New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-06-09

this. in its turn, upon observation and trial.
which reouire time and experimental circum-
stance. Life is too short for the finding OF
ono stone which shall transmutc all things
into virgin gold; so that he is but iuna''c
who thinks to possess q cairn OF such potent
pebbles. II is not strange, then, that III our
search for friendship Of the true metal we
reproduce the disappointments and catastrophes
of the old alchemists, lucky if at last we are
not found sitting dead and already dusty
amid the fragments of our shivered apparatus
Thus in our friendships, as in all things we
must be content with what the nature Oh .iia'
relation can give us. 1t would be peasant "
mt ont of the discussion the Unsuitable appe-
tites and eager antagOnisms OF our kihd pa'
in life they will not be put out, and he Is not al
together wise who disregards them. COwiey
has an essay ON "The Dangers Of an Honest
Man in Much Company" in when ne SUMS
up "a follows; "Man is to man all klhds vi
"beast-a fawning dog, roaring non,
"thieying fox, q rObbing wolf, disseH'p''hs
"crocodile. a treacherOus dccOy, ana Ia
"pacious yulture" This is hardly Pheasant
classification, but we must remember that IL Is
for q nurpose aside. We are not forced 10
fling our faults and foiblcs and frailties ana
moral felonies in each others faces; put
ro;tber are we called to take to our
bosoms all chance comers, tramps and toad,
GATORS. There could be no affection II Goa hao
NOT pven to lis liberty of choice, and our
friendship is too precious a thing to be squan-
dercd, as We play at ducks ana drahes WIN
mere money; since shekels or the hih'e"
gold are as iron to it, and gems or pures' lay
serene Opaque by comparison. That may DC
n healthy and honorable jealousy with when
we sometimes regard friend, for we can
hardly belp pain and apprehension wheh we
see him, even for q moment, forgetting us III
his bounty of speech and attention to another.
II is an infrmity 1t may be Outgrown In the
new manhood of the next life; but here, what
are we but suspicious children
Macbeth. who at best is but character or
unbounded stomach for all good things, counted
"troops of friends" among the subs'd'd or oia
oge which he "must not look to have" anu
tbe nbrase il characteristic of the man. All
the poets and philosophers are against tnis
notion of multitude-it is Oftenest "a friend"
not friends" with them. "True happiness"
says Ben. Jonson, "cOunts not in the multitude
" of friends, but in the worth and choice" "One
"faithful friend,r says sharp La Bruyere, Is
"cnoueh for ones self, and It's much to meet
"wth such an one" Hence Collect says
Norris of Bemerton, the English Pla'onist'
that true friendship cannot be among the
"many. For since our faculties are OF SUCH
&" finite energy, tits impossible our love can 10
"ycry intense when divided among many
"No; the rays must be contracted TO make
" them burn.n If sincere, staid, unalteraDlo
friend be. as Cicero says, "one of the greatest
"rarities of nature, and somewhat above
" buman.- we need not waste our time, heart'
and all other resources in seeking store OF such
nonparcils: for though the first found miehe
proye excellent, the second even might be no
better than a SOdOms apple, rosy ana goiueh
without and full of coarse and bitter ashcs
only from rind to core. Solely by nice ana
cout;ous choice shall we save ourselves from
disappointment, and that sense OF our own
credulity and foolshness of Judgment wlich IS
hardest of all to bear. IL we choose friend
only to he our servant, or to minister 10 our
material necessities; to save Ills from Tksolhe
labor. or to do for us what we should 10 1or
ourselves to make up our minds for us; 10
be at once our protector and our performer
or if we select him out Of the caprice or inc
moment, and through the decision OF an lille
fancy for his station in society for the rca-
son not that VIC know him, but because we
do not know him counting him true ana
wise and noble who is false and foolish, and
in grain plebeian--when we find out our bitter
mistake, small good will there be either in
sending up bowls to Jupiter, or in lapsing into
an irrational cyncism. Two courses we may
follow either we may run with the herd, and
find comfort in indiscriminate contact, or we
NAV watch and wait in solitude, hoping for
the friendly joy which fortune may havo In
store for us, and meanwhile, resigned to
studious scclusion, acknowledge it for the
time to be best
The famous Milbank Pcntentary, one OF the most