LXVII.
KEEPING FRIENDSHIP IN REPAIR.
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.
The Two Paths.
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.