A story is told of two men who were mowing in company. The one in advance thought he saw a hornet’s nest just ahead, and he cautiously paused. The other pooh-poohed his fears and mowed right on exclaiming, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion.” But pretty soon he struck the nest and was fighting the hornets that assailed him, whereupon the first, who also had a knack of quoting proverbs, exclaimed, “The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.” The prudent man had the best of it as he always does. Other gifts and attainments, however ample and varied, are negatived and neutralized without it, therefore in all pleasures be discreet.
“It is sad
To think how few our pleasures really are;
And for the which we risk eternal good.”
And, as Pope wrote,
“Pleasures, wrong or rightly understood,
Our greatest evil, or our greatest good.”
CHAPTER XVIII
Be Chary of Bad Books
INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER XVIII
By Anthony Comstock