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not contageous or infections. But an infection, or a contagion, or a cruel 
misrepresentation which, those who do not know you are ready to believe, 
or the loss of money and social prestige, or the disgraceful act of some 
friend, which has “got into the newspapers,” or a big blunder of your own 
—any of these will immediately act as a social sieve, and those whose 
friendship is not really great will fall through like dust, while the few true 
friends will remain. 
“A friend is gold: if true , he ; ll never leave thee; 
Yet both, without a touchstone, may deceive thee.” 
— Anon. 
Choose your friend wisely , 
Test your friend well; 
True friends, like rarest gems, 
Prove hard to tell. 
Winter him, summer him, 
Know your friend well. 
Oft bosom companions 
Are dangerous things; 
Kifling your honey, 
But leaving their stings; 
Creeping and crawling, 
Like bees without wings. 
Leave not your secrets 
At every man’s door; 
High tides will shift them, 
Like sands on the shore— 
Sift them and shift them, 
No higher, No lower. 
Take advice charily; 
Many a man 
Dates back his ruin 
To change of his plan. 
Choose your friend wisely , 
And well , if you can. 
— Anon. 
