p. 317 | LITTLE THINGS

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 19, 1883

LITTLE THINGS.

One step and then another, And the longest walk is ended; One stitch and then another, And the largest rent is mended; One brick upon another, And the highest wall is made; One flake upon another, And the deepest snow is laid.

So the little coral workers, By their slow but constant motion, Have built those pretty islands, In the distant dark blue ocean; And the noblest undertakings Man's wisdom hath conceived, By oft-repeated effort Have been patiently achieved.

Little—'tis a little word, But much may in it dwell; Then let a warning voice be heard, And learn the lesson well; The way to ruin thus begins, Down, down, like easy stairs; If conscience suffers little sins, Soon larger ones it bears.

A little theft, a small deceit, Too often leads to more; 'Tis hard at first, but tempts the feet, As through an open door. Just as the broadest rivers run From small and distant springs, The greatest crimes that men have done Have grown from little things.

--Selected.