In 1935 Paul Harris wrote his second major
work, "This Rotarian Age,"
which can be read, in its entirety on our website.
In the book, he writes "The first
sixty-seven years of the writer’s life have been high times. He wouldn’t
have missed them for anything." However, he then proceeds to tell the
world that for the previous four years he has been unable to practice
law,
due to a nervous breakdown. This is described in very few words
on page 200 of his book.
Harris may have retired from the practice of law after
nearly 40 years, but in that "previous four years" mentioned in the
book,
he made a trip, in 1932, to Europe, as a representative of his
bar association, to a conference in Holland. He traveled to many Rotary
clubs and began planting
Friendship Trees. The first European tree was in Berlin. Then,
in 1934, the year before this book was published and in this 66th year,
he traveled to
Great Britain and South Africa on an exhausting journey which
included a very important meeting between RIBI and RI, the affects of
which may have been long lasting.
However, Harris did take some
time to rest and recover. A copy of
"This
Rotarian Age" has been found with an inscription which
indicates that Paul Harris found a home where he and Jean could stay
while he rested and wrote. |
 From references he has made regarding a stay in a
Northern Michigan hospital, it may have been there that he stayed in the
home of
*Elizabeth P. Enos.
His
health was a problem from the end of his
second
term in office. In his final book, "My Road to Rotary (1947),"
also posted on our project, and still available in print, he
describes his
first of two major heart attacks with similar language.
Of his health, Harris writes "Seventy-five per cent of
my law class in the University of Iowa now sleep beneath the sod. Of the
living twenty-five percent, probably none began life with less promise
of health and strength, and probably none has been subjected to greater
strain. Truly I have much to thank the country for." My Road to
Rotary" page 290
Jack Selway, Former Chairman
and Founder
Rotary Global History
Webmaster for
www.rotaryfirst100.org
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