The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1871-02-15
Friendship.

What, in after life, can dissolve the
ties of this most spontaneous and ire
pressible sentiment '.Oh = Ell, lest
known, oh most revercdw exciair,s n
Br tisll bard. when referring to II world.
renowned patron of science and learn
ing, "be thy approval the best test of
WORTH" Few confident spirits, in this
nineteenth century, narrow their pre-
established claims to the arbitrament
OF "a single mind, but rather IF mankind
at large. Yet ever living at the core of
human senslbility is this love of early
Sssociation-this mental homage to
mind itself. Confer benefits, and M
less hardened by vice, or seethed in
the cauldron of worldly ingratitude,
beneficiaries will own the obligation
due only tn unsetfisI, self-abnegation.
Love thyself last-seek the approval of
heaven-fnrgive thy foes-ask only of
Heaven the deserts, is the wise mans
resolve.
Friendship has been dennminated
'the wine of life" Who shall show us
true friend? That is the gift of God.
Let us revere the blessing when be-
slowed. Let us carefully fulfill its gem
tie and loving rrquisitions-let us sub
init to its demandt and heed it's warn
ihgs. Love is gift from the skies,
supreme and unapproachable. bat
friendship, in enduring value, does not
yield to the sharp shafts of Cupid, or
the in"tfahle charms of Venus, his del
lied mother. No, friendship is a sac
red thing. Happy the man who owns
one real friend!
Sceptics, who degrade humanity by
their spacious, yet disgusting theories
OF self-l0ve, must stand abashed before
the tribunal of unshrinking friendship.
The canine herd, uncndowed with rea-
son, stand forth exemplars of this di-
vine sentiment.
Perhaps no poets have done greater
harm to its unselfisil regard than HO-
mer in his immortal Ohessy. and, after
the LAPSE of ages, Eliza Cook. in her
"Mclaia," t" this noble but exalted
sentiment, even in brute creation.
But how mnch more noble in man is
IL feeling SD nnseltsh Let those who
have listened to the voice of fattery
and found it All empty, passing breath,
tell us what trne friendship is. Some
thing which, looking away from self,
embraces another in its grasp; some
thing which stands firm in the face of
opposing Justice, barring its bosom to
calnmny, and smiling in the repulsive
face of Gorgon- frOuted scOrn. So King
David loved Jonathan, SD does every
virtnons man love his friend.
But in early life, when fresh will,
the installed elnot ons of the soul, this
n'.ble sentiment takes root in Oul
hearts, what shall render nugaiOry its
power? Even when unw"rthiness on
the part of its recipient, unhappily may
chance to tiwart its interests, how
perseyeringly does this divine friend.
ship pursue it's beneficent vocation y
Nothing can exhaust its nnselfish pa.
thence. 1t lives and grows more yer.
1aDt amidst the snerrs OF i'm ill-judginl
world, and the frosts of ingratitudt
ON the part of its recipient. Til,
friendship of the gods was esteemed
in the HOmeric ages, - sufficient proc
Of va;or and heroism in its warriors
to demand response on the part o
mankind.
Hydrologic superstition, III the Ion.
travel of ages, has worn itself out
There is no longer Drya,l Or Nereit
haunting any stream of the Western
Tor Eastern) World. Nept"ne's scep
tire is hroken, aud Olympus is slIorn q
Its gods. Still, wisdom may be de
rived from the old Polytlteistic system
Neither can we see why friendship, ii
Christian revelation, should be tonne
inferior to pagan reverence.
4 The highest friendship which eartl
can boast, should be drawn from til,
skies. But gratitude claims it even t,
denizens of eartilwiO prove ti,enseive.
.friends.-tNew Orleans Times.