Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1894-11-15

them myself. But what does that
matter? | love him entirely, and
dare not speak of his fault. Who
am |, that / should look for the
mote In my brether's eye? My
very doing SO woald prove there is
beam in my own. Ii he pains me
with hasty word, it is enough, or
| perhaps too much, that l look
grieved will not utter a word Of
complaint. The silences of friend
ship say more than the words. /
can talk commonplace, / can scold
or praise or condole, with any cas-
nal acquaintance; with my friend,
Know how to keep silent, and
need no utterance.
Some persons tell us that we
should choose our friend as we
choose the books that we read.
Such choice ia impossible. We
may choose our companions; We
cannot choose our friends. No
law OF conscious selection can be
exercised. The word "affinity"
has been misused and contaminated; i;
but affinity is the vital principle of
friendship. l do not love my friend
because choose to love him
love him because | cannot help N.Y.
self. lie has drawn me toward him
as the magnet draws the needle. /
can resist and keep away If | choose;
but do so only by intense effort Of
the will. The will is weaker than
the instinct, unless trained and
under mastery of the SOULS highest
powers. Pride is the strongest
force that can keep me from my
friends side-pride and jealousy.
From jealousy may absent myself.
or seem cold and careless but the
pang within is one of the keenest
that the heart can suffer. 1t is
better to annihilate pride, to Danish
jealousy, to crush self; to reach
life's SUBMITS by laying myself low.
The feeling of gratitude is some
times considered to be an imror-
tant element Of friendship. But
gratitude of itself can hardly pro-
duce natural love. There is sense
4 in which we should love all men ;
but we can never love all men with
the love of an overpowering friend
ship, nor can a sense of kindness
received cause us to feel so towards
one in particular. Universal love
is something superhuman the love
which We are speaking of as friend
ship is peculiar to the "natural
man." 1t is rooted firmly on pre-
sent things, and could be happy
enough on this earth, without
thinking of the future, if the COM
pany of the loved one could be as
sured. Shall we call it "profane''
love, because such is its feeling
The wonderful love of Jonathan for
David is recorded in Scripture
without condemnation; yet un-
doubtedly Jonathan's love was such
as this Thoreau is right in think
ing that such love occurs more fire.
quently between persons of the
same sex, than between man and
woman. For the sexual love, which
is law of nature, is totally differ
ent from, and inferior to, this love,
unless it is supplemented by the
higher. One curse of society is the
fact that it SO seldom is thus sup
plemented.
II / find my friend to be un-
worthy, does it diminish or kill my
love? Hardly.
Love is not love
4 Which alters when il alterations finds.
FL scannot change because my
Il
friend has changed, or because my
knowledge of him has changed.
be may become less of a friend to
me; / cannot become less of friend
20 him. Inconsistency or fickleness
is possible in that connection which
looks for a return; but true love
expects nothing in exchange for
what it gives, and thereby is en-
riched immeasurably. 1t looks for
no barter of courtesies and civilities;
such things belong to lower level.
II | could not love alway, having
once loved, could not feel sure OF
the Immortality of my soul. Wha,
is there that can endure, il love
cannot. Ii go to my own heart,
and find its love is transient and
inconstant, then indeed may say
all is vanity, and there is no good
under the sun. To discover this
1 A.