Such was the main part of the dialogue that passed between Jack and his aunt. The boy expressed great satisfaction for what she had told him, and then went away to take another walk in the fields.
The Hoop; or Look ere you Leap.
See this boy with his hoop! How the hoop flies, and how the little fellow enjoys the fun! But take care, George! take care—there is a ditch before you!
But, alas, George is like other boys, so eager in his sport that he thinks of nothing else. On goes the hoop, and on goes George after it.
By-and-by, he comes to the ditch. The hoop bounds across, and poor George tumbles in! What a sight he is when he comes out—all over mud! Next time, George, look before you leap—or, in other words, be not so absorbed in your sport, as to forget everything else. Look a little before you, and see that you run into no danger.
This looking before, is what we call prudence. This heedless running on, without seeing where one is going, we call imprudence. A prudent person will seldom get into trouble; an imprudent person is very likely to get into a great deal.
George was an imprudent boy, and tumbled into the ditch. Let my young friends take warning by his mishap; let them cultivate prudence; in other words, let them look ere they leap.