returned to Portland Street, Hartford l908-l909 custom-tailoring overcoats for Gimmel Burnham,until he opened the restaurant.From this time may date certain short parody fragments Sophie used to sing:"I care not for the Hartford Times;I dare not read the Evening Post; I do not want the Journal - One cent and the World is mine" - "Moving day, moving day- Take your oil stove from the floor Take your stove, and there's the door." probably parody of Sophie Tucker's "Moving Day in Jungle Town l909,which spoofed Theodore Roosevelt's hunting expedition in Africa - "Oil, oil, kerosene oil- my oil is better than Finnegan's oil. Finnegan's oil is water. mine's kerosene oil" - this may parody a l907 song about the anti-trust action and Standard Oil.Another fragment Sophie sang may be a non-standard of Sophie Tucker's performed at Springfield l908 'Gay YoungMasqueraders' from which I remember the line, "Last of all comes the clown, almost tumbling down."In this period the Meranskis clearly came under the spell of Irving Berlin, l888-l989, as I remember my mother singing nineteen of his songs,especially the unihibited early songs- more comic and more yiddish than when he became famous -"My wife has gone to the country hurray hurray!" "Cohen owes me ninety-Seven dollars" "Call me up some afternoon, and we'll arrange for a quiet little spoon""I'll leave the moon above to those in love when I'll leave the world behind""The Girl on the Magazine Cover" (which Sophie's brother Harry played on the occharina -"Tell me pretty gypsy what the future holds for me- Kindly cross my palm with silver and I'll try to see-tell me is there someone I n the days that are to be - there's a boy for every girl in the world -there must be someone for me.""Alexander's Ragtime Band" - "Oh how I hate to get up in the morning- I'll put my uniform away I'll move to Philadelphia-ay And spend the rest of my life in bed." "Remember? Remember the night- the night you said I love you? Remember? Remember you vowed by all the stars above you? remember we found a lovely spot and after I learned to care a lot You promised that you'd forget me not, but you forgot to remember." Some sunny day, with a smile upon my face I'll go back to that place far away Back to that shack, where my red-headed hen will say where have you been? And go back to the hay and lay me my breakfast." Sophie used to sing a prologue to Albert von Tilzer's 1907 "Take me out to the Ball game" -"Katy Macy was baseball mad - Had the fever, and had it bad. On a Saturday her young beau Came to see if she wanted to go to the show. Katie, she said, "No..- Take me out to the ball game....." Hartford's Brown school had a good music program,and Sophie doubtless learned Stephen Foster's "Old Black Joe", "Suwanee River", "O Susanna", and "Massa's in the Cold,cold Ground", and George Root's Civil War songs "We shall meet, but we shall miss him, "Rally round the flag" ""Battle Cry of Freedom" - "In the prison cell I sit"."When you come to the end of a perfect day" was popular at this time also. Sophie sang "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" by Albert Gumble l9l3 "There's a girl in the heart of Maryland l9l3 In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginina l9l3 "Are You from Dixie?" Cobb-Yellen l9l5 "They'll never believe me " Jerome Kern l9l5 "Auf Wiedersehn" Sigmund Romberg l9l5 Danny boy l9l5, Roses are blooming in Picardy, a World War I song.Her l9l9 class song at Hartford Public High School has a melody close to the Chopin A-Flat Polonaise with the words," NINEteen , dear old NINEteen, Fairest class of old NINEteen. Fairest class at Hartford high- Love for you will never die- NINETEEN dear old NINEteen, Fairest class of Old NINE - teen."When the Meranskis moved to 4 Wooster Street,fall l9l6, sister Esther bought a piano and Babe{Rebekah} took extensive lessons. Phonograph records became widely available about l920, with Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson the early favorites. Sophie knew Con Conrad's "Ma he's making eyes at me- Ma he's getting bolder- ma he's sitting on my shoulder" from the Eddie Cantor repertoire, and Sophie's brother Ben (he took the midle name Franklin- he played the saxophone and was interested in vaudeville and theater) collected Al Jolson records at home- "O April Showers They come your way- California Here I come" "Where did Robinson Crusoe go with Friday on Saturday night?" and the Al Jolson theme song, "You ain't Heard Nuthin' Yet." ("and when the lights are turned down low I hug and kiss my pet.Now she'd get sore if I told ya more, But you ain't heard nuthin' yet."Back around l9l4 Sophie's eldest brother Harry Meranski under the stage name Harry Moran wrote some songs with his friend Martin Kupperstein, and they performed publicly as "Cooper and Moran." Harry played an occharina, a small wind instrument.The largest number of songs I remember my mother singing (total over four hundred) were learned at Mount Holyoke l9l9-l925 and in New York l920's.Although my mother Sophie was one of the very few Jewish girls at rural Mount Holyoke in South Hadley.,she enjoyed the compulsory Sunday chapel in which President Mary Woolley and distinguished visiting speaker participated, and learned many hymns such as "Holy,holy, holy" "Abide with me" "May we like Magdalene Lay at thy feet" "Onward.Christian Soldiers", "O Mother dear, Jerusalem".In Hawaii during World War II I remember Sophie singing from memory the college song "O Mount Holyoke we pay thee devotion with the fervor of youth that is strong The courage of right is thy garland- Our lives alma mater thy song - So from east and from west now we gather United in firm love to thee - Our years are as one, Our years and our hopes and our glorious faith Shall answer, Mount Holyoke To-o-o thee Shalt answer, Mount Holyoke to thee. Through the heart of the new day's endeavor Breathes the light of the old days that live - For what thou has given we honor, but we love the for what WE can give - Though in a whisper thou callest - our years , our hopes and our glorious faith Shall answer mount Holyoke to thee."She also frequently sang the Evening song "Robed in sunset girded round by the deepening evening light stands our well-loved alma mater While we sing our soft 'godnight.' Night winds whisper, whisper softly round the world and back to you, bearing gently from your daughters hopes and dreams and memories true.-To be woven in our singing 'good night, Holyoke, good night." Days of doing press upon us days of strving for thy fame Still at twilight here we gather whisper to the winds your name..."The l923 class song was "The Sphinx" with words by archaeologist Marion Nosser {born Turkey; lived in Brooklyn} and music by Ruth King Dunne " Wind hushed, the desert lies dreaming Under the far eatern sky Only the Sphinx keeps its vigil Waiting for daylight to die Now 'neath the warm blue of Heaven, Rousing itself iwth a sigh Softly it speaks and its whisper Floats to the dome of the sky.-Hark! Don't you hear the far echo Borne on the night wind to us Now has the Sphinx told its secret NON SIBI SED OMNIBUS.' Faithful, we''ll guard it forever, Marching beneath it unfurled until the age-long secret Lies in the heart of the world. [Latin means "for all, not self"]"During ths period after World War I there was great enthusiasm for group singing,and the class of l923 did very well in interclass competition under leadership of Mildred Holt,who later taught music in Great Neck, Long Island and was associated with Robert Shaw chorale.With the help of college history librarian at Williston library Mrs. Elaine Trehub I find details of the materials they sang, including various medleys. Probably at this time Sophie learned a setting to Verdi's Triumphal chorus in Aida of the words,'Where peace and freedom reign,the happy songs of children rise- the desolate of all the ear-earth find here there sorrow dies.and future years we pray fo=or thee America America, keep thou our land for-e-ever great and glorious and free." [Musical Interests, Jack and Sophie Barrett second part] [words Sophie sang to tune of Aida's TRIUMPHAL CHORUS from "COMPETITIVE SING" class activity at Mount Holyoke. At a meeting of the Massachusetts State Poetry Society in l979 Sophie sang a little "Fund-Raiser" comic song Mildred Holt and several classmates wrote in l921: (World War I had interrupted the usual fund-raising,Mount Holyoke always needed money for loans for poor students like Sophie, and fires in college buildings increased the needs: "Holyoke's raising COLLEGE-BRED (bread) from the FLOWER (flour) of the land; From YEAST (east) and west, With plenty of SPICE She makes a superior brand- We KNEAD (need) a lot of DOUGH To RAISE the fund 'tis said, But WE are KNEADED (needed) too, you see, For WE are COLLEGE-BREAD (bred)."-Capitalized words have double meanings.The more formal academic programs were led by organist Mr. Hammond - a prominent figure for decades in campus life - and l923 classmate Ruth Douglass currently l994 & l998 in Granville New York taught voice and choral music for forty-four years at Mount Holyoke until l967 retirement. She and her sister Mrs. Anna Haldeman lived in retirement on a large beautiful dairy farm with a plantation of black walnut trees and have helped document many aspects of college life and music from the l920's. Junior year Sophie's friend Brenda Glass had a lead part in a musical "Hyacinth." Sophie tried to tutor Brenda in economics, but she had problems with Ricardo and Taussig.Sophie used to recite,"Corn is not high because rent is dear. Rent is dear because corn is high."A classmate McKown from Philadelphia published a collection of comic songs entitled "l923 College Crackers" unfortunately not listing composers-lyricists. Sophie used to sing:" I had a fat twin brother - We looked like one another- You ought to see the way he'd laugh At the lickings I would get - he thought it very funny to go and borrow money And Watch the people chasing me to make me pay his debts. The girl I was to marry Couldn't tell us two apart- She went and married brother Jim, and she nearly broke my heart - But you betcha I got even With my brother Jim - I died about a week ago - And they went and buried him."..."Pull the shades down Mary Ann- Pull the shades down Mary Ann! Last night - by the pale moon light - I saw you - I saw you! You were combing your auburn hair On the back of a Morris chair - If you want to keep your secrets from your future men - Pull the shades down, Mary A-ann!" Possibly from ballad classes Sophie would sing "Where have you been all day? Henry my son? Where have you been all day, my loving one?" -"Down to my grandmother's -down to my grandma's - I have a pain in my side - And I want to lie - right - down!" -"What did she give you there? Henry my son? What did she give you there? my loving one?" - "Nothing but poison - Nothing but poison! I have a pain in my side - And I want to lie - right - down." Sophie spoke a German dialect at home with her mother (from Austrian Poland - Galicia-and she did well in the subject in high school and college. Her German teacher was Grace Bacon, who went to France around the end of the War with the Red Cross, Possibly through Grace Bacon Sophie learned, "Du, Du..." and "Alsace is sighing Lorraine is crying Your mother France looks to you Our hearts are bleeding Are you unheeding? Come with that flame in your glance. Through the gates of Heaven do they bar your way? Souls who passed through yesterday? Joan of Arc, Joan of Arc! Do your eyes from the skies see the foe? Can't you see the droooping fleurs-de-lis? Can't you hear the cries of Normandy? Joan of Arc- may your spirit guide us through Come lead your France to Victory! Joan of Arc, they are calling you!"A mystery song about which I have few clues - part of the melody resembles Johann Strauss's Wine, Women and Song in rhythm and whole-step pitch intervals: "Who loves not song, Music Song - Will live u-un-blessed his whole life long. O come O come and let us sing With hearts so bright a song of spring - O raise your voices high (two lines repeat) The birds that flit from tree to tree Are not so full of joy as we Though we alone know why (repeat) E'evn though a storm cloud may lower E'en though it follow a shower Sunshine belongs to the day Smiles we remember for aye. What a pity it is for a man who is born With a soul that is deaf Who holds music in Scorn So unblessed by the Best What a life he must lead without song Life is long- Is long indeed. Let us sing praise of spring caroling with music blessed Spring is here all the year if we sing 'O hail to Spring.""Possibly connected are these words to similar melody: "Sang at their toil Songs of the Soil - Courage they ga-athered so Singing in paean (pain?) A Gentle Refrain Melody soft and low - O from their paradise echoes the loving song Taught in the times of their peace singing that never shall cease- Until there is chaos again>" [l998 addition-Two additional clues suggests that an old German drinking song used by Johann Strauss in an l868 Waltz "Wine Woman and song" were adapted perhaps for girls' chorus to the praise of song, omitting 'wine' and 'women." About 1823 it is reported Vienna composer Franz Schubert wrote on a friend's napkin this stanza: "Who loves not wine, women, and song, Remains a fool his whoe life long." [words probably quoted, not written by Schubert]. In the l860's Johann Strauss the younger became famous for instrumental waltzes, notably Blue Danube, Tales from the Vienna Woods,and Wine,Women and Song.I do not know whether words were attached to these melodies, but his wife was a singer, and in the l870's he turned his main attention to operettas, including "Die Fledermaus" (the Bat).In l871 he was a guest conductor in Boston, and it is possible some vocal arrangement from his melody was produced.This is one of the most substantial mysteries in unidentified tunes the Barrett family sang. Further information will be appreciated. Sophie lived in Philadelphia l926 and half of l927 while developing Statistical Reporting Techniques for Child Guidance Clinics at a Commonwealth Fund Demonstration Clinic funded by Albert Harkness.Letters mention hearing Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia orchestra and a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's PINAFORE. For a time she lived with an aunt of classmate Rebecca Smaltz,and it was likely at this time she heard Gaskill and Shisler's 1912 "I'm the guy who put the DOUGH in the DOUGHNUT and the CUSS in CUSTARD too - did you ever stop to wonder Who put the noise in Thunder? Look at ME -I'm the GUY>"Becky wrote a parody, "I'm the guy who put the GERM in the German and the ME in MEASLES too Did you ever stop to think Where they got the Rash so pink? Look at me! I'm the Guy." Sophie's youngest brother Pete went to University of Maryland Medical School after graduation from Trinity l925 and married a Baltimore girl Jen Goldberg -Sophie attended the wedding June 9, l929. This may partly explain Sophie's fondness for the chorus "There's a girl in the heart of Maryland With a Heart that belongs to me -When I told her of my love, the ORIOLE above Sang from the old Apple tree And Maryland was fairyland When she promised my bride she'd be - There's a girl in the Heart of Maryland with a Heart that Belong to ME!" Sophie also sang a parody to the same tune (source unknown - there may be more words?- ) "There's a MAN in my room! ' cried Mary Ann - 'Put him out put him out!' cried Sue. 'I'm afraid, I'm afraid' cried another little maid, 'What shall we all ever do?' .....(much younger man?).. 'Who do you sup=po-ose that he may be?' - 'No you don't put him out' cried Mary Ann - "What's in my ro-om belongs to me!'", Sophie knew at least ten songs of the comic team Sam Lewis (originally Levine) and Joe Young including two with Bert Grant melodies "If I Knock the 'L' out of Kelly" and "Arrah go wan. I want to go back to Oregon." The words are "Timothy Kelly who owned a big store Wanted the Name Painted over the Door One day Pat Clancy the Painterman Came Tried to Be Fancy and Mis-Spelled the Name. Instead of a KELLY with a Double - L, Y - He painted 'KELY', but one 'L' was shy -Pat says it looks right, but I want no pay - I figured it out in my own little way - If I knock the 'L' out of Kelly, It would still be 'KELLY" to me - Sure a single 'L", 'Y' or a DOUBLE 'LL" 'Y' Should look the same to any Irishman's eye- eye -eye Knock off the 'L' from Killarney- Still Killarney it always would be - But if I knock the 'L' out of KELLy, he'll knock the 'ell out of me.!" Also - "Pat McCarthy, hale and hearty Living in Oregon He heard a lot of talk about the great New York - So he left the farm where all was calm, and he landed on old Broadway - He took the little Mary-Ann into a swell cafe - 'Arrah go wan! I want to go back to Oregon! Arrah go wan I want to go back to stay! I could feed the horses many a bale of hay For all that is costs to feed one chick on old Broadway! Arrah go wan! Go witcha - go 'way go wan - Arrah go wan I want to go back to Oregon!"When the Barretts lived at 2415 Ala Wai Boulevard, Waikiki nearly six years l941 to l947 with blackouts, gas masks, barbed wire, and air raids, Sophie sang a great deal,and many of her favorites were from New York in the l920's - Jerome Kern's "Moonlight in Kailua" Rudolf Frilm's "Rose Marie I love you" Vincent Youmans-Irving Caesar "I Want to Be Happpy" and "Tea for Two" Hirsch "Just a Love Nest" Billy Rose "It Happened in Monterey a Long Time Ago' "Barney google with the goo-Goo-Googledy Eyes" Sigmund Romberg "One Alone","Your Land and My Land", and l930's "When I Grow too Old to Dream"- also a favorite of President Franklin Roosevelt.Sophie knew several amusing New york nightclub "Hawaii" songs l9l5 Hello Hawaii-a? How are you?I want to talk to Honolulu Lou - to ask her this - Give me a kiss - give me a kiss by wireless Please state I can't wait to hear her reply. I had to pawn every little thing I own to talk from New york by the wireless telephone hello Hawaii-a How are you? goodbye." -.. "They're wearing them higher in Hawaii-a Higher, higher, higher, higher in Hawaii-a! The beautiful beach at Waikiki Is not the only pretty sight that you will see. Hula maids are always full of pep - All the old men have to watch their step. They're wearing them higher in Hawaii-a Going up Growing up every day!" During the war Sophie liked to attend band concerts weekly at Waikiki's Kapiolani Park near the bird collections - with an Argentine rhea and crowned African crane. Jerome Kern-Otto Harbach's l933 "Smoke Gets in your Eyes" was a favorite of Sophie's and so was Edgar Leslie and Wright l927 "Some letters tied in blue A photograph or two I find a rose from you among my Souvenirs a few more tokens rest within my treasure chest and though they do their best bring me consolation I count them all apart,and as the Teardrops start I find a broken heart among my souvenirs."Sophie lived in China l930-l931 and loved the Chinese people, who were surviving times of extreme hardship, war, and poverty. Sophie lived mainly in Tientsin but traveled to Peking,Shanghai,Wei=hai-wei, and out-of the way places near Chefoo. I hope no Chinese reader will be offended when I recollect Sophie singing the second verse of the navy song "The Monkeys Have No Tales in Zamboanga" -: "They wear clothespins on their noses in North China -They wear clothespins on their noses in North China - They Wear Clothespins on their noses for Chefoo doesn't Smell Like Roses -They wear clothespins on theiir noses in North China." Sophie lived in Chefoo for a week with goats just outside theWineglass boardinghouse during Asiatic Fleet l93l gunnery exercises, and these lines bring her vividly to life in my memory. On the radio l940's Sophie liked Metropolitan Opera, Kate Smith in "I Threw a Kiss to the Ocean" and"God Bless America"; - Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition -"There'll be BlueBirds over the White Cliffs of Dover Tomorrow when the World is Free" - and postwar "Don't Fence me in" and "Buttons and Bows."The Barretts bought an upright Baldwin spinet piano on Jack's birthday,August 28, l940 at Macy's stores while living at 96l5 Shore Road,Brooklyn, and John memorized,"pussycat,pussycat,, where have you been?" from Williams's "Teaching Little Fingers to Play" - but the piano went into storage over six years when the Barretts went to Pearl Harbor July l941.In l943 John occasionally played the piano on Ohua Street at the home of Celestine and John Barbour -(Mrs. Barbour taught first grade at Thomas Jefferson School). In l946 the Barretts rented a violin, and John took lessons from Laura Canafax and William Rusinak at Punahou School. Jack and John tried to interest Sophie in the piano, but she played only a two-finger octave arrangement of "My country, tis of thee" in which she filled in intervening notes where the melody rises a fifth C to G - she would play in each hand in octaves c,d,e,f,g,, very distinctive.I have already mentioned the close family relationship since l947 with our piano teacher Giuseppe deLellis and his wife Connie and family.Jack Barrett also did a great deal of elocution and public speaking at lincoln School South Boston l897- l902 - Boston Latin School l902-l906 Revenue Cutter School l909-l9ll , and Gonzaga University, District of Columbia l9l7, and in Navy and law school. He recited "Sheridan's Ride" "Wonderful one-hoss shay" of Oliver Wendell Holmes - "the Raven" of Poe and comic poems of James t. Fields - "The Owl Critic" and "The Nantucket Skipper>" Once in a Boston Latin declamation, he was four lines from the end of a Thomas B. Read poem, "And it was War, War, War...." when his time expired and he had to sit down. Shortly after arriving in Boston from China in l932, he judged a public speaking contest at Cambridge Latin School in which the audience laughed at one of the contestants who overemphasized the name "Minnehaha" in Longfellow's "Hiawatha." To mention a few more of Sophie's favorites "Tiptoe through the tulips with me" "If you don't like your uncle Sammy", .."They built a little garden for the rose And they called it Dixieland They put a summer breeze to keep the snow far away from Dixieland They built the finest place I know when they built my hone sweet home Nothing was forgotten in the Land of cotton From the clover to the honeycomb And then they took an angel from the skies and they gave her heart to me They put a bit of heaven in her eyes Just as blue as blue can be They put some fine spring chicken in the landAnd taught my mammy how to use a frying pan, They made it twice as nice as paradise And THEY CALLED IT DIXIELAND." In conversation Sophie often used the title of a Jerome Kern song "Once in a Blue Moon." Jack remembered the cold weather in Egypt when they visited the Sphinx January 1932 - he was reminded of the song "Till the Sands of the Desert Grow Cold>" - "They WERE cold!" he said.

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page 46 China,Yosemite p.46 We invited ther Liangs to dinner -just Mr. and Mrs. Liang and Grace. The mess steward had given the word when Mr. Liang would be aboard for dinner, and when we approached the ship that evening we had difficulty getting aboard because of the crush of Chinese people on the dock hoping to get a glimpse of Mr. Liang. Snce Grace left soon after to be married in Shanghai we never saw her again. We understand that she has been teaching in Connecticut at the Central Connecticut State College, New Britain, Connecticut.--Altho the Court Hotel was reputed to have the best food in North China. food was definitely a problem because we dared not touch milk, butter, fresh vegetables or Chinese grown fruitsMy husband grew tired of the steady diet of rice and snipe but managed to wash it down with liquids. I lived on toast with marmelade,rice, snipe, pot roast, cooked dessets and tea. Captain and Mrs. Rice occupied a furnished house and most graciously invited us to dinner fortnightly. When we wanted to return trheir hopsitality and to entertain the new Executive Officer and his wife, Lieutenant Commander and Mrs. Leonard Doughty, we invited them to the Court Hotel for dinner.One evening Rachel Claude Doughty, who came from Washington D.C. regaled us with tales of her mother's friend who came to the Claude home in Washington and stayed for forty years. The Court Hotel was the home of several Hai Ho River pilots mostly of English extraction. Mrs. Johnson, English and the wife of a pilot, invited me to go to Schlessinger's Tea House with her about eleven o'clock oone morning late in December. She invited us to attend a costumed New Year's Eve Ball at the TientsinCountry Club , of which we were members, saying she hoped we would understand that we would have to pay our share of the cost. My husband and I had matching costumes made of inexp[ensive blue and white Chinese silk- ad we enjoyed the pilots who remained friendly throughout our stay. --Not long after new Year's I was sitting in the small reception room in the Court Holtel after tiffen when two men sat down, talking. When I realized that they were Americans, I asked them what they wre doing in Tientsin, and they said they were taking a train later that afternooon for Manchuria, where they would buy furs.When I said I had never been as cold as I was on the streets of Tientsin, they offered to buy some skins for me, as they expected to be back in Tienstin in a few weeks. When they returned they had for me enough sea otter skins for a gorgeous coat.The cost was small - the coat warm and bewautiful. It was made up by a Chinese tailor. Sea otter is a lustrous light grey skin.--As tinme passed that winter and spring I became well known to the Chinese and Japanese shopkeeppers on Taku and Victoria Roads. I bougt some rare dragon and turtle candlesticks of brass,some 48- red and green Chinese lacquer drums, which served as small tables and through Mrs. Mendelsohn U located a lovely black and gold lacquer Chinese chest with inlaid colored semi-precious stones arranged in patterns. I also shopped for linens at Takahashi Japanese linen store.--The TULSA was scheduled to go to Chefoo fir gunnery exercises in June and my husband as gunnery officer was anxious to make a good showing.So in the spring of l931 on the TULSA in Tientsin he spent a lot of time training gunners.His Marine officer lieutenant William W. Paca waas training his Marines to shoot and was working hard with my husband.Captain Rice was very pleased with the gunnery score they made in Chefoo in the summer of l931 text continues in Notebook Two with account of Sophie's trip to Chefoo and Shanghai -= end of page 48 notebook #1 address 79249 Merzhausen +49761-4087 87 . . Below is my "Yosemite Geology". : Fri, 7 Aug 1998 16:07:01 -0700 (PDT) John Barrett Add to Address Book YOSEMITE GEOLOGY jfreedom@tenforward.com, naturalbuz@aol.com YOSEMITE GEOLOGY original written July 8, l994 typed June 7'95 John Barrett THE GEOLOGICAL STORY of YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK by Norman King Huber was published l987 as US Geological Survey Bulletin #l595.This excellent 88-page scientific study is supplemented with remarkable photos and maps and bibliography and historical notes and definitions of geological terms.The oldest rocks in the park region date from the Ordovician about 480 million years ago.The Sierra Nevada mountain range is an enormous plutonic batholith formed deep in the earth as granitic magmas solidified in the Mesozoic 230 to 70 million years ago. Plate tectonics explains how North America pushed westward, and materials subducted beneath the ocean floor were recycled into new mountains. It is believed that admixture of ocean waters with these rock materials lowers the melting point & forms the molten materials that may solidify deep in the earth-as in the Sierra Nevada-or come to the surface as volcanoes like the Cascade Range-Rainier, Saint Helens, Mount Hood,Jefferson, Adams, Mazama [Crater Lake], Mt. Thielsen,Three Sisters, Shasta, and Lassen.The basalts of the Columbia Plateau are another great feature of the American West- up to l7 million years old. Quartz, potassium feldspar, plagioclase feldspar, biotite, and hornblende are the five dominant minerals of the Yosemite region.On fresh surfaces quartz and feldspars are translucent light gray. Feldspars turn chalky white on weathered surfaces, and their crystals reflect sunlight from strong planes of cleavage.The Sierra Nevada batholith region is hundreds of miles long and fifty to eighty miles wide.The highest point is 14,495 foor Mount Whitney on the east border of Sequoia Park.The gradual western slopes are moist and support magnificent conifer forests,with distinct ecoloigcal zones relating to altitude, whereas the east slope is abrupt, with few passes,and cuts off rainfall from the great deserts - Death Valley and Nevada and the Great Basin.The Sierra Nevada is continuing to rise- a process that began about twenty-five milllion years ago.In 1833 Jospeh Walker crossed the east Sierra escarpment and the uplands between the Tuolumne and Merced Rivers and the route that has become the western part of the Tioga Pass Road.His men saw Yosemite Valley and the big trees.Zonas Leonard kept a journal,which was published in Pennsylvania inl839.Major James Savage and the Mariposa militia battalion entered the valley in 1851 and propsed to name iot for the Indian tribethat lived there. In 1863 the director of the Geological Survey of California Josiah Whitney explored the headwaters of the Tuolumne River with William Brewer and Charles Hoffman. Mount Hoffman is a 10,850 foot summit about six miles northeast of Half Dome and the east end of Yosemite Valley, and it commands a superb panorama view of most of the Yosemite region.A number of these views are published with the Huber article.Frederick Law Olmstead, then in charge of managing a gold mine- later famous as landscape architect- was an early champion of creating a park to preserve Yosemite.At his urging in l864 President Lincoln transferred the Yosemite Valley "Cleft" or "Gorge" and the Mariposa big tree grove to the state of California for park and conservation purposes. The present Yosemite national park dates from l890, under U.S. Department of Interior. John Muir was among the greatest crusaders for conservation of Yosemite and theSierra Nevada.Muir was one of the first people to recognize the role of glaciers in forming a broad Yosemite Valley with sheer granite walls like three-thousand-foot El Capitan and Half Dome, and a grass-and-forest-covered U-shaped floor.Muir actually overestimated the area and volume of Sierra Nevada glaciers, but he understood their basic role in creating the spectacular cliffs and waterfalls beloved by generatgions of Americans and photographed by Ansel Adams and many others. Ice covered most of the Yosemite region for two million years, melting in most areas about ten thousand years ago.Small glaciers still exist in Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada, but they have contracted in the second half of the twentieth century because of climatic warming, as have Rocky Mountain glaciers like the Grasshopper Glacier in Montana.Antarctic and Greenland ice caps probably behave differently and are more sensitive to precipitation than to moderate temperature changes, but non-polar mountain glaciers are generally retreaing rapidly. A number of small tributary streams flow into Yosemite Valley from north and south over nearly vertical glacial cliffs. On the south side the symmetrical Bridal Veil Falls presents a striking view below Glacier Point across from the great cliff of El Capitan. This vista from El Capitan on the north across the Valley floor and Merced river with Bridal Veil Falls on the right and Half Dome visible toward the east at the head of the Valley is a favorite with photographers and engraved in the memories of millions of visitors. On the north side of the valley some distance east of El Capitan Yosemite Falls descends in three stages totaling one thousand nine hundred feet.The Upper Falls has a sheer drop of twelve hundred feet. The falls are most spectacular in spring or early summer, as the stream does not have a large water volume and can dry up toward autumn.Another small stream produces Ribbon Falls, which is even higher but frequently dry and less conspicuous. The Merced River is the central river of Yosemite Valley, and higher up to the east near "Little Yosemite Valley" it forms two substantial cataracts - 270-foot Vernal Falls and 594-foot Nevada Falls. These are some distance from the road system and require a moderate hike for viewing, though they can be seen in the distance from Glacier Point. Illouette Falls is on an upper tributary in this eastern area.Detailed geological study began in 1913 with Francois Matthes & Frank Calkins. The Huber paper contains extensive references for maps and data on rock types that outcrop at various locations and their probable dates of formation.Nearly all the plutonic rock within the Park was formed in the Cretaceous age 145-65 million years ago.The walls of Merced Gorge and the western end of the Valley are relatively old. These include diorite of the rockslides below El Capitan, the granodiorite of Arch rock,and the tonalite of the Gateway along El Portal Entrance Road.About 108 million years ago El Capitan granite intruded into these older rocks.It now dominates the western half of the Valley and the monoiliths of Turtleback Dome,Three Brothers, Cathedral Rocks, and El Capitan itself. El Capitan granite contains phenocrysts - large crystals embedded in finer material.. These are absent from the Taft granite, which later intruded and forms the brow of El Capitan and the upland toward Fireplace Bluffs. Taft granite is finer textured and lighter in color. It also occurs at Dewey Point and near the Fissures on the south wall of the Valley.Diorite dikes create dark patches on the face iof El Capitan.The Bridal Veil granodiorite near the Falls contains fine evenly distributed light and dark materials with a salt-and-pepper appearance.Near Glacier Point and Washburn Point on the south wall parallel biotite flakes and dark-green hornblende rods dominate darker rocks now interpreted as granodioite of Kuna Crest 91 million years old estmated age.Half Dome granodiorite dominates the Valley east of Royal Arches and Glacier Point. Aged about 87 million years Half Dome granodiorite is the youngest plutonic rock around the Valley,medium to coarse grained with biotite plates and hornblende rods.It forms horizontal dikes at Church Bowl and in the cliff west of Royal Arches, and sheer cliffs north of the trail from Ahwahnee Hotel to Mirror Lake.These rocks are part of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suites,which extend to higher ground north and east of the Valley with exposures on Tioga Road and Tuolumne Meadows.The Cathedral Peak granodiorite is about 86 million years old and the Johnson Granite Porphyry still younger.They appear to have originated in a single magma chamber whose composition changed over time because dark magnesium-rich hornblende and biotite crystallize (solidify,precipitate)at higher temperatures than quartz and feldspar.These dark minerals concentrate in the older rocks around the EDGE of the chamber,while the lighter materials remain molten in the center. The Tioga Road crosses from Half Dome granodioriteto younger Cathedral Rock granodiorite just east of Tenaya Lake.Pothole and Lambert Domes are composed entirely of Cathedral Rock granodiorite. Some of the Johnson Granite Porphyrymay have erupted to the surface volcanically.There may have been volcanic caldera near the present Johnson Peak.The rock is very light in color witrh a few potassium feldspar phenocrysts in a fine matrix.It can be seen in Tuolumne Meadows along the River and EAST of Soda Springs on the north side of the River.Along the Sierra crest are some very ancient upland areas that escaped glaciation- the Dana Plateau, the summit of Mount Whitney,and the south face of Mount Hoffman.A number of ice sheets covered most of the park area, and the sculpting of Yosemite Valley probably progressed a long way in these earlier glacial maxima, but detailed evidence has been obscured by the last two big glaciaions, the Tahoe and Tioga maxima.The Tahoe glaciation was very deep in most of the Yosemite park region,though small nunataks like the top of Half Dome stood out.The mosat recent major glaciation,the Tioga Phase, began sixty to thirty thousand years ago and peaked fifteen or twenty thousand years ago.Probably all glaciers in Yosemite melted in the warm period eight to ten thousand years ago.Then small glaciers reappeared in several subsequent "Little Ice Ages."Their size has fluctuated, and they are currently in retreat. Several glaciers studied by John Muir in the nineteenth century have disappeared.Some of the photos in the Huber text show: A U-shaped glaciated valley - the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne river; glacial polish on Fairview Dome; Potholes and subglacial water polish on Pothole Dome; Tioga age terminal moraine east of Bridalveil Meadow; Lyell and Maclure glaciers;crevassed ice and bergschrund at head of Dana Glacier in 1975; rockslide west of Matterhorn Peak near north boundary of park; avalanche chutes and talus (rock slide fragments) in Lee Vining Canyon east of Tioga Pass; and kettle lakes in depressions formed by glacial remnants. JOINTS are parallel fractures in rocks which direct erosion patterns.They are often conspicuous in aerial photographs. Different joint patterns can be seen at "Little Devil's Postpile" west of Tuolumne Meadows; in Yosemite Creek Basin -crosshatcxhed- ; at 45-degree angle on upper surfaces of Three Brothers; at Staircase Falls; in diorite in the rockslides below El Capitan; in tonalite below Glacier Point; sheet joints in Royal Arches;undulating below Clouds Rest; and nearly vertical sheeting on Matthes Crest. Spheroidal weathering around corestones at Big Meadow Overlook on Big Oak Flat Road reflects horizontal and vertical orientation of joints.In the north part of the park the Tuolumne River created a second valley with wildleand scenery similar to the better-known Yosemite Valley on the Merced. Unfortunately in l9l3 over the objections of John Muir this Hetch Hetchy Valley was flooded as a reservoir for San Francisco.There is some interest today in restoring Hetch Hetchy to its original condition if other arrangemnts can be made for water supply.The Mount Holyoke College art museum has a fine 1880's painting of deer grazing in Hetch Hetchy Valley. Kings Canyon near the General Grant giant sequoia is another deep glaciated valley of the western Sierra. California is uniquely rich agriculturally though short of water in the south.The Monterey pine -from an extmely small coastal zone has proved among the fastest-growing of all conifers - widely planted in New Zealand.Western endemic California incense cedar is replacing Virginia juniper for pencils. Sugar, ponderosa, jeffrey, pinon, bristlecone pines, many cypress species, palms, Brewer's weeping spruce, red and other firs,sequoia and redwood, tanoak, many western oaks,cacti, Mentzelia,Ceanothus ("wild lilac"] poppies, immigrant citrus and grapes contribute to California botanic botanic gree gold and biodiversity. Grass research at David, including geneticist Ledyard Stebbins and horticulture including Luther Burbank, Attle Burpee,, and citrus researchers at Riverside and grape culture in Napa have added to California's unique wealth.-John Barrett 113 W. Third St. Port Angeles WA 98362-2824 USA

notebook p202China,Lyons ..Jason #1146 wp 62

p. 202ff of notebook Sophie Barrett Material not previously typed from notebook one p. 203;- WGEB JACK WAS IN Nanking he met HaRRIET COGSWELL- SHE WAS "QUEEN OF THE MAY" AT MOUNT HOLYOKE IN 1922 AND WAS TEACHING AT GIN-Ling college, Nanking, China. When he happened to mention that his wife worked at Macy's, she said her sister worked at Macy's also.When shetold Jack she was a Mount Holyoke graduate, he told her I had attended Mount Holyoke College too.I remember what a striukingly beautiful May queen she was. Inset on p. l96 Jack met abgout all my family on this occasion. This was probably the only time Jack met my oldest brother Harry, who died of pneumonia Dec. l93l while we were in China, leaving two children, Arthur and Pearl.Harry was in the mattress and furniture business with Al Deutch, who was married to his sister-in-law Minnie Taylor.Harry's wife Sade hasd two other sisters Eva and Marion Taylor. It may clarify my later account to mention that it was Sade's sister Marion, whom we saw in Brooklyn around l940 and in San Francisco in 1947. Eva Taylor lost her fiance, who died just before they were to be married.She was a nurse and worked at Hartford Mount Sinai hospital.p. 204---I was concerned on not hearing from Jack, but he sent a radio message - "Hold everything as is - letter follows." I had the "Rice and fish" card framed and put in on my wall.In his letter he explained that the heat and humidity bothered his sinuses- that his failure to write was due largely to the climate of the Philippines, and that the climate and constant movement of the ship in Philippine waters and in Chinese seas prompted him to refrain from inviting me to join him.He also said that he had applied for duty on the Yangtze River Patrol in China- a job he really wanted-and thaT IF HE got it, he knew of no place I could live safely and comfortably because the Chinese War Lords were always shooting at each other's troops and ships.So the "fish and rice" card, his honest letter, and a few little inexpensive silver rings fashioned in Zamboanga quieted my anxiety.An old friend Mr. Emanuel Lyons took me to Schraft's for Thanksgiving dinner (l929) and also took me to theater and dinner once a week.He knew Jack - was one of the very few who knew about the quick marriage ceremony - and did his best to give me some ppleasant evenings.Oner or two nights a week I took Macy's Executive Training course.I learned to play bridge and often spent the evening playing cards with Anne and Ivan and young Harold Nelson.I read books, but the evenings and Sundays were dull., A Yangtze river patrol boat which he could command would be more interesting to him as he could navigate thousands of miles up the river to many Chinese cities. However, in may l930 he went from the destroyer TRUXTUN to the gunboat TULSA stationed at Tientsin, North China. He was briefly Executive Officer until more senior Leonard Dought arrived, but most of the time he was gunnery oficer l930-31, winning the Asiatic Fleet annueal gunnery competition spring-summer l931. This helped his promotion to Lieutenant Commander at the end of l931 after taking physical and written exams. Commander Paul Rice and Marines under William W. Paca contributed to the gunnery success.Jack discussed gunnery methods at Peking with his Revenue Cutter School friend William Rupertus, who was at Peking several years in Marines. Since the TULSA spent almost all of the time at dock in Tientsin on the Hai Ho River or when water was low thirty-five miles east at the dock at Taku Bar, Jack was able to make inquiry about having me join him in Tientsin.An old Navy friend of Jack's, whom I had met in New York,E.V. W. Keene was in charge of dependents' transportation, and when I went to see him June 23, l930,he was most kind and cooperative and told me he would look into transportation for me and would arrange for my typhoid and cholera shots and for my smallpox vaccination.At first he considered the Army transport GRANT going to Manila and advised Jack to investigate what transportation would be available from Manila to Chingwangtao.By July 25 Captain Keene and Jack had settled on Navy transport HENDERSON leaving Hampton Road, Virginia onAugust 20, l930 and arriving at Chingwangtao November 13, l930.I saw Captain Keene on July 25 and August 6. Among other things he gave me my transportation on the HENDERSON from HAMPton Roads Virginiia to Chingwangtao, China, gave me rail transportation from New York to Hampton Road Virginiia by Pullman sleeper the night of August 18, l930 - made sure I had all my shots and vaccination and gave me a special passport for travel in China and Japan.When I gave Macy's two wees notice that I was leaving for China they gave me one hundred (end p. 205)--PAUL RICE letter On February l0,l970 a letter came from Paul Rice Captain USN who was with us on the TULSA in Tientsin l930-3l, visited Panama in l935 & lived in Waikiki l94l when the war strurck until February l942."Dear John, As you surmise,Sexton was a classmate pf mone, class of l909 at the aval Academy. Captain Samuel Wil;der King was a classmate-= knew him very well.He relieved me of command of the USS SAMAR at Hankow,China in June,l9l5. We had no Chaplain on the TULSA. As I remember the anchorage at the entrance of the Hai Ho River was called Tangku (note by Sophie M. Barrett"Jack & I sailed from Tangku to Japan on the Chowan Maru.Tangku is where the Japanese soldiers crossed their swords on my chest when I started to the wrong dock where a Japanese Army troop ship was next to the passengership dock.")The TULSA used oil-not coal.I spent about three years on the Yangtze- had command of the SAMAR & navigated it to Ichang one thousand miles up the river.Navigation on the river was similar to that on the Mississippi,I suppose.Duringthe summer floods good sized ships could navigate to Hankow.Of course Gertrude & I would be glad to try to identify pictures.Mrs. Rice says she & Nathalie met your uncle Bill in New York City in l942 (but did not meet your aunt Virginia)).Please give our regards to your mother.Sincerely, Paul H. Rice. Jason S. Pollack 4A Rose Avenue, Great Neck NY 11021Nov. 8, l973 Dear aunt Sophie,The mail today brought your long, newsy, and ost interesting letter. It also caused a pang of shame, as I have been meaning to thank John for sending the letter from Arthur Meranski I do intend to write to Arthur, but first I must answer you.First of all, we are all fine. As you know Jon,who will be twenty in March is in his second year at Yale.He is a physics major and is working very hard, although he does seem to love it.Richie will be seventeen in February and is still in his junior year of high school.He will be starting to apply to college soon, probably to study Biology which seems to be his main interest.Ann expects to get her degree in Art history in June of l975.She loves the subject and is doing very well..Now in regard to your letter. I will send it to Teddy,but first must re-read it myself,.I found your anecdoes fascinating, and do think you should consider putting them in book form if it would be possible to disguise some of the names. I enjoyed most oof all your comments on the family and the family history.I have only the slightest memory of my grandfather, and really had no previous knowledge of the historical facts you supplied. I would appreciate any further information that you could supply. I didn't know my grandmother at all, and really don't know anything about her. I was lucky enough to know and be very close to your brother "Pete" I do remember Ben, but know almost nothing about the others. Perhaps you could write more about the family.The cousins are scattered all about, and some of us hardly know some of the others.You could help to pull all of us together.I must confess that my boys are at the age where they shy away from the camera, and that I have no recent shots. i will try to take some and pass them along to you. They are both very god kids, and I am very proud of them. Many thanks for the great letter, and even though I hate writing I do promise to keep in touch. Love from all of us - Jay. pages 147-148 notebook Eight

#45 Paul Rice letters# 1147 p 62

Rice, PAUL RICE letters On February l0,l970 a letter came from Paul Rice Captain USN who was with us on the TULSA in Tientsin l930-3l, visited Panama in l935 & lived in Waikiki l94l when the war strurck until February l942."Dear John, As you surmise,Sexton was a classmate of mone, class of l909 at the Naval Academy. Captain Samuel Wilder King was a classmate- I knew him very well.He relieved me of command of the USS SAMAR at Hankow,China in June,l9l5. We had no Chaplain on the TULSA. As I remember the anchorage at the entrance of the Hai Ho River was called Tangku. (note by Sophie M. Barrett"Jack & I sailed from Tangku to Japan on the Chowan Maru.Tangku is where the Japanese soldiers crossed their swords on my chest when I started to the wrong dock where a Japanese Army troop ship was next to the passengership dock.")The TULSA used oil-not coal.I spent about three years on the Yangtze- had command of the SAMAR & navigated it to Ichang one thousand miles up the river.Navigation on the river was similar to that on the Mississippi,I suppose.During the summer floods good sized ships could navigate to Hankow.Of course Gertrude & I would be glad to try to identify pictures.Mrs. Rice says she & Nathalie met your uncle Bill in New York City in l942 (but did not meet your aunt Virginia)).Please give our regards to your mother.Sincerely, Paul H. Rice." On April 15, 1970, Captain Paul Rice age 85 wrote: "Dear Sophie: I have re-read your letter in regard to the repairing of the ships damaged on December Seventh. My duties while attached to the Naval district at Pearl Harbor were connected with civilian personnel. I was the District Civilian Personnel Officer. I had nothing to do with the repair of ships. Rear Admiral Claude Gillette was the manager of the Navy Yard,and he was the officer directing all ship repairs. Claude passed away several yewars ago. = On the morning of December Seventh the Navy Yard workmen came to work with great enthusiasm and worked long hours in starting the repairs of the damaged ships. During the next nine months that I served at Pearl Harbor, the PENNSYLVANIA proceeded to the West Coast for repairs. The CALIFORNIA was raised and repaired. The NEVADA, MARYLAND and TENNESSEE had minor damage, - the WEST VIRGINIA was raised and repaired. The ARIZONA blew up, and the OKLAHOMA capsized. All the battleships except the ARIZONA and OKLAHOMA were repaired and did service in the Pacific. The NEVADA served in the Atlantic. Kindest regards - Paul." [Rice]. p 62-#1148 Notebook Eight p 160 U.S District Court District of Connecticut Chambers of Saul Seidman Bankruptcy Judge U.S.Courthouse 450 Main Street Hartford, Connecticut 06103 [tel. 244-2480] December 21, 1973 Dear Mrs. Barrett, Please forgive my not having answered your letter prior to this time. I have made a few inquiries in an effort to answer the specific questions which you asked. Unfortunately the people who could answer your questions are no longer with us. I can, however, give you my own recollection, which is based on what I recall from conversations with my mother. Unfortunately, Mrs. Witkower was not my grandmother, but she was a very close friend and practically a part of the family.I know that my mother's family came from Austria, and I am sure that the Witkowers were from the same community. = You remembered the town of Brod, and my recollection is that that is the town my mother mentioned. I suspect that the Meranskis came from the same locality. = Rose Witkower did live in California, but she recently returned to our community and is living at Apartment 14-7, Regency Drive, Bloomfield, Connecticut. I am sure that she might be able to give you some additinal information.Others whom you might communicate with are Mrs. Morris (Emma) Cohen, 24 Terry Plains Road, Bloomfield, Connecticut,- she and Mrs. Fanchon Hartman Title are active in a local Jewish Historical Society. Mrs. Title's address is 26 High Ridege Road, West Hartford, Connecticut. Sincerely, Saul Seidman."[Notebook Eight p 167]United States District Court District of Connecticut -U.S. courthouse 450 Main Street, Hartford, Connecticut 16103 Chambers of Saul Seidman, Bankruptcy Judge January 4, 1974 Dear Mr. Barrett: In your letter you mentioned that your grandmother had lived with a family named Meiselmann in Hartford.That was the name of my mother's parents, and they were the only family of that name in Hartford at the time, so you can safely assume that your grndmother lived with my grandparents when she first came to this country. I know that my grandmother was friendly with your grandparents. I have a recollection of having visited their home with my mother. If my recollection is correct,they lived on the corner of Canton and Bellevue Streeets, which is where your grandfather had his store. [actually 2-4 Wooster Street at Canton St. - perhaps name change.]Sincerely, Saul Seidman." Sophie Barrett note: Seidmans are grandchildren of Meiselmanns who housed Ma. At that time it was Canton and Wooster Street -when the store was in the house, we lived on second floor 4 Wooster St. Now probably it is Bellevue Street in a large redevelopment program. When I left for Mount Holyoke Colege, we lived on Canton and Woosters Streets. +Sophie Barrett letter to Ivan McCormack in Salem New York (Sophie sublet from Mrs. McCormack l927-l930 at 27Commerce St, Greenwich Village) (1973) November 2, 1973 Friday morning VITAMIN enclosed. Dear Ivan, As Esther's birthday approaches on the nineteenth of November it occurs to me that I have neglected her shamefully in my accounts of the four sisters in my family. That is unfaiur as she was as interesting as any of us-taller than the other three with jet black hair like my mother, jet black eyes and with a better figure than Bee, Babe or me.- and from an early age she mothered us as we were eight by birth and more than fourteen by additions of motherless children who actually lived with us.Esther had more close girl friends and boy friends than we did, and with the first money she earned she bought a piano for the family as well as a record player and many records - and paid for a telephone when so few people we knew had telephones that ours rarely rang.She did well professionally because she was smart and went to a fine business college for bookkeeping, typing, and shorthand- at which she was a whiz.But her first job was at Vogel and son,a Hartford wholesale grocer. To preserve their stock there was no heat in the place - not even in her office as the men wore overcoats and sweaters at worlk and warm gloves. It was a big, profitable business that Esther enjoyed,but because she had to do bookkeeping,typing and stenography, she couldn't wear gloves while working and got frostbitten hands as well as feet! He boss liked her, so she stayed despite the cold, but when she confided to her best girl friend that her married boss was trying to make love to her- that friend told my father, who would not let her rtrun to that job- not even to collect her pay and her sweater!Soon the business college got her a job at the H.L. Handy Company,-wholesale dealer in meats, poultry and eggs. In the (p.2) office was Charles Bardous the head bookkeeper, one other male bookkeeper, and Esther.She really liked that job, was a happy girl with a piano record player, telephone,and always treated us to "college ices" -sundaes of chocolate sauce and nuts and always had a pound box of chocolates in her bureau drawer.I used to steal a few candies, which she never complained about if she knew they were gone.One night Pete was reading in bed at age fifteen, and I said to him,"Don't drop those apple cores on the floor- throw them out."-And as he chewed Esther's candies, he replied with a gleam in his eye,"Sis, there are no cores in these apples!"Esther must have known we were eating her candies, but she never stopped us or let us know she realized we were at her drawer.And when I could not see how I could pay the colllege fees, Esther and Al told me to go ahead - they would meet the expenses! Esther gave me her suitcase, her winter coat, and a lot more , and Al took me right to my room at the college (September l9l9). =And Esther was at the station to see me off in HER best clothes I was wearing. In my freshman year she came to visit and won the hearts of my classmates, who gave supper parties in their rooms for her, and the house mother invited Esther to sit with her at the head table while I waited on that table for one hundred dollars that year.Esther was so proud of me as very few women from Hartford went to the five best women's colleges in those days- certainly none of our friends except one older one who went to Brown University in Providence (earlier) but was working in Washington when I was growing up. And when I came home, Esther had a grand job for me (l921) for the summer in HER office- so we walked to and from work together every day and across the street near the lad I eventually invited to my junior prom (p 3) for a fabulously delightful weekend- a prom date with a car and a tux of his own!I was blind to the charms of Esther because she never seemed to have men come to the house for a date but yet she went out every evening, and I thought she was walking with her girl friends - who by then had telephones.One night I went to an outdoor summer dance with a girl Esther's age and was startled when she told me she was sorry for Esther. Only then did I learn that Esther and her young boss in the office were deeply in love and had been for years, but Esther would not marry him.What I did not know is that my father REFUSED to allow it and would not let Charlie come to the house, so she met him every evening on Main Street - had no place to entertain him in any weather, and that bothered Esther's close friend, as Esther told her it would be Charlie Bardous or no one. My father objected to Charles only because he was not Jewish. This went on for years while Esther saw me through college after Al married, and then Esther began to see Pete through college and medical school and mother Babe when I was away and when my mother died.Even then my father would not see Charlie.H.L. Handy sold out to Swift and Company, so Esther and Charlie were transferred to a big office force where they were never alone. Charlie then lived with his aged mother, who was as opposed to a Jewish daughter-in-law (beautiful and generous and wise and kind and musical and in love with Charlie to the exclusion )(p.4) of all other men) Julius Aronson loved her for years before he finally married Mollie at an advanced age.So it went on.My father died in l933, so Esther was free to follow her heart, but Charlie's mother stayed alive.- and by the time she grudgingly agreed that Esther could live with them Esther would not marry Charlie and live with that old witch -whom even Charlie thought to be a witch- and he supported her as his duty and not for love of her.Esther could not bring herself to live under the same roof as she knew the mother would make her true love's life miserable. That mother lived until she was close to one hundred (years).I don't know what finally happened to Charles as I was so rarely in Hartford- but Esther never dated dany other men! She went to live with Babe and with Geetter to help them with the five children when Geetter went to war.She lugged home the meat and eggs after work from Swift and Company and stayed with the five babies while Babe shopped in the evening- and helped with the washing and the housework in addition to her job. Geetter said to me, "I think so much of Esther I don't know which one I married - Babe or Esther." She was always "Nan" to the children and should have had a flock of her own! Now her birthday approaches- about seventy-nine and Geetter will send the the big yellow chrysanthemum he sends every year - the flowers that will still be fresh on Thanksgiving Day. Esther and I were very close, but never once did she breathe to me the sadness of her broken romance. Maybe now you will know why I was so secretive about my marriage (p5) to Jack - an Irish Catholic and a devout one.I knew about Esther's broken romance with a Christian, and I feared for mine even though I learned about Esther's only from her best friend who later told me Esther wept bitterly often over my father's attitude before Charles ever told his mother about Esther.So I kept my marriage secret until I was about to sail, and then I did NOT go to Hartford to see my good Dad before I sailed.I did not want to see him hurt that his daughter who had been so sought after by fine Jewish men should marry a Christian- even one as fine as Jack Barrett. Esther's life had been ruined, and no one was going to ruin life forjack and me.I saw my father only once after that in l932 shortly before he died, but Jack was not with me.Pa ignored my marriage and made no effort to see me in Boston and died some months later (March 29, l933).All Hartford was there (at his funeral) to hear the rabbi say "David gave his life to the unfortunate in Hartford after the expense of his own chldren, who numbered eight by birth but countless by his big heart." Esther loved him always, so she disregarded Charlie's pleas that she elope with him as she had no desire to hurt Pa.What a person. Greater than I could ever hope to be. I was headstrong. Even when my father came to New York to urge me to accept Bill Nuremberg and to forget the charming but poor Irish naval officer of a different faith.He came to New York only to dissuade me from Jack long before Jack proposed.What I did not know was that Jack (p.6) went (December l928) to New Haven and to Hartford to inspect naval Reserves at the armories there, had found my brother Al's home had dinner there and left Al with the impression that he was seriously interested in me.Al told Pa, who came rushing to New York to put a stop to the nonsense.She had NOT met Jack but did meet him at your apartment (27 Commerce Street) the night he lost his money to thieves in the subway.There is no doubt Pa liked Jack BUT vastly preferred Bill (Nuremberg) whom he had called on at Grand Central Building that afternoon without my knowledge or consent.The father watched his daughters closely - could run Esther, Bee, Babe but found me always headstrong attractive to the Italian and Irish boys.He moved away from 25 Morgan Street (l9l6) because of the attentions of Joe Paonessa- a rich builder's son from Holy Cross who lived across the street. And on Wooster Street he told Justin McCarthy a United States sailor, that his daughter could not go out with him and could NOT accept thebeaded bag Justin had brought to me all the way from the Mediterranean. Justin went off with that bag really scared, and I never saw him again.My father was very tall- powerful, and even an Irish sailor feared his wrath.He did like Sam Pollack Dr. Geetter, and his three good Jewish daughter-in-law! All (except Pete and Jen in Baltimore) were married in his living room except Babe, who was married in his summer home ("The Shack" or "Snug Harbor" near Windsor) with Jack present (June l6, l929).A really wonderful man of principle. He did not just blindly object to marriage outsidethe faith. He believed firmly that the chance of happiness in mixed marriages was slight but p7 above all he believed such marriage a great injustice to the children.I had a very good father and a very good mother.I believe Esther would be the first to agree.Charles Bardous was not her only chance for happiness.Julius Aronson loved her, Jack Fine loved her,Charlie Rosenblatt loved her - all had sense enough to make happy marriages with other girls- all were successful, happy men - all would have made Esther happy,and my father knew it. But she was in love with Charlie when she knew his mother objected and knew that after their elopement she would have to live with her as Charlie would never desert that mother who tied him so closely for her own support.He did not earn enough as one employed bookkeeper to support two households.She was happy (later) to live with Babe and Geetter and her five nieces and nephews who adore her as she approaches her birthday on November l9. But isn't it strange that p8- she never talked to Bee or to me or to Babe about her broken rmance and that I never heard it discussed by any of my sisters or brothers? I got it in bits and piece from her friends and from my father.One of her friends married Julis Aronson and another close friend married Charles Rosenblatt.... Phil and Peggy Dahlquist loyally support (President +Nixon) Phil liked stories about my family - please send this to him (Round robin letters were a Meranski family tradition - also among Mount Holyoke l23classmates, and Sophie often sent round robin letters l970's to Ivan McCormack, Phil and Peggy Dahlquist, Admiral Stika USCG retired, to Sophie's nephew Col. Arthur Meranki in Abede Maryland, to Gertrude and Paul Rice in Pasadena and separately a group of HANNIBAL friends - Mary Boyd, Mary Ascherfeld, Adm. Visser, Captain Mercin Halstead, the Lehmans, Candlers, and others.) Of the others my father and mother cared for in their home I have only sketchy information except for Julius Aronson and Catherine Cooper, who for years I believed were my blood sister and brother. And Catherine married Sam Aronson! He was Julius's brother -9- who almost lived with us when his mother died but went home only to sleep as we had run out of bedspace! All of us slept two in a bed- four in a room, but we ran out of space even when my two oldest brothers Harry and Ben offered to sleep on the living room floor if my parents would only keep a few of their motherless friends. One day Al stepped on Ben's hand while Ben was sleeping on thefloor, and his hand was broken.Ben needed that hand to play the saxophone when he had the vaudeville bug at an early age and left the good job in the drug store and then added gray hairs to my father's fine head of jet black hair!My father put Ben out of the house for giving up that job.Then he sent me out with fod for Ben and shut his eyes when Ben sneaked in to bed at night! - And poor Pete had the earache, and Ma got Dr. Kaitz to come in. He asked her what she had done for the boy, and Ma said she had heated sweet oil and put a spoonful or two in the ear.The doctor turned on Ma - a very Jewish doctor and said, "I don't want no 'hoil' in 'dat h'ear."Poor Pete was in pain, but he roared laughing, and after that we would mimic"I don't want no 'hoil' in that h'ear." I forget what he prescribed, but he did clear it up. I suppose my mother could have clogged the ear and hurt the hearing permanently. When I was small my father owned a good-sized restaurant He had a big coal stove and loved to stand near it. At times one of his customers would brew tea- strong tea there and -p 10- put it into small bottles. he claimed to be a drug salesman. I learned later that he sold that tea as eye drops from his pack of patent medicines he sold to druggists. That was about 1909.(After recent Halloween activity in West Roxbury) I am remind of l907 the one year we lived on 27th Street in the heart of the East Side of New York city in the Panic of l906 when I was five or six.In terror I stood at the window on the second floor of the tenement house and watched the boys with long stockings - wmen's black- filled with fluor hit poor passing men and other boys across the back- hit them so hard white flour showed on their overcoats. I was petrified and did not go out all day. It was traditional then just as trick or treat is here." [This round robin letter was probably forwarded by Ivan from his farm in Salem New York to Phil and Peggy Dalhquist in Eugene Oregon and then to Admiral Joseph Stika in Fort Worth Texas.]Notebook Eight p. 172 Letter from Mrs. Herbert Gitlen niece of Sophie Meranski Barrett "11 Barn Hill Road Bloomfield, Connecticut 06002 January 14, 1974 Dear Aunt Sophie, I'm afraid I think in shorthand, and write the same way. I envy you and others who can put down a 'complete' thought - maybe I don't have 'complete' thoughts - only outlines. Anyway, I am finally answering your last letter that enclosed one of my better snapshots. Yes, I do have a copy in the house and so I am returning your as you requested. Just to pretty-up the contents, I also enclose a recent picture of my daughter Andy. Her brother took it one Sunday when we all booked over to Ne York. She is a high school senior, doing quite well, and has applied to colleges. We wait -with crossed fingers! Ted called me last week - in fifteen years he's written no more than five times. He's fine and told me expressly to remember him to you. He loves living in the warm climate, and even though I constantly invite him up to visit, he fears it might be too cold - even in July! Tomorrow the fifteenth is a 'no-school' day in the area. We (Bloomfield) observe the birthday of Martin Luther King. My son Jess will spent it skiing in Vermont. Last year he broke a leg on this very same trip. We are hoping for a more successful outing this year. I have never been a winter person, and someday Herb and I (Herb loves the winter) will move to the shore in a warmer zone. If I didn't have to get up every morning to go to the office, I doubt I'd leave the house at all on some days. On February seventeen along with another couple, we're flying to Acapulco for a week in 'guaranteed sunshine'. It will be a welcome break from winter. Do you get to see Buzzy or Suzanne? Aren't they both in your area? Arthur writes a helluva letter. His hadwriting, by the way, is identical to Ted's if I remember correctly. Take care, aunt Sophie - say 'hi' to John, and write when you have time.Love - Carol" ( 1975 Sophie note "Daughter is Andrea; son is Jess. In 1975 Andrea is at University of Connecticut"). BABE REBEKAH GEETTER letter excerpts transcribed by her sister Sophie Barrett: " Rebekah Geetter's letters copied by her sister Sophie Barrett in Notebook EightVIII- p 192 "February 18, 1974 Saul Seidman is married has one married son [Peter?] a lawyer -Ella Meiselmann's grandson. Also that Ella Meiselmann's son Jerry Silverberg, son of Linette Silverberg, lives at home with his parents at Woodland, Hartford. He works somewhere but has a congested muscular disorder that affects his arm and leg. p80 Nov 27, 1973 On your question about our stepmother, her name was Mrs. Anna Adelman, and as you know she passed away a few years ago (1961). She had two daughters, Eva and Rachel. Eva Adelman's name was Katzman- there were no children. Rachel's name is Mrs. Albert Shulman and she lives in West Hartford [actually 856 Prospect Avenue on Hartford side of line] Rachel has four children. Occasionally I meet her in the supermarket - she is cordial, but our paths are divergent." p. 155 "November 19, 1973 I took the time to contact the children's librarian here at the Hartford Public Library and made inquiry about Caroline Hewins. The preent children's librarian Miss Canfield was most pleased at your interest and suggested that you write to her directly for any information you might want, and she would be happy to give you background material. She remembers having gone to a memorial reception for Miss Hewins in the big house across the way on Emmonsdale Road about twelve years ago, at which time there were many people who knew Miss Hewins and were protege/s of hers one way or another. She wonders if the West Roxbury Historical Society has a copy of a biography of Miss Hewins by Jennie Lindquist put out by Horn Books of Boston, who also publish the Horn Books Magazine.Miss Canfield has biographical material and also possibly a photo of Miss Hewins, but again she suggested that you write to her directly and address your envelope to the Hartford Public Library, 500 Main Street, Hartford Connecticut 06103. She was very gracious and willing to help. I spoke to Mollie Aronson yesterday. She has not been well - suffering from very painful osteo-arthritis of the knee and has had to go to her doctor several times to have the fluid tapped. She is on medidcation but manages to get about." [Sophie Barrett extracts and comment: "Esther had a dozen white and yellow chrysanthemums from Geetter on her seventy-ninth birthday November 19, 1973. Babe baked a birthday cake for dinner that night." p. 186 January 28, 1974 "You asked the streets on which our sisters and brothers were born. I asked Esther, and we both know that Pete was born on Orchard Street [November 1903]. I was born on Pleasant Street [November 1, 1906] and Esther says she was born on Morgan Street, close to Front Street [November 19, 1894]. She knows you were born on Front Street {October 4, 1901] but has no recollection of Bee [July 1898] Abe [1896] Ben [November 1892] or Harry {May 1891] Maybe Bee could shed some light on the matter." ROSE WITKOWER copied by Sophie Barrett Black Notebook Eight p. 192 "Feb 19, 1974 Rose Witkower sent another copy of the Meiselmann family. - Mr. and Mrs. Meiselmann - [apparently four children are listed - Wolf, Jennie Ella, Charles] Wolf Meiselmann: two daughters - Hannah and ----? Jennie Meiselmann was Mrs. Joe Bernstein - [they had] two daughters Sadie deceased and Helen and two sons Judge William Bernstein and another son -name?- deceased. Ella Seidman was Mrs. Nathan Seidman - one daughter Linette Silverberg - her son is Jerry Silverberg, living at home with parents. Congenital muscular disorder in arm and leg. and {Ella and Nathan] one son Judge Saul Seidman: one son Peter? married about 40 a lawyer. Charles Meiselmann not of Hartford five children? All four Meiselman children [older generation] have passed on. Sadie Bernstein is deceased. Jennie Bernstein [and] other son, name unknown also deceased." SOPHIE BARRETT black notebook two: [1970] p 268 "8. Rebekah Meranski was the eighth and last born child in Hartford Connecticut. After graduating from high school while we were on Wooster Street, she went to work as a secretary for a mid-town lumber company where she worked until the birth of her first child. Her beau was always Isadore Stolper Geetter, our neighbor who was my brother Pete's close friend at Trinity and through life. Babe spent her leisure time practising the piano and writing to "Geetter" who was at Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia. She spent her evenings writing long letters to Geetter. She took lessons at the Hart School of Music, where she appeared in recitals. Right after his medical graduation on June 16, 1929, Dr. Geetter and Babe were married at Snug Harbor in Windsor, Connecticut, lived in New Britain, where Dr. Geetter interned at the New Britain General Hospital, - and Babe worked in Hartford, commuting daily until David was born in 1933. Geetter became an anesthetist and resident physician of the New Britain General Hospital. They had five children. All learned to play the piano or violin, and all appeared at recitals in Hartford. Dr. Geetter was a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy in World War II and was stationed in the Philippines 1945, where he was commended by the Army and became a Commander on leaving the service and returned to Hartford to become director of Mount Sinai Hospital. Two sons, David and Albert, are doctors in Hartford, graduates of Jefferson Medical and University of Pennsylvania Medical School. David is a neurosurgeon, and Albert a surgeon. Harold works in computers.Their two daughters Thalia and Suzanne Ruth were graduated from Connecticut College for women. Thalia did graduate work at New York School of Social Work, Suzanne Ruth at Simmons College. Dr. Geetter is raising funds for a new hospital building, and Babe is taking courses for credit evenings at the University of Hartford. Esther lives with them, but the five chldren are no longer at home. My memories [p. 287]

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