The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1872-07-18
Making Friends.

He that would have friends must show
himself friendly. Scarce one of US but has
a weak point that may be ridiculed, a fault
that may be censured, an intirmity that
may betray us into vice or unwOrthiness.
Not one Of US but needs friend to supple
ment our defects, to reflect the lustre of our
virtues, to help us in being true 10 what is
noblest in us and Of absolute worth in itself
There are unhappy persons who exist only
on the frailties and vices and mistakes of
their fellow creatures. To them converse
ton is insipid unless spiced with scandal
Jokes are meaningless if some ones feelings
are not hurt, a moral is valueless unless
pointed by the delinquency of some hapless
mortal.
There are those also whose mission on
earth is peace. Evernore they bear with
them the mantle of charity, and with its
ample folds cover the unfortunate, the weak
the erring. They know full well that every
human heart is human" that every soul
needs sympathy, forbearanec, that all men
are equally precious to God, since he has
made of one blood all flesh. If words of
commendation fail they keep silence if
censure is to be pronounced, mercy is min
gled with justice to the returning prodigal
they give welcome, TO the repentent crimin-
al words of cheer and hope.
Only shallow observers of human nature
ridcule its Weaknesses, and like ghouls,
feast on its vices. He who looks deepest
into the throbbing floods of humanity that
surge around us feels most profoundly pitiful;
he sees under all the DISCUSSES of fortune III
every man, in every woman, possible an
gel, and his approaches are made on the an
gel side.
The great fault with most of US is that we
act on the defensive. Instead of making
advances ourselves, we wait for others to
make advances to us. Said one of the wis
est of our American philosophers to a friend
who was rather fond of holding up to laugh
ter the foibles of his acquaintance, Will
liam, if You make a friend every day in
three years you will have a thousand friends.
If you make an enemy every day, in three
years you will have IA thousand enemies
A man with a thousand enemies will be
likely to get tripped in his way through
life by some one of them, and | would rather
have thousand friends than thoMsand
enemies" Is not this instruction worth
taking to heart? How happy is the refec
ton, when one draws the drapery Of his
couch about him each night, to-day / have
won a friend or | have bound in closer ties
one already mine" Full of divinest philos
ophy as of heavenly charity IS that utter
ance of the Savior, Blessed are the peace
makers, for they shall be called the children
of God" The field of their operation is as
broad as the world; there is work for them
to do in every family, in every social circle,
in every church, in every neighborhood.-
Let those who are inclined to sing
''Ah!what is friendship but name,
charm that lulls to Sleep"
let them apply themselves to the delightful
task of winning friends by encouraging the
distrustful by cheering the sad, by raising
the downfallen, by sympathy with the as
piring and thus bind to their hearts the
hearts of those about them. They will find
that in loving the Supreme Good they are
indissolubly joined with all the noble and
the true, and friendships thus based must
exist parallel with the existence of the soul
and of its Maker.