Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1871-01-19
Amicitia, Fides. Amor.

What three words OF greater
import find their way to our hearts
as we journey along the cragged
pathway of life
FRIENDSHIP! Truth! Love!
What a dry, thorny, burning
desert would our lives be without
them! Friendship! What a pre-
cious boon to the lonely heart |!
When torn and bleeding in the
rough battles of lie, how sweet
for the hand of friendship TO bind
up the wounded heart, and soothe
be sriri. TO rest by soft whispers
Of consolation.
But let us be careful as we are
piucking the flowers of friendship
oy the wayside lest the emerald
Eyes and poisonous tooth Of the
adder lie concealed beneath. ALI
rs not gold that glistens. Neither
are all the pretended friends that
hroug around us such rs the heart
can cherish when stricken aud
lonely. The sycophah,s ii at f"wn
1t the feet OF the favored children
of MammOn, but flee when the
winds of adversely sweep away the
glitterIng piles OF dust, and who
spurn with contempt the wretched
children of poverty, though hun
sry, faint, aud sick, are serpents
whose bite are of the most deadly
nature. And may it neUer be our
fate to have such friends.
True friendship cares not for
honses nor lands nor chests of
gold nor large rolls Of bank notes
1t opens the door of the heart and
plucks the gems that are hidden
deep in the sparkling fountain that
flows therein. The voice offriend-
ship dnes not flatter our failings or
our vices, but kindly whispers
in our ears the best mode of cor
recting them. Neither are our
virtues magnifed. But we are
taught the true value of them, and
how to add to their number.
No smooth tongued flattery In
soft lisping tones rings out in the
clear sweet voice of friendship.
Oh, then, let US prize a true
friend as we should. Let US so
act that we may gather friends
around us now in our youth, so
that when old age wreathes our
brows with the frost of many win
ters we may not have to stand
like blasted tree, lone aud with
cred ON he desert plains, whose
bare naked limbs are tossed by
the bowling winds and raging
storms, with no kindred form near
to give back an answering wait to
its own signing boughs. Could
the angel OF Life but lift aside the
veil of inturity, and whisper in
our ears that after we had tra-
versed the crooked paths OF life
and had arrived at a green old
age, with the great uncertain fu-
lure stretching out before US, that
then, when we most need friends,
aud the heart most sighs for the
support and consultations Of some
dear form, that then we would be
lone friendless. and fOrsaken, how
piteously would we beg the angel
of Death to release US before that
dreaded time.
"Friendship doth bind with pleasant ties,
The heart of man to man, and age
But strengthens it-.t never dies,
Till finished is hfe's final page"
Love is only stronger link in
the chain Of friendship. How
watchtul and tender the love of a
parent. They shield their off
spring from contact with the
rougher parts of the world, The
disgrace or fall Of person falls
more heavily on the heart of 3
parent than Of any other being II
all the world beside, The vigi
lance begins when the infant frs
"opens its eyes to the Light Of day
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