George and his father were walking near the pasture gate, and George said,
“Wait, Father, and see me catch Prince without any oats.”
He took a halter, which hung on the gate post, and, carrying it in one hand behind him, started toward the young horse. With his other hand George held out his cap as though there were something in it, but it was empty.
“Here, Prince, come Prince!” he called, and Prince came to him, and began to smell of the cap expecting to get some oats as the boys always gave him.
Then George quickly drew the halter from behind him, threw it over the horse’s head, fastened it, securely, and led him the gate.
“There, Father, wasn’t that easy?” he asked.
“Yes, my boy, perhaps it is an easy way to catch Prince, but I am afraid he will not trust you after this.”
“George, have you ever been caught in a halter without any oats, as you caught Prince?” said his father that evening as they sat on the porch.
“What do you mean, Father?”
“Do some of the boys want you to go where you know Mother and I do not think good for you, and do they tell you how fine it would be? And do they try to have you smoke and use bad language, and call it just some fun?”
“Yes, Father, they do.”
“Do you see such things are like the hidden halter for Prince? There would soon be bad habits holding you fast like the halter. And the good they promise is empty like the cap. Christian boys need. to be very careful, and I hope the easy way Prince was caught will be a lesson to you, George.”
There are many warnings in the Word of God to show the danger of being lead into wrong ways:
ML 05/01/1938