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THE CANDLE

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 26, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 9.

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THE CANDLE

By Charles D. Pratt

[Charles D. Pratt, in the Springfield Republican.]
FAR greater lights He made; there is no need To waste my feeble flame in open day; When the sun bids men on their errand speed, Then I am naught, nor is there one would stay To seek my aid; but when the darkness falls And men go groping where with firm, swift pace They lately trod; when, stumbling, some one calls, "A light! a light!"—with reassuring face I smile, and guide them where they wish to go; I brighten all the house, I pierce the dark, And what they could not find, I quickly show. They use me then, and bless my tiny spark.
Once, in a cottage window set, I shined O'er a dark moor where a lone traveler strayed, Striving in vain a friendly roof to find; Trusting in me, he gained it, unafraid.
And once a poet, in his waking dreams, Hailed this my shaft of light through darkness hurled; "How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world."