[Gutenberg 4593] • Friends and Neighbors; Or, Two Ways of Living in the World

The value of friendship and neighborliness are as important in the rush and fast paced life of the 21st century as they were in the mid 19th century. Perhaps more important as we are ever increasingly separated by the technology we so value. Friends and Neighbors was edited by T S Arthur in 1856. Arthur has complied a group of prose and poetry for the purpose of reminding his readers about the value of friendship and the benefits of being a good neighbor. The Preface begins. "If we would only bring ourselves to look at the subjects that surround as in their true flight, we should see beauty where now appears deformity, and listen to harmony where we hear nothing but discord. To be sure there is a great deal of vexation and anxiety in the world; we cannot sail upon a summer sea for ever; yet if we preserve a calm eye and a steady hand, we can so trim our sails and manage our helm, as to avoid the quicksands, and weather the storms that threaten shipwreck. We are members of one great family; we are travelling the same road, and shall arrive at the same goal. We breathe the same air, are subject to the same bounty, and we shall, each lie down upon the bosom of our common mother. It is not becoming, then, that brother should hate brother; it is not proper that friend should deceive friend; it is not right that neighbour should deceive neighbour."