Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-12-18

bride. They would not dare to APP
proach them with n dishonorable pro-
posal any more than they would dare to
ask the president OF the United States
TO appoint a minister plenipotentiary to
England for the consideration OF q
$1,000 check or they would dare ask
King Edward to create William Wal
dorf Astor member OF the house Of
lords for a bribe of $1.000,0O0. The
second class at Albany were the
doubtful legislators" They might be
| bribed II the money offered was big
enough and they thought they would
not be found out. The third class were
the men who were there to sell their
votes to the highest bidders, no matter
who those bribers might be or how
much the Ubiquitous railroad corpora
ton might desire to dcfraud the COM
mon people whose interests those leg
islators had taken a solemn oath to
| protect. Likewise In everyday life
each man comes In contact with three
! distinct classes OF associates. First,
there are those men and women who.
like Caesars wife. are above suspicion.
| They are true men; true to themselves
and true to their God. You would no
more dare tell a vile story before them
than you would dare tell such a filthy
story to your Christian mother Next,
there are the doubtful friends" They
might or might not be open to a wrong
proposition. Then there Is the third
class of men-those whom you know to
be what they ought not to be and who
make boast OF their sins.
Choose Associates Carefully.
Practical advice for this classifica-
ton: From the bad men turn away
| your face with firm resolve. You can
not associate with scoundrels without
you yourself becoming q party to their
infamies. With the doubtful class" Of
associates be very chary OF your friend
ship. Never allow any one to enter the
inner chambers OF your heart until no
has proved his virtue and nobility be-
yond all doubt
The man who halls you Tom or Jack
And proves by thumps upon your back
His sense OF your great merit,
That man must be a friend indeed.
h treasured friend you must believe
To pardon or to bear it.
The third class OF your acquaintance
represents Gods noblemen. These can
be numbered among the blessed few
who are spiritually trying to make the
most out Of their lives These seek,
these trust, these bind to you by the
unbreakable ties OF affection. These
cherish all through life. up to the brink
of the grave These are the kind of
Biblical friends to whom the apostle
John sent his gospel salutation. The
true friend corrects his brothers faults
as well as commends his virtues. he
warns him OF a moral danger, MS be
would warn his friend of a physical
danger If on winters day he saw him
skating too Near an airhole in the ice
or IL while boating upon the river he
saw him rowing too near the danger
Gus dam or IL he saw him bathing too
near the sea puss." toward which the
treacherous undertow was trying to
drug him. The Ten Commandments OF
Mount Sinai which God, with his I'm
ger for pen, wrote upon leaves of
stone, are filed with "thou shalt
nots." Therefore one OF the great mis-
sions OF true friendship is, as Paul de-
scribed IT to "reprove. rebuke." as well
as to "exhort, with all long suffering
and doctrine"
mo. no." says some one; at do not
ngree with you at all. believe It is an
enemy whose mission is to point out
faults. The true mission OF a friend is
20 encourage and commend virtues.
Alas, by bitter experience I have found
out the truth OF this statement. Some
years ago three OF my friends and I
entered Into an agreement. They were
at that time my dearest friends. We
decided that we would meet ut least
once n week. and for mutual benefit we
would tell each other all the criticisable
things we had seen or heard about each
other. We entered into this agreement
purely for the purpose Of correcting
each others faults. We had lust two
such proposed meetings and then broke
up In big row. We have never been
the same to each other since. No talk
Ing to me about a friends faults! II
my friends have faults they must be
told about them by some one else" O
my brother, you are wrong; you are en-
tirely wrong. A friend, a true friend.
should be able to come TO a brother n
q loving mother could to her wayward
child and tell him OF the moral mis-
takes he Is making. This does not
mean, as some people suppose, that the
true mission OF friendship Is to gather
up all the mean and contemplate saw
inss which have been spoken about one
ana then retell them TO his brother. No
bouquet OF fragrant beauties can be
collected from among the singing net
Ties and the poisonous ivies growing
Knee deep In the stenchful swamps. /
once had one OF those SO called friends
who thought the chief mission of his
life was to fling at me all the criticisms
and the hypercriticisms he ever heard
spoken against me and my work. He
Kept me In hot water all the time. Un-
I'll l stopped associating with him he
made me doubt whether did have any
one who ever loved me or my family.
A Mission of Love.
But though the mission of true
friendship consists not In peddling evil
reports 1t does have a mission in low
ingly and tenderiy correcting the
wrongdoings or our dear ones. Johann
Goethe. the most famous poet and dram
aust or German literature. once ex-
pressed this beautiful thought: ..yyhen
we are young we think we shall build
palaces for the gods. but at last we are
glad II we have dug away some of the
rubbish at our feet" All, that state
ment is true! When we are young we |
nave an ambition to reform the whole
universe. but when we grow older we
nave narrowed down the hope of our
life to this simple desire: We hone thar
we may i've right ourselves. We hone
that we may be able to remove frem
our frsendS paths some OF the impedi- |
ments over which we ourselves have
stumbisa. We hope to do the same az !
Forbes Mitchell did during the awful |
siege or Lucknow. After he was near. |
~ blown to pieces by powder maya.
zine concealed within the residency by
the sepoys he Immediately warned his
English friends lest they might heed
lessly run into the same danger. And /
my brother. mark this: II you are not |
gratefully willing to be corrected In
moral fault by a true friend then YOU