sorrow, and we should do
all in our power to lead them back to the Father's house from which
they have wandered. But we should never make them our friends. We
cannot dwell in an ill-ventilated and ill-drained house without running
the risk of having our own constitution lowered. We cannot associate
in close companionship with the infidel and the sceptic without
endangering our own spiritual life. Doubt is as catching as disease.
"Take my word for it," said the great Sir Robert Peel, who was a close
observer of men, "it is not prudent, as a rule, to trust yourself to
any man who tells you he does not believe in God, and in a future life
after death." We should choose our friends from those who have chosen
the better part, and day by day we shall feel the benefit of their
companionship in making us stronger and better.

These are some plain rules drawn from long experience of life which may
be helpful to some. We may conclude by quoting the noble lines of
Tennyson in which he draws the picture of his friend, Arthur Hallam,
and the inspiration he drew from him:

Thy converse drew us with delight,
The men of rathe and riper years:
The feeble soul, a haunt of fears,
Forgot his weakness in thy sight.

On thee the loyal-hearted hung,
The proud was half disarm'd of pride,
Nor cared the serpent at thy side
To flicker with his double tongue.

The stern were mild when thou wert by,
The flippant put himself to school
And heard thee, and the brazen fool
Was soften'd, and he knew not why;

While I, thy nearest, sat apart,
And felt thy triumph was as mine;
And loved them more, that they were thine,
The graceful tact, the Christian art;

Nor mine the sweetness or the skill,
But mine the love that will not tire,
And, born of love, the vague desire
That spurs an imitative will.
TENNYSON.

Happy are those whose friends in some degree approach the character
here delineated.

[1] Stalker's _Imago Christi_.

[2] Hain Friswell, _The Gentle Life_.

CHAPTER V.

MONEY.

Money has been defined as _the measure and standard of value, and the
medium of exchange_. It represents everything that may be purchased.
He who possesses money has potentially in his possession everything
that can be bought with money. Money is thus power. It seems to have
in itself all earthly possibilities.

There are three things which should be borne in mind in