--_Holmes_.

* * * * *

I am not of that feather, to shake off my friend when most he needs me.

--_Shakespeare_.

* * * * *

Let the honor of thy friend be as dear unto thee as thy own.

--_The Talmud_.

* * * * *

Life to be rich and fertile must be reinforced with friendship. It is
the sap that preserves from blight and withering; it is the sunshine
that beckons on the blossoming and fruitage; it is the starlight dew
that perfumes life with sweetness and besprinkles it with splendor; it
is the music-tide that sweeps the soul, scattering treasures; it is the
victorious and blessed leader of integrity's forlorn hope; it is the
potent alchemy that transmutes failure into success; it is the hidden
manna that nourishes when all other sustenance fails; it is the voice
that speaks to hopes all dead, "Because I live, ye shall live also." For
the loftiest friendships have no commercial element in them: they are
founded on disinterestedness and sacrifices. They neither expect nor
desire a return for gift or service. Amid the tireless breaking of the
billows on the shores of experience, there is no surer anchorage than a
friendship that "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all