Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-04-21

often together, not in the formal state o
hotel or fashionable club. but simpl,
and in their own homes, They made fire
unent anu unannounced calls. paid Wis
It's, and took walks and journeys in eacr
others company. Moreover, they wrote
| letters, and actually said in them things
worth reading and preserving. In short
they thought it worth while to build nm
| about them a circle of friends: and ne
! the years went by, and old age crept on.
these friends and companions of a culti-
| possession.
Yet, no one who sees much of the life
OF typical modern scholar or man Of
part which friendship of this sort plays
in it. In the circle of the colleges ana
universities the thing threatens to dis
appear altosether Men have innumera-
ble acquaintances, but few friends They
keep open house, but rarely have a
chance to talk without restraint. They
but clubs and associations, while re,
freshing oases in otherwise laborious
lives, rarely lead to friendship. They
write ten, times as many letters as did
their predecessors, but relatively fewer
which have possible interest for other
persons or occasions Try to conceal II
as we may, the fact remains that a man
Of learning and culture today, especially
if he be by professc.l a teacher is rath-
er more than likely to so through life
admired and respected, indeed for his
attainments, and cited as an example of
Yet, nevertheless, remain despite the re-
gard in which he is held, virtually alone
Il solitary worker, with hardly any one
among all his associates TO whom he can
turn with the confidence which one feels
in his friend.
The causes of this subtle change are
doubtless to be found in the increased
activity Of scholars and writer's. and the
multiplying demands upon their time ana
thought. Life has more distractions
than it used to have. and the days oc
CaSiOnally seem TOO short for the work
that must be crowded into them. In
matters of education and literary produc-
tiVcness. We are prone to lash ourselves
into 4 tremendous pace. we'll convinced
that the devil will take the hndmost.
Yet no one can doubt that the passing of
what is now a tendency into Il habit can
but have distinctly lowering effect up
on literary tone and temper. tnqucS-
tionubly, it will increase the danger,
more apparent now than formerly. that
the pursuit of literature will lose its nu-
maniZing power. and become simply an
occupation. The young writer who
thinks it Il waste of time to cultivate
personal friendship unless there is money
in it. cannot too soon revise MS cthlc4I
creed if he have his own intellectual wei
fare at heart. That there is anything
about the conditions Of modern lltc. even
in directions in which the pressure Is an
parentlY the greatest. to render close
ntr.pnal intimacy and association less
pussiblc or less necessary than formerly
there is AZ yet little reason Tor believing
But to look forward. at 50 many men
must. tp fricndlcSs old age, however
annie the provision for material support
is to east Il shadow over the whole ME
somehow W WI her. we must get return
to the old idea of friendship If the litc "f
culture is not to become synonym lhr
isolation. ana feed more ana more uprl
itself: for as Bacon long ago said. NO
r,c,ipt onpucth the heart but a true
friend. New York Post.