During WWII, Martina Brandegee Lawrence took what Lee Albright called “a correspondence course,” and while there are no more specifics to offer, at least none that have survived, somehow this (typed!?) piece of writing was one of the results.
Part essay, part letter to a friend, part meditation, Martina writes here about some of the men she knew as a child who made a deep impression on her. I hesitate to characterize her feelings. Decide that for yourself. But there’s a sort of practical spirituality that emanates from her descriptions of these individuals. She doesn’t call them her teachers, per se, but it seems that each, in his separate way, showed her something about how to live…
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ADDENDA
- A PDF of this essay is available here.
- By way of brief identification, Theodore Roosevelt is self-explanatory; “The Bishop” she mentions was The Right Reverend Charles Henry Brent (April 9, 1862 – March 27, 1929). Her godfather, whom she calls just “Bob,” was Robert Forbes Perkins (Aug 9, 1865- Feb 20, 1938). He was of the Harvard Class of 1889, and a Boston stockbroker; he was also a friend of Larz Anderson, though from a different set of Perkinses than Anderson’s wife. Both men, Bishop Brent and Bob Perkins, were mentioned in the newspaper announcement of the christening of Martina’s brother, John Langdon Brandegee. (See The Boston Globe, Fri, Sep 04, 1908 Page 11)
Kinsmen and Kinswomen 