Good Companions
One day, says a Persian poet, I saw a bunch of roses, and in the midst of them grew a tuft of grass.
“How,” I cried to the grass, “does a poor plant like you dare to be found in the company of roses?”
And I ran to tear away the tuft, when the grass replied:
“Spare me! It is true, I am not a rose; but you will perceive from my perfume that I have been among the roses.”
This is a very pretty fable for young people. It makes us recollect one of the proverbs of Solomon: “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise; but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” Young people like to have companions, and it is proper that they should have them. If we had no one to associate with, we should be unhappy. We need friends that we may confide in, and that we may tell them what we feel and what we think. But we must take care as to the choice of friends; for just as the grass in the fable imbibed the scent of the roses, so we become like those with whom we associate.