Page:The first and last journeys of Thoreau - lately discovered among his unpublished journals and manuscripts.djvu/158

 ideal. It would be taking names in vain. We are not aware of the uses to which we put each other.

If I valued my friends less, I should visit them oftener. There are few to whom Friendship is a sufficiently sacred relation. Most are prepared for a vulgar quarrel and truce. I cherish so many fancies about it, and so religiously, that I never get to speech on the subject. I have been grieved at the readiness with which my friend could say that I was offended. I had tenderly cherished the flower of our friendship till one day my friend treated it as a weed. It did not survive the shock, but drooped and withered from that hour. A friend avoids the subject of Friendship in conversation. It is a very sacred relation, which is not liable to a vulgar difference. He whom we associate with our daily affairs is our acquaintance. He whom we associate with our social joys is what the world commonly calls our friend. He whom we associate with our Elysium is beloved by us.

I have a friend whom I heartily love, whom I would always treat tenderly; who [110]