Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-13

Why is a friend?
That is a question l have been pom
dering over quite n bit in the last
week, because, TO borrow phrase from
the stock market, there seems to be
decided bull movement in friendship
just at present.
Is it the Spring, wonder-that name
less longing, those wayward uncertain
yearnings which come with the year s
awakenng-that is responsible? In the
emotional unrest which seems charac-
teristic of the season. especially IN
youth, does one instinctively turn toward
| the uuieter and less tempestuous haven
as a refuge?
However that may be, l only know
that for the past fortnight my corre-
| spondence has centered practically
about that one questionable need and
desire for true friend.
And, by the way, there is peculiar
| have never yet seen any adequate eX-
| psychological phenomenon for which L
PLANTATION. Receiving letters as l DO
| from all parts of the country and from
! all sorts of people, why is 1t that over
any given period of time the bulk OF
| them should all be in similar tone ana
concerned with the same subject?
It is said that in mail order houses
4
I grist of letters is heavy, the same pc
| culiarty has been observed. One week
the post will bring nothing but sue
| cession of "kicks" while the next week
| will be signaliZed by an equally un-
broken string of compliments; or, Tor
one seven days the correspondence Will
| touch exclusively on one phase OF the
firms activities. and for the next seven
days upon another and entirely diner
! ent one.
And will bear testimony that in my
own case the majority of the letters
which come to me during any certain
period follow a single trend or are OF
| Identical character. So in one week
I will have only the problems Oh tne
!, loyelorn in another, those OF the mar
ried: in another. those relating to par
enthood, or to business, or to the ram
lily; and so on until the whole gamu'
of social relations is covered.
To say as a reason for this singu'
1sritv that such or such a subject is
in the air, is simply to beg the question
There must be some law to govern ano
account for the circumstance but wha'
If is or how it acts is, 1 confess, be-
yond me. -,
However, to return to the point witt
which I started, l have been struck by
the fact that for the past week or so
the prevailing demand IN all my leIIei'
has been for friendship. In almos
every one open l run across TINS ques
ton: How can 1 make friends?
The answer is of course, as witt
everything else: Go where friends ar
made.
You can't expect to turn out watches
in a plough factory, or to bore for oi
on Broadway, or raise artichokes in tn
desert.
Friendship is a plant born of pro
pinauity or attraction between peopl
who have a common aim or common
interests.
You can't go out and, hailing the frs
passerby as he goes hurrying about nj
. business, expect to make him you
, friend. You must show him where tn
association you offer will be to his owl
, advantage and benefit. Nothing TO
nothing is an invariable ruin through
, out the universe. For whatever yo
get you must pay in some form Of coli
! or another.
And just as a man with all his loft
spiritual and intellectual possibilitie
, comes from the dust of the earth, s
friendship. which on occasion has show