The house to me may lowly be,
If I but like the people in it!

What's all the gold that glitters cold,
When link'd to hard or haughty feeling?
Whate'er we're told, the nobler gold
Is truth of heart and manly dealing!

Then let them seek, whose minds are weak,
Mere fashion's smile, and try to win it;
The house to me may lowly be,
If I but like the people in it!

--_Swain_.

* * * * *
Talk not of wasted affection,
Affection never was wasted;
If it enrich not the heart of another,
Its waters returning
Back to their springs like the rain,
Shall fill them full of refreshment;
That which the fountain sends forth
Returns again to the fountain.

--_Longfellow_.

* * * * *

There is no greater bane to friendship than adulation, fawning, and