MISUNDERSTOOD

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 26, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 33.

COULD we but draw back the curtains That surround each other’s lives, See the naked heart and spirit, Know what spur the action gives, Often we should find it better, Purer than we judge we should; We should love each other better If we only understood.

Could we judge all deeds by motives, See the good and bad within, Often we should love the sinner All the while we loathe the sin. Could we know the powers working To overthrow integrity, We should judge each other’s errors With more patient charity.

If we knew the cares and trials, Knew the effort all in vain, And the bitter disappointment— Understood the loss and gain— Would the grim external roughness Seem, I wonder, just the same? Should we help where now we hinder? Should we pity where we blame?

Ah! we judge each other harshly, Knowing not life’s hidden force, Knowing not the fount of action Is less turbid at its source, Seeing not amid the evil All the golden grains of good. O, we’d love each other better If we only understood!

—Fireside Magazine.