After doing his errand, however, as he was returning by the house
where two of his friends and playmates lived, he thought he could not
resist the temptation just to call a moment to see them. He thought
there would be no great harm if he merely stopped a minute or two,
and his parents would never know it. Here commenced his sin. He
stopped, and was led to remain longer and longer, till he found he
had passed two hours in play. Then, with a troubled conscience, he
mounted his horse, and set his face towards home. The fields looked
as green, and the skies as bright and cloudless, as when he rode
along in the morning; but, oh, how different were his feelings! Then
he was innocent and happy; now he was guilty and wretched. He tried
to feel easy, but he could not; conscience reproached him with his
sin. He rode sadly along, thinking what excuse he should make
to his parents for his long absence, when he saw his father, at a
distance, coming to meet him. His father, fearing that some accident
had happened, left home in search of his son. The boy trembled and
turned pale as he saw him approaching, and hesitated whether he had
better confess the truth at once, and ask forgiveness, or endeavor to
hide the crime with a lie. Oh, how much better it would have been for
him if he had acknowledged the truth! How much sooner would he have
been restored to peace! But one sin almost always leads to another.
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