I Will Not Doubt My Kind

From The San Francisco Call, January 9, 1913.
 

 I will not learn to doubt my kind.
     If bread is poison, what is food?
     If man is evil, what is good?
 I’ll cultivate a friendly mind.
 
 I see not far, but this I see:
     If man is false, then naught is true;
     If faith is not the golden clue
 To life, then all is mystery.
 
 I know not much, but this I know:
     That not in hermit’s calm retreat,
     But in the storied, busy street
 The angels most do come and go.
 
 Who to the infinite would rise
     Should know this one thing ere he starts:
     That all its steps are human hearts;
 To love mankind is to be wise.
 
 I will not learn to doubt my kind.
     If man is false, then false am I;
     If on myself I can’t rely,
 Then where shall faith a foothold find?