# Speak Gently

- Source: McGuffey's Third Reader (third-reader.gutenberg.org), Public domain, William Holmes McGuffey, 1879, via Project Gutenberg
- Reading level: Grades 3 and 4
- Subjects: Poems
- Topics: gently, speak, good, harsh, little, love
- Length: 151 words, about 1 min
- Original: <https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14766>
- Page: <https://sprout.rootsofreason.org/r/mcguffey-third/third-43-speak-gently>
- Open in Sprouts: <https://sprout.rootsofreason.org/?read=mcguffey-third/third-43-speak-gently>

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Speak gently; it is better far  
To rule by love than fear:  
Speak gently; let no harsh words mar  
The good we might do here.

Speak gently to the little child;  
Its love be sure to gain;  
Teach it in accents soft and mild;  
It may not long remain.

Speak gently to the aged one;  
Grieve not the careworn heart:  
The sands of life are nearly run;  
Let such in peace depart.

Speak gently, kindly, to the poor;  
Let no harsh tone be heard;  
They have enough they must endure,  
Without an unkind word.

Speak gently to the erring; know  
They must have toiled in vain;  
Perhaps unkindness made them so;  
Oh, win them back again.

Speak gently: 'tis a little thing  
Dropped in the heart's deep well;  
The good, the joy, which it may bring,  
Eternity shall tell.  
George Washington Langford.

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