The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-07-13

performance without a spark Of the
divine FIRE of deep or tender emo
tion. One of the great literary men of
the last century describes one OF his
characters after this fashion: "Mea
dows never spoke of his mother but
paid her a small allowance with the
regularity and grace OF ciockwork. :"
save them from that sort OF thing by
saying to them, Have heart old
man; stop listening to the sound of
your own wheels OF commerce for a
moment and listen to the cry of need
from whatever quarter II comes. and
IL you have anything of love. or labor.
or hope, or faith, or influence. with
hold II not and help yourself by help
ing others" Let 1t never be said OF
any one OF us. He was born man
and died a manufacturer" The prac-
tice OF Rotary's investments saves you
from this disgrace.
Still another spoke in the Rotary
wheel or stage in the process Of max
ing a Rotarian is known as dividends.
Naturally, after what has been said
with regard to the other spokes Of
the Rotary wheel. you will. not be
likely to think OF dividends In the
sense of clipping coupons from bonds
or receiving cash dividends from stock
investments. 1t is my Arm conviction
that Rotary IL profitable II considered
from the point Of view OF returns upon
invested capital, by reason of the fact
that 1t enlarges the business mans
capacity for making good. But to-
night we have in mind particular
kind Of capital to be invested. and the
appropriate returns that such invest
ment yields Probably some of you
have heard Ed. Kelseys moving story
OF Alvah Bunker. the armless and
leglees boy, who was redeemed from
a life Of hopeless dependency to
life Of independence and self-support
because the Toledo Rotarians invested
certain values for the purpose OF re-
you could have heard Jim Hobbins. OF
Montana, tell OF the Rotary "fiu"
squad that operated in the city OF
Great Falls and fought the ravages OF
the epidemic. mot by hiring people to
do the work for them, but by actuaily
doing with their own hands whatever
work needed to be done. Think Of
the marvellous work that Rotary IL
performing in the interests Of national
health. in the promoting of the Amer
icanization program and in getting be-
hind the welfare work for boys. Think
of these things, men. and tell me
whether or not there aren't other
dividends coming to q man above and
beyond those OF a money value.
This leads me to the last step In the
processes which I am now describing,
known among Rotarians as happiness.
hope II has become plain to you by
this time that happiness never has
consisted and never can consist OF the
things that a man possesses. This Is
the philosophy of experience SO beau
4. - ~ DNA ~
Scottish Bard. Now you fellows re-
call Burns. He was man who sought
happiness. just as many OF us do. in
places where 1t never has been found.
After he had grown weary in the
pursuit of selfish happiness, II there
can be such q thing. he wrote these
words:
TITS no In titles, nor IN rank.
It's no in Wealth like London bank,
To purchase peace and rest.
It's no IN maxim, muckle mair
I It's no in books, It's no in liar
To make US truly blest.
7 happiness haze not its seat
And center r the breast.
We may be wise or rich or great.
But never can be blest.
Nae treasures nor pleasures
Could max US happy lang,
The hearts aye, the part aye.
That mak's us RIGHT or wr2ng"
In the familiar phrase Of Harry
Lauder, You Gamma beat n" And you
can't beat X. for tho very simple rea-
son that it is eternally true. And
Rotary challenges you to accept the
truth and make appropriate response
to it in your daily life and practice.
These. then. are the processes by
which . man takes" Rotary. How
ever. It liz worth while constd ering not
only the way In which Rotary 10 work
cd into our thinking and doing. but
tho ways through which It expresses
itself.
And the first Of these ways h In
the Individual himself. No man can
go through the processes which we
have been describing without expert.
encing a positive lift to a higher in
tellectual and moral level You might
just as well hope to plunge your hand
in dye vat and bring It out untouch-
ed by the coloring as to hope to pass
through these Rotary stages without
receiving some positive Improvement
of mind and heart
some years ago l n0afd the tate
Lindsay r. Woodcock. Of the great
Marshall Field house, speak on the
subject OF getting ana keeping en-
ployes." At the close OF his address
a man asked this question: "Mr.
Woodcock, what are tho reqItre ents
in point OF character necessary to &C.
cure omploym emit in the Marshall Field
store?" To which Mr. Woodcock re-
piled: Tho Marshall Field house Ia
not In the business Of making char
acter. It expects every employe when
they come to work to bring character
with them. But the Marshall Field
house does give opportunity and en-
couragement to all its employees to-
develop and express the character
which they have"
BY the same token Rotary y not an
evangelical association seeking for
business and professional sinners
whom 1t may convert from the errors
OF their ways; 1t Is just an organiza-