Nor is it because we entertain the same views or respond to
the same emotions. All these things may serve to bring us nearer
together but no one of them can of itself kindle the divine fire of
friendship. A friend is one with whom we are fond of being when no
business is afoot nor any entertainment contemplated. A man may well be
silent with a friend. "I do not need to ask the wounded person how he
feels," says the poet, "I myself became the wounded person."
Not all people come to friendship in the same way. Some possess a
veritable genius for intimacy and will be making a dozen friends where I
make one. Our Scotch Preacher is such a person. I never knew any man
with a gift of intimacy so persuasive as his. He is so simple and direct
that he cuts through the stoniest reserve and strikes at once upon those
personal things which with all of us are so far more real than any
outward interest. "Good-morning, friend," I have heard him say to a
total stranger, and within half an hour they had their heads together
and were talking of things which make men cry. It is an extraordinary
gift.
As for me, I confess it to be a selfish interest or curiosity which
causes me to stop almost any man by the way, and to take something of
what he has--because it pleases me to do so.
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