, viewing society as a whole, that common interests,
and above all common labours, are the most potent means of bringing them
into close and friendly relations; and, in fact, they seem generally
essential for the formation of the closest and most permanent human
friendships. In every walk of human life, whether trade, or profession,
we find men associating by choice mainly with, and entertaining often
the profoundest and most permanent friendships for, men engaged in
their own callings. The inner circle of a barrister's friendships almost
always consists of his fellow-barristers; the city man, who is free to
select his society where he will, will be oftenest found in company with
his fellow-man of business; the medical man's closest friendship is, in
a large number of cases, for some man who was once his fellow-student
and has passed through the different stages of his professional life
with him; the friends and chosen companions of the actor are commonly
actors; of the savant, savants; of the farmer, farmers; of the sailor,
sailors. So generally is this the case that it would almost attract
attention and cause amusement were the boon companion of the sea captain
a leading politician, and the intimate friend of the clergyman an actor,
or the dearest friend of the farmer an astronomer. Kind seeks kind.
The majority of men by choice frequent clubs where those of their own
calling are found, and especially as life advances and men sink deeper
into their professional grooves, they are found to seek fellowship
mainly among their fellow-workers. That this should be so is inevitable;
common amusements may create a certain bond between the young, but
the performance of common labours, necessitating identical knowledge,
identical habits, and modes of thought, forms a far stronger bond,
drawing men far more powerfully towards social intercourse and personal
friendship and affection than the centrifugal force of professional
jealousies can divide them.

That the same condition would prevail where women became fellow-workers
with men might be inferred on abstract grounds: but practical experience
confirms this. The actor oftenest marries the actress, the male musician
the female; the reception-room of the literary woman or female
painter is found continually frequented by men of her own calling; the
woman-doctor associates continually with and often marries one of her
own confreres; and as women in increasing numbers share the field