# A Moment Too Late - Source: McGuffey's Third Reader (third-reader.gutenberg.org), Public domain, William Holmes McGuffey, 1879, via Project Gutenberg - Reading level: Grades 3 and 4 - Subjects: Stories, Animals - Topics: moment, said, widow, late, merchant, birds - Length: 746 words, about 5 min - Original: - Page: - Open in Sprouts: THE WIDOW AND THE MERCHANT. 1. A merchant, who was very fond of music, was asked by a poor widow to give her some assistance. Her husband, who was a musician, had died, and left her very poor indeed. 2. The merchant saw that the widow and her daughter, who was with her, were in great distress. He looked with pity into their pale faces, and was convinced by their conduct that their sad story was true. 3. "How much do you want, my good woman?" said the merchant. 4. "Five dollars will save us," said the poor widow, with some hesitation. 5. The merchant sat down at his desk, took a piece of paper, wrote a few lines on it, and gave it to the widow with the words, "Take it to the bank you see on the other side of the street." 6. The grateful widow and her daughter, without stopping to read the note, hastened to the bank. The banker at once counted out fifty dollars instead of five, and passed them to the widow. 7. She was amazed when she saw so much money. "Sir, there is a mistake here," she said. "You have given me fifty dollars, and I asked for only five." 8. The banker looked at the note once more, and said, "The check calls for fifty dollars." 9. "It is a mistake—indeed it is," said the widow. 10. The banker then asked her to wait a few minutes, while he went to see the merchant who gave her the note. 11. "Yes." said the merchant, when he had heard the banker's story, "I did make a mistake. I wrote fifty instead of five hundred. Give the poor widow five hundred dollars, for such honesty is poorly rewarded with even that sum." LESSON XIX. THE BIRDS SET FREE. 1. A man was walking one day through a large city. On a street corner he saw a boy with a number of small birds for sale, in 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?" 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." 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. 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; 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.