We might earn it by honest toil , or gather it in by contributions levied on our friends . The result was a determined rivalry as to which pupil should collect the largest sum ; and this rivalry was especially intense in our home coterie . Our relatives started us with a quarter apiece . For the rest , we knew we must depend on our own exertions . Peter was handicapped at the beginning by the fact that he had no family friend to finance him . `` If my Aunt Jane 'd been living she 'd have given me something , '' he remarked . `` And if my father had n't run away he might have given me something too . But I 'm going to do the best I can anyhow . Your Aunt Olivia says I can have the job of gathering the eggs , and I 'm to have one egg out of every dozen to sell for myself . '' Felicity made a similar bargain with her mother . The Story Girl and Cecily were each to be paid ten cents a week for washing dishes in their respective homes . Felix and Dan contracted to keep the gardens free from weeds . I caught brook trout in the westering valley of spruces and sold them for a cent apiece . Sara Ray was the only unhappy one among us . She could do nothing . She had no relatives in Carlisle except her mother , and her mother did not approve of the school library project , and would not give Sara a cent , or put her in any way of earning one . To Sara , this was humiliation indescribable . She felt herself an outcast and an alien to our busy little circle , where each member counted every day , with miserly delight , his slowly increasing hoard of small cash . `` I 'm just going to pray to God to send me some money , '' she announced desperately at last . `` I do n't believe that will do any good , '' said Dan .
`` He gives lots XXXXX things , but he does n't give money , because people can earn that for themselves . ''
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