Great tasks are but seldom given out,

Great deeds are but for the few,

Yet the little acts, not talked about,

May need a faith as true.

Some things are better for being small,

For a breath who wants a cyclone?

And the flower which would die in a water-fall

Grows bright with a drop alone.

The small is not always a little thing—

The stroke of a pen may move

A crown from off the brow of a king,

A government from its groove.

At times our measurement cannot be right,

For, when tried by the Master's test,

So little a gift as a widow's mite

Out-balances all the rest.

And whether a thing be great or small

As none of us may plan,

It is safe to do, what we do at all,

The very best that we can.

-Ella Hines Stratton-