ioo Company and Solitude 



Perhaps so, but I am concerned more with 

 the harm I do myself than with that I cause 

 to others. If I have one possession above 

 another that I value, it is my time, my living, 

 my concerns with myself; and there is no 

 surplusage to be bestowed upon formalities 

 that bring neither pleasure nor profit and do 

 not redound to my credit in any way in 

 which the subject can be looked at. I insist 

 that there is nothing churlish in this view. 

 I have not those in mind whom I call my 

 friends, but the average caller, the " com- 

 pany" that is dying but, alas, never dies to 

 know what your most secret thoughts have 

 been that day, so that he or she may an- 

 nounce them to some other vidlim of his or 

 her calling list. This is not evidence that I 

 am averse to a lively chat over the fence 

 with my next-door neighbor, nor that I do 

 not love to discuss old times with a former 

 playmate when we meet. All such occur- 

 rences and they have an added charm when 

 happening by chance are delightful and of 

 quite another chara&er : they are as honest, 

 outspoken, and hearty as that sweetest music 

 in the world, the laughter of childhood. 

 The frankness of a pleasant meeting is as 



