--_Longfellow_.

* * * * *

The only danger in friendship is that it may end.

--_Thoreau_.

* * * * *

Of all the heavenly gifts that mortal men commend,
What trusty treasure in the world can countervail a friend?
Our health is soon decayed; goods, casual, light and vain;
Broke have we seen the force of power, and honor suffer stain.
In body's lust man doth resemble but base brute;
True virtue gets and keeps a friend, good guide of our pursuit.
Whose hearty zeal with ours accords in every case;
No term of time, no space of place, no storm can it deface.

--_Nicholas Grimoald_.

* * * * *

When we have fallen through story after story of our vanity and
aspiration, and sit rueful among the ruins, then it is that we begin to
measure the stature of our friends; how they stand between us and our
own contempt, believing in our best.

--_Stevenson_.