p. 9 | A WORD ABOUT WORDS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 10, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 49.

A WORD ABOUT WORDS.

Ah me! these terrible tongues of ours, Are we half aware of their mighty powers? Do we ever trouble our heads at all Where the jest may strike, or the hint may fall? The latest chirp of that “little bird,” The spicy story “you must have heard”— We jerk them away in our gossip rash, And somebody’s glass, of course, goes smash. What fames have been blasted and broken, What pestilent sinks been stirred, By a word in lightness spoken, By only an idle word!

A sneer, a shrug, a whisper low— They are poisoned shafts from an ambush bowl! Shot by the coward, the fool, the knave, They pierce the mail of the great and brave; Vain is the buckler of wisdom and pride To turn the pitiless point aside; The lip may curl with careless smile, But the heart drips blood—drips blood the while. Ah me! what hearts have been broken, What rivers of blood been stirred, By a word in malice spoken, By only a bitter word!

A kindly word and a tender tone— To only God is their virtue known. They can lift from the dust the abject head, They can turn a foe to a friend instead; The heart close-barred with passion and pride Will fling at their knock its portals wide, And the hate that blights and the scorn that sears Will melt in the fountain of childlike tears. What ice-bound griefs have been broken, What rivers of love been stirred, By a word in kindness spoken, By only a gentle word!

—Selected.