call on for
help in emergencies, not some one to tease when the spirit of mischief
prompts, or to scold when things have gone wrong.

I would have the love of these two manifest itself in all true
helpfulness, but in a way that would draw out the noblest
self-reliance in each. It should manifest itself in courteous words,
in helpful deeds, in glances of the eye, in tones of the voice, in
heartfelt sympathies that stimulate to nobler deeds, in every way that
strengthens and uplifts; and if caresses are few, they will not be
missed in the wealth of that truer manifestation which makes the
recipient feel his nobility and worth.

A young lady once asked me if I believed in young people who were not
related treating each other as brother and sister, and I replied that
would depend on how the brother and sister treated each other. I have
seen girls treat brothers in ways that other young men would not
enjoy--finding fault, nagging, and snubbing generally. I have seen
young men browbeat their sisters, tease them, and be continually
unkind. I presume, if such a young man should propose to be a brother
to a girl, he would not purpose to treat her in this way. Young people
sometimes like to try to deceive themselves, and they fancy that the
subterfuge of calling each other brother and sister will be a warrant
for the parting kiss or the tender endearment that they enjoy, but
which they feel proprieties will not allow. The subterfuge is too
transparent. It deceives no one, and it does not make right that
which, without it, would be improper.

Platonic friendships--that is, friendships between men and women
without the element of physical love--are rare; rarer, indeed, than
they should be. They are difficult to maintain because of the
temptation to begin in the indulgences of personal familiarities,
which tend to lead the friendship over into debatable ground. Men and
women ought to be grand, true friends, inciting each other to the
noblest achievements, but it never can be through sentimentality.

A girl may think she is sisterly when she listens to the young man's
cry for sympathy in some trouble, and she holds his hand and smoothes
his hair and comforts him after this tender fashion, and he may go
away feeling comforted, even as a baby might be quieted by petting;
but his moral fiber has not been strengthened; he has not been made to
feel stronger to do and dare.

Supposing she had listened with interest to his story, and