The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1909-05-13
OUR FRIENDS.


NAV be insular and solitary at times, yet
we are sadly bereft if we have no TRENDS.
..Life is to be fortified by friendships
It is wise, therefore, to mingle as much as
possible with persons whose association
with us is likely to be uplifting should 1t
ripen into friendship. AS rule, the in
timaces from which we derive the greatest
Measure are made when we are young.
Persons rarely cultivate new friendships
after they arrive at middle life. They form
new acquaintance, but these alliances are
likely to lack the depth and warmth OF
attachment that binds US to the friends OF
youth. A man beyond fifty remarked,
"Make all the friends you can while you
are young, for you will find as you grow
old it is increasingly difficult to make
Them
1t is extremely important that parents
should see to it that their young charges
are brought up in an environment that will
give them proper associates. Place TWO
children together who have never met be-
fore. In half an hour they have estab-
lished a friendship which may last through
life. Adults are more wary. They are
quite sure whether the new associate has
the possibility of a good friend in him.
There is period of uncertainty as to the
relation 1t may never get beyond casual
acquantanceship. Happily there are ex-
ceptional natures with measureless ca
pacity for friendship which continue to
garner new intimacies through life.
We are told that our friendships should
admit of variety. Persons living in cities
have wide field from which to gather
companions. Friendships have been clas-
siied. Some are made "by interest and
some by souls" The last named are the
only ones that are sure to survive the storm
and stress of life. 1t is one of the great
disadvantages of the influential, the
mighty, who have the power to grant or
withhold favors, that they can never be
quite sure of disinterested regard. The
most beautiful attachments are to be found
among the poor. "They love the better
still the few the Father sends.''
1t would be impossible for us to become
intimate with certain estimable and worthy
people owing to subtle psychic repulsions.
We have our affinities- "When nature fills
the sails the vessel goes smoothly on. !"
Nevertheless, some devoted friendships
have arisen whose beginnings were not
very promising. Affection with many
dispositions is plant Of very slow growth,
but once taken root it has the strength of
the oak. There is no prescription for
friendship. Souls made for each ether
rush together by an irresistible attraction
and become irrevocably united.
There are individuals who are so stepped
in self-love and collaboration that they
can discover nothing serviceable or admir-
able in others, and are thus excluded from
the respect which is the seed of friendship.
If there were nothing but selfshness in the
world there would be no genuine friend
ship, which is kind of benevolence and
demands sacrifice. If it consists only in
ga lively hope of favors to Gomez there is
base alloy in the metal. Friendship is an
exchange of sympathies rather than an
exchange of property. 1--WE want some
one to bear with our infirmities, to impart
our condolences to. to encourage US in our
hobbies, nay, to get up and ride behind us,
and like us for all our faults.''
Do not put friendship to the test by
asking your friend for money loan. De-
lay in payment has severed or chilled many
old-time intimacies. Friendship has to do
with the things of the spirit rather than
with material things. Speaking of one of
his boon companions, Hazlitt says he never
ate or drank at his house; that he did not
care whether mouse could get living
there, "but know can get there what l
get nowhere elsa welcome, as if one
were expected at that moment
Friendship may pail by excess. Affec-
ton that wearies is on the wane. It can
not be forced. No effort should be needed
to maintain it: We enjoy even silence in
the presence of our elect friend. There
must be perfect freedom to 60 or stay, to
speak or not to speak. There is truth in
the Emersonian paradox that the condition
which friendship demands is the ability to
do without it. 81 do with my friends as |
do with my books. | would have them
where can find them" Bring to your
companions something more than the
story of your troubles; the companionship
of II Il II