Friends and Neighbors; Or, Two Ways of Living in the World

GOOD WE MIGHT DO.

     WE all might do good
       Where we often do ill;
     There is always the way,
       If we have but the will;
     Though it be but a word
       Kindly breathed or supprest,
     It may guard off some pain,
       Or give peace to some breast.

     We all might do good
       In a thousand small ways—
     In forbearing to flatter,
       Yet yielding due praise—
     In spurning ill humour,
       Reproving wrong done,
     And treating but kindly
       Each heart we have won.

     We all might do good,
       Whether lowly or great,
     For the deed is not gauged
       By the purse or estate;
     If it be but a cup
       Of cold water that's given,
     Like “the widow's two mites,”
        It is something for Heaven.