MEMOIRS AND RELATED OBSERVATIONS BY JACOB BRANDON ) ~- ) / A contents • • • • FIBREWORD Folio 1880 Day ,!:/awns Chapter 1 1 to 7 A New World Unfol!Js II 2 8 to 15 . ·') The coming of Menty II 3 16 & 17 ' Other Famil~ Connec­ tions II 4 18 to 20 Gathering Clou!Js II 5 21 to 23 1892-97 New tork II 6 2 4 & 25 1892-97 Panama II 7 26 to 31 Historical Foreshadowings " .8 32 to 34 A Short lnterluae II 9 35 to 36 Business Apprenticeship II 10 37 to 39 1897-99 Birds-eye View of Panama Business II 11 40 to 4 5 Events Often Uast their Sha!Jows ~efore them II 12 46-51 1902 Panama makes Politi­ .rv cal History II 13 52 to 60 , A Great Light Shone, then Shone No li,ore II 14 55 to 57 Business fe-adjustment II 15 58 to 60 Arri val of David Henry Jr, 11 16 61 to 66 and first marriages among Junith 1 s chilaren Isaac issues Official Report of David 1 s l!.state II 17 67 & 68 , Jack Works to Secure Footing in the USA II 18 69 to 73, Settling Down in the United Stat.es II 19 74 to 78, Back to Dudu1 s Home II 20 79 & 80 II 21 81 to 86 New Territories... A!J!!ed Vienna 1912 II 22 87 Back Home 1912-15 II 23 88 II tf1&£li~Yw~~t:t91! II ~~ ~~=9~ War & Inflation II 26 93-98 ) Ranical Changes 1916-17 II 27 99-103 Contents ( continuer'!) 1917-18 Family News Chapter 28 Folio 104-5 Armistice & Transition 29 106-ll Settlin:s Dovm in Cuba 30 112-116-B Cuba 31 119-123 fuiore karriage s 3 2 124-127 Scientific .l:'rogres3 in Three 3core Xears and Thirteen 33 128-131 Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow 34 132-135 Fuera lv1achal10, Arriba Batista 35 136-8 Hitler, 1/iephisto Incarnate 36 139-44 Social Service 37 147-164 Jack Shares Forum in Miami Beach i/i1 164-A-B-C-D Fortune favors its :J?avorite~ 38 165-9 The State of Israel at close of its 5-th year of Indepenrence 39 • 170-75 By Way of Soliloquy 40 176-80 Masonry 41 181 ADl!ENDA Beth Israel 0emetery . 182 Words Spoken at the Unveili~ of Steve Seyler 1 s Headstone 183 Golden Weddir{!;Anniversary 184-5 Photo Taken at tne festivities These lhings I Know,,. Poem by Jack 186 The Golden fears , , •• by Edward Scott in " Havana Post . 187 Havana Post Social .&:ditor 188 'New York Times Social Column regarding Carol and Rus3ell's Engagement 189 ) FOREi/ORD .Agreeable to suggestions wllicn have come to me from time to time, nave decided to prepare tnese Memoirs. ·)· I ~ _,; . I shall big;in in much the same manner as an artist would approach ~...C.~ llis canvas, endeavoring to~merge my ego as decorously as possible into tne word-portraits wllicll are intended to reflect all but the unrevealable things whicll concern an individual and his God. To this end, I shall write in the third person, startit:\!s cautiously, waiting for reassurit:\!s signals to come through from tne stroQ?;holds of Memory, As basic outlines become sufficiently defined, I shall nail with unmixed tenderness elusive images of distant years, These must perforce make way for others of the more recent Past; that is to say, for my contemporaries, those amorg whom I h~Ve lived and moved, sharit:\!s the spell of a comTuonera, Progressing further with my story, view-points will be :found to clasll, herai'ding the advent of a new generation rea:Jliy to stake its claims and assert its prerogatives, remindit:\!s me that thejinevitable hiatus is drawirg closer, and bidding me prepare a safe transference of my earthly activities, as far as this may be pertinent and feasible, to ttHB,e who shall have earned the rigllt to carry them forward to a fuller fruition. .) If for any reason I should be denied the privilege of concludirg; the Memoirs in the manner I have planned, or should I inadvertently fail . I to do justice to any person or event, I crave the Readers indulgence, for ...my task is not like that of writing a novel whicn can be remolded to conform to the mood or imagery of the author, but purports to be a faithful presentation of actual happenings in cronological sqquence, and is therefore bundened with complex interplays whicll tend to crowd out one factor or another. I trust, at all events, that as far as these annals may go, they will serve a useful purpose in empllasizirg the ka.leidescopic nature of all lluman activitj, and especially so witb regard to the three generations of Brandons with which we shall be mainly concerned. A full life has taught me many things which in youth I would have relegated to the realm of pure extravaganza. Among these is the fact th~~!~ccess and failure, no matter how felicitous or disquieting tney may appear to be (excepting the accomplishments of inventfle genius in ) the realm of the Arts and Sciences), are transitory and fi~titious; that 2 each participant in Earth's faltering processional who wishes to rejoice in Life I s compensations must eventually choose between values which are imperishable and those which are perishable, foY only by such discri­ mination can the true measure O'.if success or failtr e be determined. The uninitiated world may only find it posible to render posthumous tribute to him or to her who has made the wise choice, in which case the ~,l.,,; Chooser will be remembered by the fruits of his or her decision. In this respect the Psalmist continually reminm us that imperishable values are those which contribute to universal spiritual enlightenment, the chalice from which a Divine Serenity pours forth its supreme blessings. The Header will find certain observations here and ther~ in these Memoirs with regard to religious dogma, or better said, dcgmatic religion. Dogma has always appeared to me to be soulless and artificial. I agree ri,r.s-r with my father, tnsja:e•1r nsl David Henry Brandon, in his opinion that Ralph Waldo Emerson broughtjto light a great truth when he interpreted I religion as a free and uninhibited expression of Man s 110versoul 11 seekills ;:: to ally itself with the Realities. Religion may also be expressed as an organizced effort on the part of huma:.ci1ty to cast off the dross of materialism and cleave to the spiritual ideal envisaged in Verse 27 of Chapter l of the Book oj Genesis, which I recommend to the attention of the Reader. Reasoning along these}ines I have come 'to the conclusion tnat any approach to ;!ileity wh:lmh sidetracks this singleness of purpose, discredits the motive of the petitioner anti invalidates his prayer. To those near and far among whom I share my love and affection, and especially to her, my devoted wife, who has faithfully cllerished and -' ~ . ennobled my life and he, 1own by her loyalty, good-cheer,.and companionship, I dedicate these thoughts and this Valedicctory. /'J?"I..._ Havana, August the Fourth, ~~ l 9 5 ;. J. Brandon. 'Tc i 1:. I Chapter l ' Day,,,o.. J)a.wns. ) While still in his teens Ile frequently searched among tile by-ways of his mind to uncover some faint recollection of his earliest cbildbood, but to no avail. This seemed to nim untortw nate. Re did not know exactly wily, but he resented tile fact that every c:IJ:rcmmstance concerned witn the first four years of his life was to be forever shrouded in an impenetrable black-out. Tilus it happened that his mother, Judith, became bis principal informant about such matters. Sbe told bim quite pridefully that he had been a sturdy, thoughtful child; that be had walked independently at nine months; that his greatest predilection after he was weaned had been for bis paternal grandmother, Esther Brandon, wbo lived with them; that he·was but one year old when Judith (affectionately called Dudu by ber family) and bis father Dave, took off on a voyage to u tbe United States on a belated honeymoon, visiting among other places;· Niagara, Pbiladelpbia {wbere :Bave was born) and MewYork; where De.vets brotners, Isaac and Nat, and Ilia only sister, Anita, lived. Tilus was (ack left as a mere infant in tile care of bis grandmother. Judith confessed tn~t .when they returnecl Jo 1,anama, be, lack, obsti- . · :~ ' nately refused to bave aeything to do witb them, clinging possessively to his grandmotner. Ibis complication,. boirever,i ' ~as solved when Grandma announced tnat llet'eldest son, 18aac, h&C,,suggested in the interim that sbe go to New York and live with bis family, and that she bad agreed to do ao. After sbe left, lack did not see bis ' . grandmother again for about six years. ii'rom tile time be was about six years old Jack 1s memoryflnctioned well, storing up a world of impressions wnicll are atill with him. At abbut this time a friend of his father bad presented bim witb a diminutive poey from bis country estate; a reddisb little beast with a comfortable gait and kindly disposition. Judith looked askance at the gift, but Jack was aclept at learn1i:ig. to ride. His first attempt to allow bis prowess;· lowever, almost F<J!;'d disastrous. de was riding at a brisk pace up tbe blind street le_":,11,at rigbt angl~s to bis .