There is nothing in this world that can lighten our burdens, in
passing through it, or contribute more to our happiness, than our
knowing we have a true friend, who will commiserate with and help us
in our misfortunes, and on whom we can rely in times of difficulty and
distress. There are many, indeed, who, with fair words, pretend to
that character, and are ever ready to offer their services when there
is no occasion for their help. But the real friend, like gold from
the furnace, shines forth in his true lustre, and with heart and hand
is ever ready to succour us, in times of tribulation and peril. It
is on such only we ought to place a confidence in any undertaking of
importance; for the man who is wholly actuated by the selfish unsocial
principle of caring only for himself, is not fit to be associated
with others of a more generous character; and he who will desert them
in adversity ought not to be made a partaker of the prosperity of
others. It therefore behoves us diligently to examine into the fidelity
of those we have to deal with, before we embark with them in any
enterprise, in which our lives and fortunes may be put to hazard by
their breach of faith.
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