Los Banos Rotary Club History
Re: Singing in Rotary

By Joseph W. Carr, Rotarian
Insurance Underwriter
Wellington, New Zealand
I heartily endorse the statement made by Rotarian Clint R. Willson, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, in THE ROTARIAN for July under the heading "When Song Leaders Get Together" [Your Letters, page 1]. He expresses his conviction that "singing contributes much to a Rotary meeting."
As a charter member and Secretary of the Rotary Club of Wellington, I acted as accompanist for 32 years and also on occasions as song leader, and although opinion was divided as to the inclusion of singing at the weeks luncheons, the practice has continued from the start and the majority agree that a suitable chorus helps to foster the right atmosphere of good fellowship. It has been our custom for many years to join in a welcome chorus to our visitors. The text of the song at present in use is as follows (words and music by the writer):
Hello! Hello! Here we are again.
Hello! Hello! Join in our refrain.
Here we weekly gather Rotary friends to greet and the welcome stranger
Cordially to greet.
We'll hear a while the speaker for the day
Perchance for some there may be fines to pay,
Whence you come or whosoe'er you be,
Hello! Hello! Hello!
The words and music are available for any Club interested by communicating with me at P.O. Box 12909, Wellington, New Zealand.

Approval for Bilingual Idea

From William Mayer, Rotarian
Brewery-Supplies Distributor
Mexico City, Mexico
May I add a voice of approval to the project being carried on by the Rotary Club of Miami Beach, Florida, as detailed in Juam y Maria—"The Bilingual Kids,' by Richard Powell Carter [The Rotarian for September].
In everyday life he who masters one or more languages discovers new horizons, whether he be a businessman, an industrialist, a professional man, a politician, or a writer. His mind grasps vaster impressions which are useful to him throughout life. Therefore, the Rotarian who wants to further Rotary's fourth avenue of service and be a good fellow to Rotarians of other nations will find that it is useful, not to say essential, to be able to talk to them in their own language. Only thus can there exist real understanding and a closer friendship.
My suggestion is that each Rotarian who is head of a family insist that his children speak at least one language outside of their own. They will be forever grateful to him for this, for it will open in them the road to further successes, and, furthermore, they will be able to become ambassadors of Rotary in countries that speak other languages, in this way helping to promote international understanding, goodwitt, and peace.

Fine for Sleeping

Reports R. Chas. Alden, Farmer
Secretary, Rotary Club
Los Banos, California
I am sure the answer of Los Banos Rotarians to the question What about Those Club Fines? [The Rotarian for July] would be "We think fines are fine—and fun!" Our fellows don't mind coming through with what the fine master requests—even though it be for sleeping during a Club meeting.
For his "rest" recently, T. D. Toscano paid $2 [see photo]. In addition he had to take a lot of kidding. But he could take both: the fine and the fun. Mixed together they provide a neat dish called fellowship.

Fines Fine for Fellowship

Thinks Gilbert Van Beyer, Rotarian
Clergyman
Jamestown, New York
I know that Rotarians differ on whether there should be fining in Rotary Clubs [see What about Those Club Fines?. The Rotarian for July, and Your Letters in succeeding issues], but in our Club we find finding makes for fine fellowship. Perhaps the one doing the fining is the key to its success or failure. In our Club our beloved Sergeant at Arms, Grant Mahoney, takes care of the fine business, and does it so well that I was moved to put my views in verse form when I presented him recently at one of our meetings.
Oh day of wrath, your sting is gone
For us poor souls, unblessed, forlorn;
For judgment comes each Monday noon
To us who hear Mahoney's doom.
No secret sins escape his ken,
Who makes informers of good men;
And even virtues gather fines
When justice stoops to his low lines.
Yet, since Mahoney's winsome smile
Shines out upon us even while
He tells our faults and castigates
And publishes our wretched fates,
We have such pleasure in his wrath
We laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh.
Cooperation and ability to work together is the more striking when it is taken into account that the parts fitting into this wheel were made in every zone of the earth having a city large enough for a Rotary Club, except the Arctic, in every hemisphere, on every continent, the islands of the sea—by 35 different nations and by representatives of every one of the five races of man.

An Act of Kindness Recalled

By Hugh Featherston, Tobacco Mfr.
President, Rotary Club
Chacao, Venezuela
It was a pleasant surprise to open the pages of The Rotarian for September and read in The Henry Story of the results of the activities of the Rotary Club of Lynchburg, Virginia, 35 years later.
Thanks to a Student Loan Fund of the Lynchburg Rotary Club I was able to finish my education at the University of Virginia. It was largely through the kindness of the same Rotarian who served as legal guardian of the Henry children, the lat John B. Winfree, that this money was made available to me.
Since graduating from the University of Virginia in 1929 I have lived in San Jose, Costa Rica, where I was a member of the Rotary Club, and at the present time I am President of the Rotary Club of Chacao. Even though I never belonged to a Rotary Club in North America, I am most happy with my association with Rotary in North, South, and Central America.
Whenever a student program is proposed here, I think of what the plan of the Lynchburg Rotary Club meant to me. I feel gratified that our Club was the first in Venezuela to become a 100 percent contributor to the Rotary Foundation, and our candidate is now enjoying one of the Foundation Fellowships. One of our projects this year is to make scholarships available locally.

Footnoting 'Age of Sloppiness'

By Robert F. Smith Rotarian
Clergyman
Pittsford, New York
[Re: Is This the Age of Sloppiness?, by Dr. Leland Miles, The Rotarian for August.]
Where beauty is a standard, where perfection is a standard, where contribution to the well-being of mankind is a standard, there can be no sloppiness. These are God's standards for parents as they undertake the creative task of raising children, for the engineer as he approaches the creative task of bridging a river, and for you and me in whatever task our days may lay before us.
Not long ago the telephone man worked at our house. He had to fasten a wire quite a long distance along the shingles. It was one of the hottest afternoons of the Summer. Nevertheless, he took great time and patience to wind and cover that entire wire with white tape. When asked why, he replied, "Your white house would look terrible with black wire strung across it, so I wound it all with white tape." Here was a lineman thinking of beauty and perfection as well as his telephones, which contribute to the well-being of mankind.
To be able to step back from the thing you do and find a joy in the accomplishment and a satisfaction in its integrity is more important than the daily bread that is won by it.

December 1955

---