The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-03-03

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for the emotions or the thoughts which
are deep and strong, thong never guessed
a by those who think they know them
best. To these, life is an arid place, and
life'S journey is lonely in the midst Of
familiar aud pleasant faces.
Sometimes late marriage brings to
such rich and yet undiscovered natures
not only the ordinary joys of happy
married life, but is a revelation of what
solace there is in the accompanying friend
ship too often lacking i'll the unions
brought about by youthful passion and
a common enjoyment of the gayer side
| of life
We are not apt to think much or fire.
| quently of this side of married life, but 1t
is one Of the most lasting and delightful
of the ingredients in that complex charm
which creates and preserves the higher
forms of happiness in the homes where it
ahides. Blessed arc those who are friends
as well as lovers.
To fond wife is also a good friend
the husband can speak freely OF the affairs
that weary him; no such comfort awaits
him whose wife finds her chief delight in
the adulation and the caresses of the
man she loves. And when the summer
of life is past, the old people sit by their
winters fire and prove themselves I'M
ccasingly entertaining and delightful
companions, sharing their interests with
an eagerness that never flags. To these
most fortunate of men and women no
attestation is necessary of the comfort
and Joy of their conversations, which are
indeed 1.-THE consummation" of their mar
ried friendship. Even the interruption
made by their own children requires
patient courtesy, when, side by side in
the twilight of declining day, they dis
cuss all of life and its mysteries, all of
nature and its inspiring moods. No in
timacT is like this.
The dreams of their earlier days-those
that are fulfilled and made beautiful in
dear realities, and those which, fading
and vanished, yet have the charm of
what might have been; the joys and trials
they have shared; the revelations the
years have brought, the new sp1endor of
the worlds progress. To whom could
they speak as they do to each other of
what they have learned and experienced
by the way? How large and varying is
the store of things known and felt about
which they can say: "As you and |
know, dear heart!"
How enriched would home life be if this
friendship of the married were universal,
How many hours of discomfort and pctu-
lance would be eliminated from the
quieter hours of fathers and mothers tito
the natural demand for loving attention
of the wife and the desire for sympathy
of the husband, this element of unseltish
friendship supplemented the more self
seeking claims of lovei
The extraordinary quality of unseltish-
ness which distinguishes friendship
which is in any way worthy OF its name
makes yet more beautiful the absorbing
ardor of love which though it gives
nay, lavishes-all yet looks for its full re-
turn. Old hearts tremble when they see
young married folk building castles on
the rainbow-hued base of absorption in
each others personal qualities and let
ting all interests outside of themselves
pass by them as extraneous to their
happiness. If one could but beseech them
to grasp and hold fast of everything
which shall tend to bring all the worlds
best to their aid and garner it for the
long hours of these later days when their
mutual acquisition shall prove firm
foundation for the delightful friendship,
tender as it is true
If ever a friend, once trusted as those
trust who find their chief joy in that
close companionship which is so siguifi-
cantly phrased as zone to one, mistakes
or misuses the exclusiveness which it re-
quires, and gives of 'the food from the
kings table" to alien listeners, the hurt
is not for a time; always there will be
left a sense of caution and restraint
which makes all other friendships poorer
and less comforting.
Sometimes we make sore mistakes in
regard to the depth and truth of natures
that have potent fascination over us.
If ever there can be found that thing
which most requires deliberate and cau-
tious care, it will not be far away from
the place and way in which we take to
ourselves friend to whom we speak our
unfettered thoughts. One of the surest
tests of man in whom we can trust lies
in the way he treats the affairs Of Others.
To him who entertains you with the in
cidents of life in the homes of his kinsfolk
and friends-who tells you, however
charmngly, the little domestic happen
| ings under the roof where he has been a
guest, and uses the intimate lives of his
| acquaintance as his fund of amusement,
is one before whom to lay your finger on
your lips.
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his host planned little surprise for his
wife, and how charmingly she showed
her pleasure, and you may feel as if you
had witnessed a pretty scene in a play,
but beware of being too deInonstrative
to your own wife, Of showing your pride
in your frst-born son. you will fill up
the next need for pleasant story which
chances to arise. And by every regard
you feel for your own privacy and self
respect, never, if left alone with him,
yield to him an iota of your personal
thought or feeling. Your bread will come
back to you in less than seven days.
Those to whom we say You and T. are
not found every day.-New York Evening
Post.
The Deacon's Blunder.
In a village in Maryland an old dea-
con, in shaving himself on Sunday prior
to church time, made slight cut with
the razor on the extreme end of his nose.
Quickly calling his wife lie asked her il