Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1861-02-12
Practical Friendship.

1t is very common to speak of the uncer
tainty of human friendship yet, very few
ever learn this by experience With the
masses of mankind generally friendship is
very indefnabe term. Men meet in
society as strangers, and upon acquain-
lance are mutually pleased. After Ger
tain amount of intercourse, they form an
intimacy which they call friendship. They
like each other, receive pleasure from each
others company, and there passes between
them a reciprocity of favors. If they live
near each other, this state OF things may
continue without in Interruption to the end of
their lives The attachment extends Just
as far as the profession, and is perhaps as
intense and lasting as either wishes it TO
be; consequently, when these persons talk
of the Inconsistency of friendship, they
speak of cant borrowed from poets and
novelists, of which they really know moth
ing.
But there are instances of stronger
friendship than this. Persons sometimes
become united to a closer bond than any
tie of kindred ever established Their
hearts are knit together by cord the sun
dering Of which would be like breaking
the mystic thread that connects soul and
flesh. 1t is the commingling of coDgehial
natures, unaccountably mysterious to those
who never passed through such an exper-
fence, bat none the less reality because
mysterious. Coarser or colder spirits
never know this feeling. To them self
lose is paramount passion-a passion in
which all love for their race, or for indi-
viddals Of that race, is lost. But the
friendship Of refined souls is as unselfish
as it is strong No sacrifices which it can
make for its objects are considered too
great. If needed, substantial ale is given
without stint; if this can nothing avail,
sympathy is freely offered There is a
deep interest manifested in the welfare and
prosperity of each other but that interest
is seldom attestod by professions, and never
by any display of sentiment. They seek
to give expression to their feelings in ac-
TONS rather than words. Two such friends
may not, like two modern school misses,
write whole reaus of paper filled with
endearing phrases; but they will cheer in
loneliness, comfort in affection and aid in
trouble. In prosperity, when the sun
shines brightly, and the wind blows softly,
they move on quietly, without fatigGing
each other with useless attentions, or rem
dering themselves ridiculous by an osten-
tatious intimacy. But when storms come
and summer friends have all fed, the real
friendship shows itself in a warm, active,
selfdeuying love.
This is the kind Of friendship which we
need to aid and encourage us amid the
difficulties with which life is so thickIv
beset. We all stand in want of such as
sistance-the strong as we'll as the weak
the self relying and the diffident Our
charge against the friendships of this age
| is not that they are false, but that they do
not, in a sufficient degree, give aid. They
are as sentimental as one could wish, but
not practical enough. We wish men well,
but make no effort to insure their doing
well. We close our letters to them by the
assurance that we are their "Sincere
friend ~ but farther than a few fiattering
expressions of regard, we never give them
any proof that we are so. This is not as it
should be. Persons can almost always
find some wey of heneftting their friends
1t they will seek the opportunity. They
should make themselves known, and rem
der their kindness felt in prosperity as
vel! as in adversely. They should not
wait for The clouds to gather and the winds
to howl before they give some assurance Of
their love. "a friend in need is friend
in deed " says the old adage, and quite
truly ; but he is most apt to be friend in
need who has shown himself to be watch
iul, considerate and patient friend in sea-
sUns Of prosperity.