The Home Circle by Josephine Canning

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 2, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 14.

The Home Circle.

By Josephine Canning

CONSIDER.

Do we ever stop to consider How little a kind word may cost, And if once the hasty word spoken, One chance in our life we have lost?

Do we ever stop to consider All the sorrow one little word May bring to the heart that is yearning For the tones of love seldom heard?

Do we ever stop to consider How much sunshine is thrown away, When we close fast the door where kindness Knocks anew to come in each day?

Do we ever stop to consider When everything seems to go wrong, That the fault we think is another's Has been our own all the day long?

Now, a simple rule to consider, And one I am sure we will find, Is to see what is the motive For saying a word that's unkind.

And if we take time to consider, The motive, perchance, will grow small; And I think in the end we may find That there is no motive at all. —Josephine Canning.