if, by reason of great strength and the dignity of gray
hairs, we retain some degree of public respect in the latter
days of our existence, will find a falling away of friends,
and a solitude making itself round about us day by day, until
we are left alone with the hired sick-nurse. For the
attraction of a man's character is apt to be outlived, like
the attraction of his body; and the power to love grows
feeble in its turn, as well as the power to inspire love in
others. It is only with a few rare natures that friendship
is added to friendship, love to love, and the man keeps
growing richer in affection - richer, I mean, as a bank may
be said to grow richer, both giving and receiving more -
after his head is white and his back weary, and he prepares
to go down into the dust of death. End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Familiar Studies of Men & Books
by Robert Louis Stevenson
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