a cage.
2. He looked with sadness upon the little prisoners flying
about the cage, peeping through the wires, beating them with
their wings, and trying to get out.
3. He stood for some time looking at the birds. At last he
said to the boy, "How much do you ask for your birds?"

THIRD READER. 55
4. "Fifty cents apiece, sir," said the boy. "I do not mean
how much apiece," said the man, "but how much for all of
them? I want to buy them all."
5. The boy began to count, and found they came to five
dollars. "There is your money,"

said the man. The boy took it, well pleased with his
morning's trade.
6. No sooner was the bargain settled than the man opened
the cage door, and let all the birds fly away.
7. The boy, in great surprise, cried, "What did you do that
for, sir? You have lost all your birds."

56 ECLECTIC SERIES.
8. "I will tell you why I did it," said the man. "I was shut
up three years in a French prison, as a prisoner of war, and I
am resolved never to see anything in prison which I can
make free."
LESSON XX.

A MOMENT TOO LATE.

1. A moment too late, my beautiful bird,
A moment too late are you now;
The wind has your soft, downy nest disturbed--
The nest that you hung on the bough.

2. A moment too late; that string in your bill,
Would have fastened it firmly and strong;
But see, there it goes, rolling over the hill!
Oh, you staid a moment too long.

3. A moment, one moment too late, busy bee;
The honey has dropped from the flower:
No use to creep under the petals and see;
It stood ready to drop for an hour.

4. A moment too late; had you sped on your wing,
The honey would not have been gone;

THIRD READER. 57

Now you see what a very, a very sad thing
'T is to stay a moment too long.

5. Little girl, never be a moment too late,
It will soon end in trouble or crime;
Better be an hour early, and stand and wait,
Than a moment behind the time.

6. If the bird and the bee, little boy, were too late,
Remember, as you play along
On your way to school, with pencil and slate,
Never stay a moment too long.

LESSON XXI.

HUMMING BIRDS.
1. The most beautiful humming birds are found in the
West Indies and South America. The crest of the tiny head of
one of these shines like a sparkling crown of colored light.
2. The shades of color that adorn its breast, are equally
brilliant. As the bird

58 ECLECTIC SERIES.
flits from one object to another, it looks more like a bright
flash