Evening star., 1934-01-28

oOlIdI IL ICiIlo III yOul IlOQSc, VI
1 4 even in the near neighborhood.
They must 60 their way. You
must go yours. If you can meet once
a week or once a month. you are lucky.
Often you must go without seeing and
talking to them for years. And writing
letters is distasteful business for most
people
But there are friends whom you
can keep in your own home. without
any lear that they will upset the
routine, or be disturbed by The children
These friends occupy little space,
relatively. for they are between covers
and easily disposed of. They are friends
who exist between the covers of books.
Get as many of these as you can,
and become acquainted with them.
They come from all parts of the world
to counsel and advise you. They have
many wise and useful things to say
to you, and they will never dispute you
or take offense if you do not agree with
them about anything. Spend more time
with them than you do. You can even
afford to miss "speakie" once in q
while in order to form the acquaintance
OF these inanimate members Of your
own household.
AM in no position to tell you what
particular friends to choose and
shelter. for I know nothing of your
personal tastes.
You must do the selecting. All you
need to do is to be sure that each par
ticular friend is a wise friend, who will
either amuse you intelligently, thus
adding to your happiness, or teach you
something that is worth knowing.
If need be, talk to the local librarian
about the right books to keep handy.
After you have made a few Of these
friends, the names of others will begin
to occur to you. Soon you will have
houseful of very good company, and
| you can find plenty of time between
contract games to learn something from
them.
Abraham Lincoln had a few. a pitiful
few, beside his fireplace when he was
child, but he. you may depend.
learned all they had to teach him. and
continued to make more of the same
kind of friends as he grew to manhood.
Water over the dam is waste. It
never comes again to your aid. But
these friends. no matter how old, are
always there, always ready with help
and counsel always ready to spin dull
them. get and keep as many as you
can. They have brought comfort and
happiness to uncounted multitudes Of
people.
Il * %A
YOU and I both know people who
have got good jobs through their
friends Some of them have succeeded.
More of them are still dependents. For
man who must be helped out bv
others is as much of a dependent as is
child. A child, however. has an ex-
cuse for being a dependent while q
man has not.
When you get out into the world you
will need all the self-respect. all the
backbone that you can muster. You
will not get much of either of them II
every time you are DISCOURAGED or dis
heartened you have to run to some body
you know for advice and help.
There is nothing that gives a man
so much faith in himself and so much
confidence as independence. Try not
to be any body's man but your own
Don't ask help until you have made
every possible effort to work out your
problems, and then don't ask much
of it.
1t is true that often boys who are
born with silver spoons in their mouths
work their way up. But they do it not
because they get help, but in spite OF
the fact that they get help. A young
man who has had every thing he
wants in life given him by an indulgent
parent deserves great credit. for the
indulgence was Z handicap to him.