[Illustration: THE TWO PATHS.]
I sometimes think that boys and girls, and even old people, are often
careless in the matter of their friendships--not careless in the matter
of selecting friends, though I am sure there is room for improvement
along that line--but careless in trying to keep the good friendships we
have already formed. We ought to keep our friendships in repair. Perhaps
you think that our friendships are not things which need to be kept in
repair. How foolish it is to think so! Does a garden need to be weeded?
Does an old fence need to be kept in repair? Do we paint our houses only
once in a century? What about the musician--does he not need to keep in
practice? Supposing that you never kept your muscles in repair by
constant use or exercise--how long would you be strong or healthy? And
do you think that your friendships, because they are in a way
intangible--you cannot see them, handle them or taste them--do you think
that they grow and thrive of their own accord, and, therefore, do not
need to be kept in repair? Slights, snubs, angry words, unpleasant
conduct, long continued lack of association, long continued lack of
familiar intercourse, and coldness, even where the meetings are
periodic--these things, boys and girls, will kill the warmest
friendship and choke the tenderest love. So we ought to be careful to
keep our friendships in repair. If we had no friends in this world, no
playmates and companions, no kindred spirits into whose keenest sorrows
and highest joys we entered with deep and full sympathy, and who did not
enter into our sorrows and joys in the same way--if we had no friends in
this world, with all of its wealth and splendor, we should not desire to
live very much longer. But to have friends and to be friendly goes a
long way towards making the world a beautiful and blessed place to live
in.
How, then, may we keep our friends? Easy enough--by cultivating them;
and we cannot keep them in any other way. We should take time to be
friendly. Little notes, little presents, little visits, little social
entertainments, little kindnesses--these things, and things like them,
go a great way in cementing our friendships, in tying people to us, as
it were, with hooks of steel. We should not neglect these means of
keeping our friendships in repair. Always give your friends a cordial
welcome in your homes, and at your little children’s parties; let them
feel, make them feel, that their coming adds to your pleasure without
increasing your burdens. Don’t be selfish and narrow; be broad-minded
and liberal. Keep your friendships in repair, and then see if you do not
find your horizon broadened, your life sweetened, and the weary weight
of this sad old world lightened.