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Rotary Information for Wednesday 5th January 2011
David’s Dissertation
I have got some information for you tonight that I am not sure that all Rotarians would want to hear.
Certainly you would not want to hear this if you looked on life very seriously, gravely and morally - that is if you are a wowser, but on the other hand if you are interested in titillating gossip about a tall poppy you might want me to continue.
I have always thought of our esteemed founder Paul Harris as someone who took life so, so seriously, but is that the real Paul Harris? I have a picture of him here in the front of a publication I was given when I first joined Rotary called “Adventures in Service” and I think he has a mischievous look about him. What sort of a person was Paul Harris?
Paul was born 19th April 1865 in Racine Wisconsin and no doubt that is an very important date for Rotary, however Paul was not the serious student you might have expected. There is evidence that as a boy he got into a lot of scrapes. Paul only put up with his schooling with a poor grace and tempered school discipline with his own special brand of mischief. His mother and father were separated by the World War when his father enlisted and Paul went to live with his grandparents in Vermont, New England. They provided him with a loving, well regulated home but it was also a home with a lot of fun and Paul easily got into trouble. . The folk around where he lived got to the point that whenever anything untoward happened they concluded that Paul Harris was at the bottom of it. They spoke of him as ‘that Paul Harris” with the emphasis on the “that”
After a high school year when he went to live with his uncle Dr George Fox, he went on to Black River Academy. Here he was for the first time entirely free from parental constraint so much so that after a series of pranks he was expelled from the Academy. . However he expiated his offence and was forgiven by his indulgent grandparents and enrolled in Vermont Academy, a military institution and then went on to the University of Vermont.
But the next important date in Paul’s life to which I want to draw your attention is the 11th December 1886. On that day the Faculty of the University of Vermont met to deal with a very important issue - to them at any rate - and to Paul Harris. The faculty was meeting in disciplinary session and it took a fateful vote to indefinitely suspend Paul Harris (and three other students) and I quote -
“ for disciplinary reasons” Yes, was our founder still getting up to his old wild tricks? University students have a natural propensity to get into trouble. Some day I may tell you why I have a three-inch scar cutting across my right arm!!! However I have found out the truth of this story about Paul Harris. Paul certainly joined in many of the university pranks but more important he was loyal to your friends and to his Sophomore group and although it was known who were the real guilty parties Paul would not split on them.
However there is another date that’s important in the life of our founder. After Vermont, Paul Harris moved to the University of Iowa and the next important date is June 1891 when Paul graduated with a law degree. And 5 years later in February 1896 Paul Harris took the decision to move to Chicago to set up his own law practice and as all Rotarians know it was there that those 4 business friends met and formed the first Rotary Club in Chicago on the 23rd February 1905.
However my last date takes us forward to 1919 (14 years after the start of Rotary). The University of Vermont that had expelled the young Paul wrote to him to tell him that they had decided to award him an Honorary Bachelor of Arts and to issue him with a sincere apology for his expulsion back in 1886. So he was exonerated after all. And even later in 1933 the University of Vermont followed up their earlier apology by awarding Paul an Honorary Doctor of Law.
David’s Dissertation
I have got some information for you tonight that I am not sure that all Rotarians would want to hear.
Certainly you would not want to hear this if you looked on life very seriously, gravely and morally - that is if you are a wowser, but on the other hand if you are interested in titillating gossip about a tall poppy you might want me to continue.
I have always thought of our esteemed founder Paul Harris as someone who took life so, so seriously, but is that the real Paul Harris? I have a picture of him here in the front of a publication I was given when I first joined Rotary called “Adventures in Service” and I think he has a mischievous look about him. What sort of a person was Paul Harris?
Paul was born 19th April 1865 in Racine Wisconsin and no doubt that is an very important date for Rotary, however Paul was not the serious student you might have expected. There is evidence that as a boy he got into a lot of scrapes. Paul only put up with his schooling with a poor grace and tempered school discipline with his own special brand of mischief. His mother and father were separated by the World War when his father enlisted and Paul went to live with his grandparents in Vermont, New England. They provided him with a loving, well regulated home but it was also a home with a lot of fun and Paul easily got into trouble. . The folk around where he lived got to the point that whenever anything untoward happened they concluded that Paul Harris was at the bottom of it. They spoke of him as ‘that Paul Harris” with the emphasis on the “that”
After a high school year when he went to live with his uncle Dr George Fox, he went on to Black River Academy. Here he was for the first time entirely free from parental constraint so much so that after a series of pranks he was expelled from the Academy. . However he expiated his offence and was forgiven by his indulgent grandparents and enrolled in Vermont Academy, a military institution and then went on to the University of Vermont.
But the next important date in Paul’s life to which I want to draw your attention is the 11th December 1886. On that day the Faculty of the University of Vermont met to deal with a very important issue - to them at any rate - and to Paul Harris. The faculty was meeting in disciplinary session and it took a fateful vote to indefinitely suspend Paul Harris (and three other students) and I quote -
“ for disciplinary reasons” Yes, was our founder still getting up to his old wild tricks? University students have a natural propensity to get into trouble. Some day I may tell you why I have a three-inch scar cutting across my right arm!!! However I have found out the truth of this story about Paul Harris. Paul certainly joined in many of the university pranks but more important he was loyal to your friends and to his Sophomore group and although it was known who were the real guilty parties Paul would not split on them.
However there is another date that’s important in the life of our founder. After Vermont, Paul Harris moved to the University of Iowa and the next important date is June 1891 when Paul graduated with a law degree. And 5 years later in February 1896 Paul Harris took the decision to move to Chicago to set up his own law practice and as all Rotarians know it was there that those 4 business friends met and formed the first Rotary Club in Chicago on the 23rd February 1905.
However my last date takes us forward to 1919 (14 years after the start of Rotary). The University of Vermont that had expelled the young Paul wrote to him to tell him that they had decided to award him an Honorary Bachelor of Arts and to issue him with a sincere apology for his expulsion back in 1886. So he was exonerated after all. And even later in 1933 the University of Vermont followed up their earlier apology by awarding Paul an Honorary Doctor of Law.
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