s." There is keen irony here over the
quality of ordinary friendship, as well as condemnation of the
tale-bearer and his sordid soul.

This cynical attitude is so common that we hardly expect such a shrewd
book to speak heartily of the possibilities of human friendship. Its
object rather is to put youth on its guard against the dangers and
pitfalls of social life. It gives sound commercial advice about
avoiding becoming surety for a friend. It warms [Transcriber's note:
warns?] against the tricks, and cheats, and bad faith, which swarmed in
the streets of a city then, as they do still. It laughs, a little
bitterly, at the thought that friendship can be as common as the eager,
generous heart of youth imagines. It almost sneers at the gullibility
of men in this whole matter. "He that maketh many friends doeth it to
his own destruction."

And yet there is no book, even in classical literature, which so exalts
the idea of friendship, and is so anxious to have it truly valued, and
carefully kept. The worldly-wise warnings are after all in the
interests of true friendship. To condemn hypocrisy is not, as is so
often imagined, to condemn religion. To spurn the spurious is not to
reject the true. A sneer at folly may be only a covert argument for
wisdom. Satire is negative truth. The unfortunate thing is that most
men, who begin with the prudential worldly-wise philosophy, end there.
They never get past the sneer. Not so this wise book. In spite of its
insight into the weakness of man, in spite of its frank denunciation of
the common masquerade of friendship, it speaks of the true kind in
words of beauty that have never been surpassed in all the many
appraisements of this subject. "A friend loveth at all times, and is a
brother born for adversity. Faithful are the wounds of a friend.
Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so doth the sweetness of a
man's friend by hearty counsel. Thine own friend and thy father's
friend forsake not." These are not the words of a cynic, who has lost
faith in man.

True, this golden friendship is not a common thing to be picked up in
the street. It would not be worth much if it were. Like wisdom it
must be sought for as for hid treasures, and to keep it demands care
and thought. To think that every goose is a swan, that every new
comrade is the man of your own heart, is to have a very shallow heart.
Every casual acquaintance is not a hero. There are pearls of the
heart