h other something which they may know is
needed or wanted. While this impulse should be cultivated even with
the most limited means, and the sense of generosity preserved even
among the poorest,--where, to be frank, it is more apt to be found
than among the rich,--there should be no counting upon such presents,
nor obligation to make them imposed. This destroys their value as
expressions of affection, and makes the custom harmful. For that
reason it is not well to adhere to times and seasons, but at any time
when the right opportunity offers and the impulse moves, give the gift
that one desires to give.

Where such an impulse is characteristic of a family, the members will
naturally take pride in expressing in that way their appreciation of
individual achievement, as when a member graduates from a high school
or college, or attains his majority, or makes some special advance in
any way. The spirit which welcomes achievement and recognizes it,
becomes an incentive, perhaps the strongest there is, and surely the
most noble, that of satisfying and pleasing a loved one. Life holds
too much of defeat for the average person, for its minor victories to
be passed over in silence and indifference.

_Intimate Friends_

One's attitude toward intimate friends is either a pleasant memory or
a sad revelation. If one holds them a little lower than one's family,
and expends upon them effort to charm second only to the effort
habitually given to those whom one loves, then intimacy becomes a
privilege, no matter what the circumstances, and a lifelong
gratification and pleasure. If, however, one considers that intimate
friends are entitled to less courtesy than the public, and are to be
made to serve one's purpose more effectually than mere acquaintances
do, then the burden of friendship is great, and soon dropped.
Affection is not mercenary.

One word in regard to the single monopolizing friendship. Many a
marriage has been wrecked, and many a mother's friendship turned away,
because some one friend, of about one's own age and tastes, of
pronounced influence and exorbitant demands, has usurped, at first
perhaps unconsciously but ever surely, the place in one's life, and at
last in one's heart, that some member of the family should have taken.

Some people seem naturally predisposed to this sort of friendship, and
as soon as the intellectual zest is gone from absorbing companionship
with one person, they turn to another. One such