THE ART OF FRIENDSHIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16327, 17 January 1921, Page 9

THE ART OF FRIENDSHIP.

There arc some peopie 111 the world who take a priflo m " keeping tfcemseives to themselves,” and who go through life without making a single friend ; but every warm-hearted woman naturally longs for sympathy and understanding, and not only desires to know one or two people intimately, but would like to possess a whole host ol j friends. It is useless to sit down with folded hands and wait lor friends to appear. One must go forth and win them. To gain friendship, one must seek it. To be understood, one must understand others. To have a friend, one must be a friend. When seeking friends, do not be put off by incongruities. it you like a. person, cultivate them, however divergent mav seem their tastes and opinions. Sooner or later you will find the bond ol something common to you both. It mav only be a similar sense of humour, perhaps, but it will lead to the understanding that means Muo friendship. Do not bo afraid to tost a friend by asking some special advice or help or sympathy. Fair-weather friends are never worth the name, and the sooner discovered the easier discarded. In the same way, never fail a friend who is in trouble or need. Make many friends. New ones need not displace the old, but should stand side by side with them. Every human soul is bewilderingly complex. To one friend we would go :u sorrow; to another in joy; to a different one, again, in matters of mind or spirit ; *0 Still another in worldly affairs. Only by making a multitude of iriends shall wo have one for every occasion and every mood. One woman I know has friends of mauy creeds, different nationalities and "diverse temperaments. She shares the lives of all, sympathises with all—and is rich in knowledge and experience accordingly- They all help in some way t 0 her development. Every day she sees, or hears from, or coromu- ; nicates with one or other of them. Consequently she is never lonely. Those' who pursue their own narrow wav of solitude, neither asking lior giving friendship, are only to be pitied for their blindness. If you possess but one friend, you hove a perpetual “ 'oof of bread and cruse of oil” to enrich vour life. Should you have mastered the art of friendship, you can never know absolute unhappiness any time or anywhere.