The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-01-08
FRIENDSHIP.

Friendship is word the very sight
of which in print makes the heart
warm" says an exchange. How clio,
Quently these words express what
friendship means to one and all OF us
In our voyage over the sea OF life!
Without the pleasure and comfort af-
forded by true friendship the years
would be empty indeed. Lamb says
that having friend to share our joy
doubles it for us, and having one in
whom we may confide our sorrow,
halves it's bitter pang. If any great
happiness, success or prosperity over
takes us, the very thought that there
is a friend who will be delighted with
our success increases our own joy i'm
mensely. On the other hand, if we
have tasted of the bitter fruits of life
and some trouble or adversely, great
or small, has come like a cloud to
darken the hitherto bright horizon of
our hopes, and to us that cloud seems
black as night and threatens to over
shadow the sunshine of our whole life;
but our friend comes to us, unlimited
if he is true friend, for true friends
visit us in prosperity only when invit>
ed, but in adversely they come without
invitation, and points out to us the
silver lining lit may be tiny, but still
it is silver) to that cloud of sorrow,
and instantly the trouble seems de-
prived of half it's bitterness, not that
it is any less hard but because friend
has come to bear half the burden on
his own shoulders.
But what is friend? Someone said
cit is another name for God" and he is
right inasmuch as true friendship Is
almost divine. A true friend is one
who unbosoms freely, advises justly,
assists readily, adventures boldly,
takes all patiently, defends courage
ously and remains a friend, unchange-
ably. What great blessing is friend
with breast so trusty that we may
safely bury all our secrets in it, whose
conscience we may fear less than our
own, who can relieve our cares by his
conversation, our doubts by his coun-
sells, our sadness by his good humor,
and whose very looks give comforts to
us.
Commend me to that generous heart,
Which like the fire on high
Uplifts the same unvarying brow
To every change of sky.
Whose friendship does not fade away
When wintry tempests blow,
But like the winters icy crown
Looks greener through the snow"
He is the true friend then who is
with us in sunshine and storm and
that unchanging fidelity is really what
is meant by friendship. If it were ex-
pediency that cemented friendships,
expediency when changed would dis
solve them, but because ones nature
can never change, therefore true
friendships are eternal.
Much, certainly, of the happiness
and purity of our lives depends on our
making a wise choice of our COM
panions and friends. If our friends
are badly chosen they will inevitably
drag us down; if well, they cannot fail
to have an ennobling elevating in.
fuence on us and consequently on our
lives. And yet the strange thing about
it is how few people exercise even a
little judgment or take little trouble
in the choice of their friends, and how
many seem to trust blindly to chance
to make the selection for them. Why
they exercise much greater care in the
choice of an Office boy or indeed of E
pet dog than in selecting friends by
whom their whole life will be more OF
less influenced for good or evil. In the
case of friends it is always well to re
member that lone should never judge
a book by it's cover" and choose oul
friends for what they are and not fol
what they look or have. 1t is a sign Of
gentleness to treat everyone withou
distinction, with courtesy and con
sideration, but to treat them as friend:
betrays a foolish mind