present envy, jealousy, bitterness, hate, fear and foolish pride out of
their hearts, then Christian socialism will be at hand, and not
until then.

The subject is entirely too big to dispose of in a paragraph, so I am
just going to content myself here with the mention of one thing, that so
far as I know has never been mentioned in print--the danger to society
of exclusive friendships between man and man, and woman and woman. No
two persons of the same sex can complement each other, neither can they
long uplift or benefit each other. Usually they deform the mental and
spiritual estate. We should have many acquaintances or none. When two
men begin to "tell each other everything," they are hiking for senility.
There must be a bit of well-defined reserve. We are told that in
matter--solid steel for instance--the molecules never touch. They never
surrender their individuality. We are all molecules of Divinity, and our
personality should not be abandoned. Be yourself, let no man be
necessary to you--your friend will think more of you if you keep him at
a little distance. Friendship, like credit, is highest where it is
not used.

I can understand how a strong man can have a great and abiding affection
for a thousand other men, and call them all by name, but how he can
regard any one of these men much higher than another and preserve his
mental balance, I do not know.

Let a man come close enough and he'll clutch you like a drowning person,
and down you both go. In a close and exclusive friendship men partake of
others' weaknesses.

In shops and factories it happens constantly that men will have their