nd heavy? And why so? Because our
heart has been wounded, perhaps crushed, by some wicked insinuation,
or some unkind interpretation of an action performed with the best Of
intentions on our part. Even our holiest actions are criticized, and
unworthy motives, which never entered our minds, are attributed to
us. Then again, they, whom we had considered our best friends, may
betray us, and reveal to a cold and cruel world the secrets which, in
our simplicity, we had confided to them. In a word, if intercourse
with our fellow-creatures is often the source of pure joys, it is not
infrequently the occasion of our keenest sufferings. And why? Because
in our present state of imperfection we are sinful and selfish.
Because we allow ourselves to act toward others through jealousy,
envy, natural aversion, and other ungoverned passions of our fallen
nature. We do not love all men, and all men do not love us. We see
many defects in others, which make them unamiable; and they see as
many in us, which make their love for us almost an impossibility.
Wherefore, so long as we live in the flesh, our social joys must
always be mingled with a certain amount of bitterness.

Let us now raise our eyes to our heavenly home, and there contemplate
a life of the purest, and most perfect social pleasures. There,
neither selfishness, nor uncharitableness, nor any unruly passion can
exist, and, consequently, our social joys will never be mingled with
the gall of bitterness. Putting aside, for a moment, all the
shortcomings and imperfections that mar our social joys in this
world, let us look at their bright side only, and see what it is that
makes our social intercourse with others a pleasure. This will be as
a mirror wherein we shall behold some faint reflections of social
joys as they exist in heaven. What are the personal attributes or
qualities in others that make our social intercourse with them a
pleasure? They may be reduced to six, which really include all others
that could be mentioned. These are virtue, learning, beauty,
refinement, mutual love, and the ties of kindred. We shall say a few
words on each of these.

1. Virtue is the attribute which gives us our highest similitude to
God, and it is this also which imparts to us some of the purest
social pleasures we enjoy on earth. Purity of life, or at hast the
absence of gross vices, is a condition without which we can enjoy no
one's society, unless we ourselves are depraved. Neither beaut