Do Not Censure Without Knowing.
Do not censure without knowing ;
Oft is hid a noble mind,
Worthy of our love bestowing,
Where we least expect to find ;
Many a heart in kindness beating,
Making solitude its own,
With no kindred spirit meeting;
Lives unloved, because unknown. Should you feel inclined to censure
Faults you may in others view,
Ask your own heart, ere you venture,
If that has not failings too.
Let not friendly vows be broken,
Rather strive a friend to gain ;
And a word once kindly spoken,
Finds its passage home again. Do not, then, in idle pleasure,
Trifle with a brother's fame ;
Guard it as a gilded treasure—
Sacred as your own good name,
Do not form opinions blindly,
Hastiness to trouble tends ;
Those of whom we've thought unkindly,
Oft become our warmest friends.