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

up III IL DIV row. we nave never Deen
the same to each other since. No talk
ing to me about friends faults, If
my friends have faults they must be
told about them by some one else" O
my brother, you arc wrong; you are en-
tirely wrong. A friend, a true friend,
should he able to come to a brother az
a loving mother could to her hayward
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 say
ings which have beer spoken about one
and then retoIl them {, 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 hypcrcrtcisms he ever heard
spoken against me and my work. He
kept me in hot water all the time. Tn
til 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 it does have mission in low
ingly and tendcrly correcting the
wrongdongs of our dear ones. Johann
Goethe the most famous poet and dram.
atist of German literature, once eX.
pressed this beautiful thought: When
we are young we think we shall build
palaces for the gods. but nj last we are
glad if we have dug away some of the
rubbish Mt our feet" All that state.
| ment Is true. When we are young we
have an ambition to reform the whole
universe, but when we grow older we
have narrowed down the hope of our
life to this simple desire: We hope that
we may live right ourselves. We hope
that we may he able to remove from
our friends paths some Of the impedi
ments over which we ourselves have
stumbled. We hope to do the same as
Forbes Mitchell did during the awful
siege of Lucknow. After he was near
! ly blown to pieces by powder maya
zine concealed within the residency By
the scpoys he Immediately warned his
| English friends lest they might heed
| lessly run into the same danger. And
my brother, mark this: II you are moi
gratefully willing to be corrected in q
moral fault, by true friend then yor
are not fit TO have any Christian mar
for a close associate.
The true friend Is one who rejoices
with us in our successes as well a:
sympathizes with US in our failures
oh" you say, that is universal
self evident desire There is no danger
Of any friend not rejoicing with u
when we succeed in LIE. The only dan
ger is that these friends will turn thei'
backs upon us when we are defeated.
Steady, brother. steady. / am surpris
ed at your answer | am amazed first
that you are such n poor analyzer Of
human character and, secondly, tina
| you have not found out the error o.
your belief by personal experience.
The Demon of Envy,
Ready are you to grant that enemie
rejoice at our overthrow and are sorry
at our trlumphs. But in one sens'
many of our acquaintance are actual
ed by the same motives. When trippet
up in the race OF life many of on
friends are ready TO say: Poor fellow
Is it not too bad that my friend So-and
so failed in business? Is il not too baC
that John lost all the money he inherit
ed from his father But they Otter
sympathize with us in the self compla
cent way which, translated in the ordl
nary language of life, means: at is to,
bad. but if John had only been al
smart as | am he would never hav'
lost his money. Now he is just as poo
as the rest of us aud he can no ionge
live in fire house or have his daugh
ter taking music lessons or his son z,
TO college But let a man make sue
cess, let him strike big profit in
real estate investment; let him have
5000 income when we have onl,
81 600 and it will take mighty on
slaught of Christian grace in our heart
to throttle the demon Of envy gnawin;
within our breasts. Jonathan was
true friend of David. He loved thu
poct-stntesman, the shepherd boy war
rior, in spite of the fact that DaviC
and not he, the natural heir. was to 81
upon Saul's throne. Many a poor maj
ceases TO love his brother merely he
cause that brother can now ride whil
he himself is compelled to walk VIII,
do | state this truth? Because m,
hearer | want you to realize the reason
you dislike some of the friends of you
youth. It is not because they are IN
true to you, but you are untrue TO them
1t is not because you have made fail
ure that they refuse To have anythin;
10 do with you. 1t is because the!
have made success that you refuse t,
have anything to do with them. oh
the poisonous fangs Of Satanic envy
1t is ficndish enemy, which does IT
deadly work in the poor mans hut a
well as in the rich mans palace.
Remember the Absent.
The true friend is never "out of sight
out of mind" His love can be likene,
TO the trembling movements Of tn,
magnetic needle. No matter which
way the ship turns, that needle Away
turns toward the north pole. No mat
ter which way the true friend goes
his hearts needle always points towar,
his absent brother. 1t can be Iikene,
to the echoing voice of the photograph
Some years ago when one of the arcti
| o. n rt