s where
the charm and power of the sex-impulse has no place have in them a
world of moral worth.

It is easy for any man to fall in love with some beautiful woman--it is
as easy as rolling off a log, and ever so much more delightful. It is
easy for any man to inhale the sweet incense which arises from the
devotion of some affectionate woman's heart. But where a man loves a
man in an unsullied, unselfish friendship until his soul is knit with
the soul of that man in an interlacing and interlocking of interest,
then you have that harder, rarer form of human relationship which is
rich with promise.

The young chap who is never quite happy with his fellows, who must
always have some adoring young woman present in order to be content, is
not quite all there. He is a "softy." He is lath and plaster where
there should be quartered oak. He has sentiment than principle; he has
less muscle and more fat than go to the make-up of a virile manhood.
The very absence of the glamour and mystery which enters into all
attachments between those of opposite sex clears the air for the
manifestation of some of those fine forms of fidelity and devotion
which belong to friendship at its best.

Here the friendship was the more notable when we recall how the two men
were placed. Jonathan was the eldest son of the king, the heir to the
throne, the natural successor of Saul. But David by his military
prowess had come to be highly esteemed. When he returned victorious
from his wars against the enemies of Israel the proud and happy women
had sung in the streets, "Saul has slain his thousands, but David has
slain his tens of thousands." And David had been privately anointed by
Samuel the prophet as a worthy candidate for the throne of Israel.

Jonathan, as the Crown Prince, had the least to gain and the most to
lose by protecting the life and ministering to the well-being of this
friend who might one day aspire to the throne. He made his affection a
thing resplendent by its sheer unselfishness. He saw that David might
increase while he would decrease, yet even so the sky of his affection
was unclouded by a single touch of jealousy. How great is that love
which envieth not.

And David in turn made his own adequate response to this magnanimous
interest. He showed himself in his whole bearing a man worthy of the
friendship of a prince of the blood. Heaven be praised for men who can
find joy and satisfaction in the friendship of their