Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-12-17

'Ie' .snd yet, strange to say, there ar"
| scores of us who seem to think that
| our true friends can he true to us while
| bclng untrue to their better selves II
| they drink with us because we get
| drunk and gamble with us because we
| gamble and sinfully frltter away their
lives because we, as spendthrfts, are
squnndcring ours, we call them friends
true friends. AS Lord Melbourne, the
British prime minister, once brutally
expressed this sentiment: 81 do not call
a man Il friend who merely stands by
me when | am right But I want n
friend who is willing to stand by me
and uphold me In political life even
when he knows that am wrong"
The True and the False.
A true friend in the Biblical sense is
never untrue to his God or to his better
self WELL" says some one, how am
to know whether a friend is first true
to God before he Is true to me-" Oh,
my brother, you need never have put
! that question to me. You know intu-
| ttively those among your associates
who are always true to God without
newspaper man who for years was de
tailed as the Albany correspondent of
great New York daily told me that
every year the lobbyists divided the
New York legislators into three distinct
classes. First. there were those who.
like Caesars wife, were above suspi-
Cion. They were honest through and
through. No man would dare approach
them with the idea of offering them a
bride. They would not dare to ap-
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 a
$4,000 check or they would dare ask
! King Edward to create William Wal
dorf Astor member Of the house of
lords for a bride of S1,0OO,0OO The
second class at Albany were the
doubtful legislators" They might be
bribcd If 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
tslators had taken 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 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 q 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 a boast of their sins
Choose Associates Carefully.
Practical advice for this classified
ton: From the bad men turn away
your face with firm resolve. You can
not associate with scoundrels withou,
you yourself becoming n 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 he
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 Srcat merit.
| That man must be p. friend indeed
A treasured friend you must believe.
To pardon or to bear It,
The third class Of your acquaintance
represents Gods uoblcmen. These eau
he numbered among the blessed few
who are spiritually trying to make the
most out Of theic 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 10 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. rs he
would warn his friend Of n physical
danger If on a winters day he saw hin
skating too near an arholo in the ice
or If while boating upon the river h,
saw him rowing too near the danger
Gus dam or if he saw him bathing toe
near the sea puss." toward which the
treaCherous undcrtow was trying &c
drag him. The Ten Commandments OF
Mount Sinai which God, with his fin
ger for pen, wrote upon leaves OF
stone are filled with thou shalt
nots." Therefore one of the great mis-
sions of true friendship is, az Paul de
scribed it. to "reprove, rebuke," as wei
MS TO "exhort. with all long suffering
and doctrine"
mo, no." says some one; II do not
agree with you AT all. believe it is ar
enemy whose mission is 10 point our
to encourage and commend virtues
Alas, by bitter experience have foun6
out the truth of this statement Some
years ago three of my friends and
at that time my dearest friends. We
decided that we would meet at leas
once a week, and for mutual benefit We
; would tell each other all the criticisablt
things we had seen or heard about each
, other. We entered into this agreement
purely for the purpose OF correcting
each tho-'e f"'-''r W0 had lust two