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--