An old fox is shy of a trap
Charles Spurgeon · John Ploughman's Pictures; or, More of His Plain Talk for Plain People
THE old fox knows the trap of old.
You don't catch him so easily as you
would a cub. He looks sharp at the sharp
teeth, and seems to say,
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158 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
'* Hello, my old chap,
I spy out your trap.
To-day, will you fetch me?
Or wait till you catch me ?
The cat asked the mice to supper, but
only the young ones would come to the
feast, and they never went home again.
" Will you walk into my parlor? " said the
spider to the fly, and the silly creature did
walk in, and was soon as dead as a door-
nail.
What a many traps have been set for
some of us. Man-traps and woman-traps ;
traps to catch us by the eye, by the ear, by
the throat, and by the nose; traps for the
head and traps for the heart; day traps, and
night traps, and traps for any time you like.
The baits are of all sorts, alive and dead,
male and female, common and particular.
We had need be wiser than foxes, or we
shall soon hear the snap of the man-trap
and feel its teeth.
Beware of beginnings : he who does not
take the first wrong step will not take the
second. Beware of drops, for the fellows
who drink take nothing but a " drop of
beer," or "a. drop too much." Drop your
BEWARE OF MAN- TEA PS. 159
drop of grog. Beware of him who says " Is
it not a Httle one ? " Little sins are the
eggs of great sorrows. Beware of hps
smeared with honey: see how many flies
are caught with sweets. Beware of evil
questions which raise needless doubts, and
make it hard for a man to trust his Maker.
Beware of a bad rich man who is very liberal
to you ; he will buy you first and sell you
afterwards. Beware of a dressy young
woman, without a mind or a heart ; you
may be in a net before you can say Jack
Robinson.
" Pretty fools nre no ways rare :
Wise men will of such beware."
Beware of the stone which you stumbled
over the last time you went that way. Be-
ware of the man who never bewares, and
beware of the man whom God has marked.
Beware of writing your name on the back
of a bill, even though your friend tells you
ten times over " it is only a matter of form,
you know." It is a form which you had
better " formally decline," as our school-
master says. If you want to be chopped
up, put your hand to a bill ; but if you want
i6o JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
to be secure never stand as security for any-
living man, woman, child, youth, maiden,
cousin, brother, uncle, or mother-in-law.
Beware of trusting all your secrets with any-
body but your w^fe. Beware of a man who
will lie, a woman who tells tales out of
school, a shop-keeper who sends in his bill
twice, and a gentleman who will make your
fortune if you will find him a few pounds.
Beware of a mule's hind foot, a dog's tooth,
and a woman's tongue. Last of all, beware
of no man more than of yourself, and take
heed in this matter many ways, especially
as to your talk. Five words cost Zacharias
forty weeks' silence. Many are sorry they
spoke, but few ever mourn that they held
their tongue.
'* Who looks may leap, and save his shins from knocks;
Who tries may trust, or foulest treachery find ;
He saves his steed who keeps him under locks ;
Who speaks with heed may boldly speak his mind.
But he whose tongue before his wit doth run.
Oft speaks too soon and grieves when he has done.
Full oft loose speech hath bound men fast in pain,
Beware of taking from thy tongue the rein."